SAS and SATA, 2.5" 10k and 3.5" nearline, from 1TB up to 20TB and over. 1TB is a hard floor — below it a drive is worth less than the postage, and we would rather tell you that now than after you have packed a pallet.
SAS and SATA, 1TB and over. 16 types listed — not seeing yours? Put the model in the notes and we will price it by hand.
Hard drives under 1TB, IDE and SCSI drives, and anything old enough that the resale value is under the cost of shipping it. If a mixed pallet has some smaller drives in it, send the whole list anyway — we will price what is worth pricing and be straight with you about the rest.
Our buying team will come back with an offer, usually within one working day.
On spinning drives, capacity is not one factor among several — it is close to the whole answer. A 12TB nearline drive is worth many times a 2TB one, and the relationship is steeper than linear at the top end, because the large-capacity used market is competing against a new-drive price that stays high.
This is also why the 1TB floor exists and why it is not negotiable. The value of a 500GB drive is not slightly less than a 1TB drive; it is functionally zero once you subtract the handling. The cost of collecting, testing, listing and storing a drive is roughly the same whether it is 500GB or 16TB, and only one of those covers it.
Ten years ago a 2.5" 10k SAS drive was the expensive part in the chassis. It is not any more, and sellers are often surprised by how the numbers come out. SSDs took over the tier that spindle speed used to serve, so what is left for spinning media is bulk capacity — and bulk capacity means 3.5" nearline at 7.2k.
Interface still matters, just less than it did. At the same capacity a SAS nearline drive generally edges a SATA one, because the buyers are servers and the supply is thinner. But a 16TB SATA drive comfortably beats a 4TB SAS drive, every time. If you are deciding what is worth including in a clearance, sort by capacity first and interface second.
Three habits cost sellers money on hard drives specifically, and all three are easy to avoid.
Collection is arranged and paid for by us on anything of reasonable size, anywhere in the UK and Ireland — hard drives are heavy in volume and we would rather handle the logistics than have you price up a pallet courier. Drives are wiped when they reach us, before testing and long before resale.
Once they arrive and match the list, payment goes out by bank transfer. If the pallet and the list disagree, we will tell you exactly where and why before anything is settled.
Because the offer would come out at nothing. Below 1TB the resale value of a used drive is lower than what it costs to collect it, test it, list it and store it until it sells. We would rather say that here than take your list and come back with a number that insults it.
That is the best version of this. Large batches of identical drives are worth more per drive than the same count spread across many models, because they can be sold as a lot rather than one at a time. Put the quantities against each line and send it.
Tell us roughly how many. A proportion of failures in a large batch is expected and does not change much. A predictive-failure flag is not the same as a dead drive and often does not affect the offer at all.
At the capacities that are current, yes, and by a wide margin. A 12TB nearline drive is worth several times a 2.4TB 10k drive even though the 10k drive was the more expensive part when new. Once SSDs took the fast tier, nobody pays a premium for spindle speed.
Both, at 1TB and over. WD Red, Seagate IronWolf and standard desktop drives all have a market. Enterprise nearline drives are worth more at the same capacity because they are rated for continuous duty, but we are not fussy about the source.
Every drive is wiped on arrival, before it is tested and long before it is resold. You are welcome to wipe them yourself first if your own policy requires it — it makes no difference to the offer.
No, and we would rather you did not. A drive still in its caddy is worth more than a bare drive, because caddies are irritating to source and we would otherwise have to buy them.