Drive conditions explained: New, Used, Renewed and Warehouse
The same hard drive can appear at four very different prices depending on its condition. The labels are not interchangeable, and the gap between them is often 30–70% of the price. This page defines each one precisely and explains what it means for risk, warranty and value.
The four conditions at a glance
| Condition | What it is | Sold by | Typical saving |
|---|
| New | Factory-sealed, unused, full manufacturer warranty | Amazon or third-party sellers | — |
| Warehouse | Customer return or open-box, inspected and graded by Amazon | Amazon Warehouse | 10–35% |
| Renewed | Pre-owned or pulled stock, tested and refurbished for resale | Amazon-qualified refurbishers | 30–70% |
| Used | Second-hand, graded by the seller | Marketplace sellers | Varies widely |
New
A factory-sealed drive that has never been used, carrying the manufacturer's full warranty — typically 2 years for consumer drives and 3–5 years for NAS and enterprise models. This is the baseline price our tables rank by default.
Amazon Warehouse
Amazon Warehouse sells Amazon's own returned, open-box and warehouse-damaged stock. Items are inspected and graded — you will see grades such as Used - Like New, Very Good, Good and Acceptable. For storage specifically, a large share of Warehouse stock is simply a customer return with damaged packaging: the drive itself may have spent minutes powered on, or never been used at all.
Crucially, Warehouse items are sold and fulfilled by Amazon, so they carry Amazon's standard returns process rather than a third-party seller's. For most buyers this is the best risk-to-saving ratio of the discounted conditions.
Renewed
Amazon Renewed products are pre-owned, pulled or returned units that have been inspected, tested and refurbished by Amazon-qualified suppliers to work and look like new. They are backed by the Amazon Renewed Guarantee, which provides a minimum replacement-or-refund window (commonly 90 days) supplied by the refurbisher rather than the drive manufacturer.
For hard drives, Renewed listings are frequently high-capacity enterprise models — Seagate Exos, WD Ultrastar, IronWolf Pro — pulled from data centres. That is why they dominate the cheapest £/TB rankings: a renewed 16TB enterprise drive can undercut a new consumer 16TB drive substantially. The trade-off is unknown prior service life.
Used (marketplace)
A second-hand drive listed by a third-party seller, graded by that seller rather than by Amazon. Quality control varies enormously — from meticulous specialist resellers to someone clearing a loft. Seller feedback and the returns window matter more here than anywhere else.
Manufacturer recertified
Distinct from all of the above: drives returned to the manufacturer, tested and re-certified by Seagate, WD or Toshiba. They are usually sold with a shorter warranty than new (often 1–2 years) and are labelled "recertified" or "factory recertified". On our tables these are grouped under Renewed.
How disks.co.uk labels conditions
Our listings show a single Condition column and let you filter by New, Used, Renewed and Warehouse in the toolbar. Ticking a condition re-prices every drive at the cheapest offer available in the conditions you selected, so the £/TB ranking reflects what you would actually pay. New, Used and Renewed are shown by default; tick Warehouse to surface Amazon Warehouse deals, which are often the single cheapest way to buy a given model.
Comparing prices across Amazon's European stores
The same drive, with the same ASIN, is often sold at a very different price on amazon.de, amazon.fr, amazon.it and amazon.es. Our listings carry a Lowest in EU filter that prices every drive across all five stores at once, converts euros at the live European Central Bank rate, and tags the row with the country that wins.
Three things to keep in mind before acting on a cross-border price. Delivery is excluded from the comparison, and shipping a 3.5-inch drive from Europe typically costs £10–20. Import VAT applies to goods coming into the UK, normally shown as an Import Fees Deposit at Amazon's checkout — though drives themselves usually attract no customs duty. And returns are harder: sending a faulty drive back to Spain is slower and dearer than a UK return. As a rule of thumb, a gap under roughly 15% is rarely worth the friction; a large gap on an expensive high-capacity drive can be.
