I’ve used these (new) for 1.5 years and no issue. They are compact and comfortable and the USB3 cable still makes a strong connection the few I have.
That said ask yourself WHY is a hard drive refurbished in the first place? Something went wrong with the exact one you’d be getting in the past, No?
As has been pointed out the price isn’t that amazing. Personally I’d skip the risk of refurb and buy new for close to the same price or pick up a different brand if they’re not giving a substantial discount on hardware.
Since they can’t fix the inside unless they are in a clean room, I suspect someone with poor file management skills could not figure out how to save and find their files later. So they blamed WD and returned it.
AFAIK no, not necessarily (and i’m tempted to go as far as saying, “probably not”) - i believe “refurbished” can and does include anything from what you describe right on up to “item was returned opened but unused”, or “packaging damaged in transit to retailer”, and various other reasons involving no actual failure or fault of the device itself.
I have a 120gb WD Passport that I bought in 2005. Still works perfectly, after 3 other brands of externals have crapped out on me, including a seagate and a toshiba. I will give it a try.
I recommend this drive to many customers and friends. I’ve been burned too many times by seagate drives, so western digital is a great alternative at a reasonable price.
I sure wish this was the 3TB version, but the 2TB drive is great as well.
STOP! This is only about $10.00 cheaper than new HD with multi year warranty. NEVER buy a refurbished hard drive… NEVER - These were returned because they were giving someone grief. Then tested for five minutes by a tech PAID to pass them as good, then put up for refurbished sale HERE! Don’t get burned over $10 bucks