Seagate (Recertified Exos X 28TB Internal Hard Drive HDD - 3.5 in CMR SATA 6Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 512MB Cache, 2.5M MTBF (ST28000NM000C), Renewed

Rigt: 2017 27" iMac, i7 Intel processor 64gb memory with 2TB Fusion Drive. I have 3 DAS unites attached, one older and two high-end DAS units with built-in hub that I bought within the last three weeks. I also added a USB-C (40gb/s) hub and an external M.2 SSD at the same time as the two new DAS units.Delivered timely, packed with a lot of protection for safe arrival, and passed 72 hour burn in and have 14TB of data on it already.This is a new capacity that consumers can buy, but only as factory re-certified which means that either these drives were used as tests, or placed in data centers and after so many hours, are exchanged with Seagate to be released to consumers.The higher the capacity drive we buy, the more data we can lose if there is a catastrophe and the drive stops working. As with any drive you purchase, new or used, be sure to have your data backed to other drives. Most anyone that buys this capacity already knows all of this, but it is a nice reminder and I am sharing that personally, I would never use a 28tb drive as a source without daily backups.I only bought one because I never seen 28TB capacity before and wanted to make sure I tested one before moving forward with buying more. I can now move forward with confidence. For the 28TB drives, I am only using them as my destination backup drive. The drive is very quiet.Cons: When refurbished or re-certified it would be nice to have a data sheet showing how many hours it was in use.Pros: 90 day warranty, 28TB Capacity (Can't wait for the 30 and 32 to come out for consumers).The following has nothing to do with the 28TB drive, but wanted to share my story about my recent upgrade to my system, which added a lot of anxiety with ordering the drive, but was put at ease. No need to read further as the above details the drive alone.My upgrade journey:I work remote and have a MacBook Pro (newer M Series) that has speed, capacity, and everything else one could dream possible. I also have an older 2017 iMac in which I can't update the OS past Ventura, and was getting slower to use. I have Windows 10 and 11 as a VM and have 12 drives attached via DAS. For the last two years, it has been mostly a file server and have contemplated selling it. It originally had 32gb memory. I used to use it as a workhorse when I first got it. I made the decision to do all that I can before giving up on it and through this update process actually physically unplugged it and set it aside, I was so frustrated.First, upgraded the memory to 64gb and that helped a lot. I then took two old DAS units and upgraded them to two newer ones. One 4 bay and for grins, a 5 bay unit. They daisy chain.At the same time, I bought a USB-C hub with a thunderbolt 5 capacity and bought a thunderbolt 4 enclosure and an M.2 2TB SSD so I can move my VM's from the internal Fusion Drive to the external SSD.When I put everything together, I started having problems. My drives were ejecting one after another. I finally narrowed it down to the 5 bay DAS unit, but wasn't convinced it was the unit itself but kept thinking I should send it back and order a different brand or throw an additional $200 for a 4 bay DAS. I was thinking that maybe it was my Mac not being able to handle this.I finally narrowed it down that it would eject this one particular drive first, and then a second. I ran first-aid on all my drives in that DAS but that still didn't work. Could it be that these drives are failing and somehow the sensitive of the new DAS is bringing that to my attention?So I decided to order the 28TB drive. I know, not necessarily the wisest decision. I could have thrown these drives back in my older DAS and call it a day, but it was nagging at me. If these two drives were actually failing, I need to do something about it. Yes, I did check sleep settings and even ran a command to keep these active all the time Didn't work.So I ordered the 28TB drive, it arrives and within the hour I have it in my DAS. Eventually I copied from the failing drive #1 and afterwards, the older drive self-ejected but the 28TB remained running. The 2nd disk self-ejected so I just kept it off of my system. Thus far, the drives I have that never got ejected and the 28TB has been running fine without being ejected.I am very grateful for making the decision of going with the 28TB drive and that somehow these two 18TB drives self-ejected so that I could deal with them. I just wish I didn't spend three weeks trying to figure all this out!I formatted the two drives and will place them back in the older DAS (where they were originally), connect them to another Mac and copy the backup files from the new 28TB drive to them so that I have more confidence.As I said, I am grateful that the 28TB drive helped me to resolve the issue by allowing me to move the data from those two drives that were failing to it, and getting them out of my new DAS setup.I now actually use the 2017 iMac rig as my main work computer, running two VMs, one remote session, and other apps on the Mac and there is no slowing down this computer anymore! All the updates I did with the exception of adding more memory, is external so I can use it on any Mac in the future if I desire.I always buy refurbished drives from Seagate. It saves money, they do last, and always have backups - even for new drives!

I am using this 28TB drive to back up 4 SSD's holding data (3 @ 8TB, 1 @ 4TB), so first I erased this drive using Disk Utility to make it readable on the Mac , then I partitioned it accordingly (also via Disk Utility). I haven't had any issues; it's perhaps a bit noisy as it copies data during backup (I'm using SuperDuper for that process) but normal in regard to noise for a spinning drive from my experience. I'm not concerned with speed, only data backup (in a fairly compact form for long-term storage) from my far speedier SSD drives. It takes a few hours to back up 8TB of data the first time (faster on subsequent backups with SuperDuper). For this purpose I haven't had any issues in the first few days of use and may buy another one for even greater peace of mind in the backup department. Pretty good price compared to a "new" drive if you can even find one this size in the current market for consumers. I will report here again if I encounter failures or other issues otherwise assume all is OK.

Perfect! I've bought over a dozen high capacity refurbished Seagate drives from this vendor and have never ever had a problem. And this one is the best! It's super fast, VERY quiet, and looks and acts BRAND NEW. Excellent bang-for-the-bucks. Just remember the 28TB drive formats to 25.47 TB! Very satisfied repeat customer!!!

Have 2 now. both in SABRENT docking station.Have 20TB in one allready

I bought two of these. I was scared one or both would arrive DOA but... nope. I lucked out I guess. This is the first time I've ever bought refurb/recertified hard drives. Typically, I've stayed far far away from refurbished goods for the last 30 years but hey, with a small warranty and a much better price tag, I couldn't resist testing it out and I'm totally happy that I did. They don't seem noisy however, they are installed internally since I could not find a single HDD dock station that supported a 28TB HDD. That issue alone almost made me return them but I was able to fit two of them in my tower. Problem solved.

I ordered 4 in order to start a NAS. Only one of them is working. Two of them fail to spin up entirely, and one other makes horrible noises and does not work.

Pretty good, everything got reset, like a new drive

High capacity and works like new.