What to check before buying a discounted drive
- Check SMART data on arrival. Power-on hours and reallocated sector counts tell you the drive's real history. Some refurbishers reset these counters — a suspiciously low hour count on an enterprise pull is a flag, not a reassurance.
- Run a full surface read/write test immediately, while you are still inside the returns window. Most drives that fail early fail in the first few weeks.
- Confirm who backs the warranty — the manufacturer, the refurbisher, or nobody.
- Never store your only copy on a discounted drive. See how long drives last.
For a fuller discussion of when the saving justifies the risk, read are refurbished and renewed drives worth it?
See drives ranked by £/TBToday’s best deals
Frequently asked questions
What does “Renewed” mean on a hard drive?
A Renewed hard drive is a pre-owned or pulled drive that has been inspected, tested and refurbished by an Amazon-qualified supplier to work and look like new. It is backed by the Amazon Renewed Guarantee — a replacement-or-refund window, commonly 90 days, provided by the refurbisher rather than the drive manufacturer. Renewed drives are often high-capacity enterprise models such as Seagate Exos or WD Ultrastar pulled from data centres, which is why they frequently show the lowest price per terabyte.
What is an Amazon Warehouse drive?
An Amazon Warehouse drive is Amazon's own returned, open-box or warehouse-damaged stock, inspected and graded as Used - Like New, Very Good, Good or Acceptable. For storage, much of this stock is a customer return with damaged packaging rather than a heavily used drive. Because it is sold and fulfilled by Amazon, it carries Amazon's standard returns process, which generally makes it the best balance of saving and risk among discounted conditions.
What is the difference between Used and Renewed?
Used means a second-hand drive listed by a third-party marketplace seller and graded by that seller, with quality control that varies widely. Renewed means the drive has been through a formal refurbishment and testing process by an Amazon-qualified supplier and carries the Amazon Renewed Guarantee. Renewed is a defined, warranty-backed programme; Used is a seller's own description.
Are renewed or used hard drives safe to buy?
They can be good value for bulk, non-critical storage, provided you treat them as consumable. Check the SMART data on arrival for power-on hours and reallocated sectors, run a full surface test immediately while still inside the returns window, and confirm who backs the warranty. Never keep your only copy of important data on any single drive, new or used.
What does factory recertified mean?
Factory recertified drives have been returned to the manufacturer — Seagate, Western Digital or Toshiba — then tested and re-certified for resale. They typically carry a shorter warranty than new drives, often one to two years. This is distinct from Amazon Renewed, which is handled by third-party refurbishers. On disks.co.uk, recertified drives are grouped under the Renewed condition.
Why are renewed enterprise drives cheaper per terabyte than new consumer drives?
Enterprise drives such as Seagate Exos and WD Ultrastar are produced in very large volumes for data centres and replaced on fixed refresh cycles rather than when they fail. That creates a steady supply of high-capacity used drives with working life remaining, which refurbishers sell far below new prices. The result is that a renewed 16TB or 18TB enterprise drive often beats a new consumer drive of the same capacity on price per terabyte.
What does FBA mean on Amazon?
FBA stands for Fulfilled by Amazon. The seller sends their stock into Amazon's warehouses, and Amazon picks, packs, ships and handles returns and customer service. FBA offers are usually Prime-eligible, arrive on Amazon's normal delivery promise, and fall under Amazon's standard returns process — which is why they are the lower-risk choice when buying a discounted drive. Amazon Warehouse stock is always Amazon-fulfilled.
What does FBM mean, and is it safe?
FBM stands for Fulfilled by Merchant, sometimes called Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN). The seller stores and ships the item themselves and handles their own returns, so delivery times, packaging quality and after-sales support vary from seller to seller. FBM offers are often cheaper and many sellers are entirely reputable, but the risk sits with the seller rather than Amazon. On a heavy item like a hard drive, packaging quality matters — check seller feedback before buying, and treat an unusually low FBM price with caution.
Should I buy a hard drive from an FBA or FBM seller?
