[dehrmann]

I think you're better off buying used and using the savings for either mirroring or off-site backup. I'd take two mirrored used drives from different vendors over one new drive any day.

[ethbr1]

There was a Backblaze report a while ago that said, essentially, that most individual drives are either immediate lemons or run to warranty.

If you buy used, you're avoiding the first form of failure.