Hey,
So this is just a shot in the dark in the hope that someone that frequents these forums nigjt have an answer to my question.
I am trying to find a used/ex enterprise storage seller (vendor) in the UK that sells such hardware for a reasonable cost.
So far the only source that I did find sells such hardware for significantly more cost per-TB than just buying drives BRAND NEW from a consumer retailer or e-tailer.
I have seen the occasional seller offering used HDD drives on eBay, but these sellers have no track record, questionable warranty, no previous selling history, and they dissappear from eBay just as quickly as they appeared, so I do not see them as a viable & trustworthy source of used drives.
Does such a provider even exist in the United Kingdom of Great Brtain & Northern Ireland for used Enterprise Grade HDD’s?
I know that the USA has “Server Parts Deals” as is frequently mentioned by various content creators & influencers on YouTube, but that is not a viable option for people located in the UK, I would never trust shipping a HDD across the ocean from the USA to the UK, at least not via standard courier services, the drives would arrived damaged or dead.
Hopefully someone can chime in on what options do exist for the UK market, bare in mind importing from Europe is costly and has the same shipping concerns as shipping from the USA, so that is not really what I am looking for.
I am very much looking for a supplier located within the UK that supplies to the UK market and sells to consumers and not just to businesses.
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help, and, Have a great day if you see this!
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What’s magically bad about shipping across an ocean? The less handing the better, sure, but the ocean is the least of your worries.
Stuff gets shipped across Oceans anyway. HDDs are usually shipped from Singapore or Vietnam. No one is driving a truck from Singapore through the channel tunnel 
Mindfactory and Alternate in Germany have larger refurbished drive sales for some time now…I’m pretty sure that’s going by lorry to the UK. Both have proper packaging of HDDs, I ordered there in the past.
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I use bargainhardware.
I have had good luck with them
their SSD prices are a bit… less good though
The ocean is the least problematic part, assuming of course that its been packaged to survive a journey around the world.
My primary concern is the Standard Courier Service, they do not give a single F, and I do NOT want to deal with the hassle of returning something back to the USA because it arrives faulty or damaged because international courier servives available to general consumers are terrible for following instructions like “Don’t Drop (Kick)”, and, “Don’t Shake”.
And this issue applies to all couriers I had dealt with in the UK, with DHL & UPS being the worst at handling packages. Out of the 30+ DHL packages & 15+ UPS packages I have had a grand total of 0 of them arrived without serious impact damage to the outside of the package.
So I am not taking that risk when buying HDD’s from sellers online, because I can guarantee that at least one drive will arive faulty or dead as a result of shipping handling, and I don’t want the hassle of returns, etc, across the ocean.
Additionally the cost of returning a faulty drive would immediately negate any savings made by buying a used enterprise drive, thus making the whole purpose of the exercise fruitless & pointless as at that stage I may as well buy new from a UK located seller or distributor who understands the terrible couriers in the UK and the zero f’s they give about your parcel.
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Are you located in the UK?
Do you remember which couriers Mind Faktory used to ship the HDD’s to you?
How many drives did you buy from Mind Faktory?
My experience so far with used & new HDD packaging hasn’t been up to the standards that I would personally expect to see for such fragile & easily damaged devices, a warranty replacement 16TB drive from Seagate was sent to me in just cardboard packaging and when it arrived it was broken, that was after the first drive was already faulty, then on the third drive they packaged it with much more protection & padding and as a result it arrived in great condition, it also helped that the courier didn’t damage the outside packaging either.