For most buyers FBA is the safer default: Amazon handles delivery and returns, so a dead-on-arrival drive is straightforward to send back. FBM can save money and is worth considering from an established seller with strong feedback, particularly for bulky or specialist items. On disks.co.uk the Fulfilment filter defaults to FBA only; tick FBM to include merchant-fulfilled offers, which will surface more and cheaper listings alongside more variable sellers.
What does the “Lowest in EU” filter do?
It prices every drive against amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, amazon.fr, amazon.it and amazon.es at once, and ranks by whichever store is cheapest. Euro prices are converted to pounds at the live European Central Bank rate, refreshed several times a day, and a country tag (DE, FR, IT or ES) appears on the row when the winning price is not the UK one. The filter is off by default, because for most buyers the UK listing is the practical option.
What exchange rate do you use for euro prices?
The live euro-to-sterling reference rate published by the European Central Bank, fetched several times a day. Hovering the country tag on a row shows the exact rate used. Bear in mind that the rate your card issuer gives you will be slightly worse than the ECB reference rate, typically by 1 to 3 per cent once any foreign-transaction fee is included.
Do the euro prices include delivery to the UK?
No. The comparison is ex-delivery, so it shows the item price only. Cross-border delivery on a 3.5-inch hard drive is commonly £10 to £20, which is enough to wipe out most small differences. Treat a saving of a few pounds as no saving at all, and check the actual delivery cost on the Amazon store before ordering.
Will I pay import VAT or customs duty buying from an EU Amazon store?
Since the UK left the EU single market, goods bought from an EU seller and shipped to the UK are treated as imports. Import VAT at the standard UK rate is normally due, and for orders above £135 it is usually collected on arrival, often by the carrier along with a handling fee. Amazon's EU stores generally show an Import Fees Deposit at checkout that covers this. Computer components such as hard drives and SSDs usually attract no customs duty under the UK tariff, but VAT still applies. This is general information rather than tax advice — check the figures shown at checkout, which are what you will actually pay.
If EU prices already include local VAT, is the comparison fair?
It is a like-for-like comparison of shelf prices, which is the honest starting point, but the tax treatment differs underneath. A German price includes 19 per cent German VAT, France 20 per cent, Spain 21 per cent and Italy 22 per cent, while a UK price includes 20 per cent UK VAT. On an export to the UK the local VAT should come off and UK import VAT go on, so the net effect is usually small — broadly neutral from Germany, and slightly in your favour from Italy or Spain. The much bigger variables are delivery and the exchange rate you actually get.
Can I actually get an item delivered to the UK from amazon.de or amazon.fr?
Often, but not always. Amazon's EU stores ship many items to the UK and will show the delivery cost and any Import Fees Deposit at checkout, but plenty of listings — particularly those from third-party sellers rather than Amazon itself — do not ship to the UK at all. The country tag on our tables links straight to that store's page for the drive, so you can check deliverability before getting your hopes up.
What about warranty and returns on an EU purchase?
Manufacturer warranties on drives from Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba are generally honoured internationally, so a warranty claim is usually workable. Returns are the bigger practical issue: sending a faulty drive back to Germany or Spain costs more and takes longer than a UK return, and consumer-rights protections you rely on for a UK purchase may not apply in the same way. For an expensive drive, that friction is worth weighing against the saving.
Is it actually worth buying a hard drive from another country?
Sometimes, but the bar is higher than the headline gap suggests. Once you add delivery, a worse exchange rate than the ECB reference, and the risk of a slow cross-border return, a difference of under about 15 per cent is rarely worth the trouble. Where it can genuinely pay is a large gap on a high-value drive — a £60 difference on a 20TB enterprise drive still leaves you ahead after costs. Use the filter to spot the outliers, then do the final arithmetic at the checkout.
How do I check the real condition of a drive I have bought?
Read the drive's SMART attributes using a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo on Windows or smartctl on Linux and macOS. The key figures are power-on hours, reallocated sector count (SMART 5), reported uncorrectable errors (SMART 187), command timeouts (SMART 188), current pending sectors (SMART 197) and offline uncorrectable sectors (SMART 198). Any non-zero reallocated or pending sector count on a drive you have just received is grounds for returning it.
