cheap ssd, expensive feeling of dread

Milan Bauer · 2026-08-23T02:04:00.267Z

I got clever and bought a refurbished 1TB NVMe instead of a new one. Felt great for two weeks. Then I installed a health tool out of curiosity and it greeted me with this. [code] The Available Spare value is flagged and the status says Caution instead of Good. Nothing feels slow yet, no file errors 👍 But all my projects live on that drive now. Do I demand a refund, keep it as a scratch disk, or am I panicking over a number that does not mean much?

refurbished smart ssd7 replies · 171 views · started 2 mo. ago

Milan Bauer
@mbauer
27 rep · 6 posts
2 mo. ago
I got clever and bought a refurbished 1TB NVMe instead of a new one. Felt great for two weeks. Then I installed a health tool out of curiosity and it greeted me with this.
```
Disk health
S.M.A.R.T. status: BAD

Reallocated sectors count: 1,872 (threshold exceeded)
Back up your data and replace the disk as soon as possible.
```
The Available Spare value is flagged and the status says Caution instead of Good. Nothing feels slow yet, no file errors 👍 But all my projects live on that drive now. Do I demand a refund, keep it as a scratch disk, or am I panicking over a number that does not mean much?
2
Juno Varga
@jvarga_25
85 rep · 17 posts
2 mo. ago
ok but did the seller list the drive's power-on hours or total data written anywhere in the listing? ??

3 0 helpful
Milan Bauer
@mbauer
27 rep · 6 posts
2 mo. ago in reply to @jvarga_25
ahh right ran smartctl again three days later, the error count went up by a few... not great.

0 6 helpful
Juno Varga
@jvarga_25
85 rep · 17 posts
2 mo. ago
@jvarga_25 did u ever fix it?? ??

3 0 helpful
Silas W.
@silas.weber88
76 rep · 7 posts
2 mo. ago
lol same thing happened to me same issue here on my moms pc... glad im not the only one... lol this thread is gold

12 2 helpful
Xavi Reid
@uplinkranger
20 rep · 4 posts
2 mo. ago
Also update the drive firmware with the vendors SSD tool if the brand has one. Some health warnings are firmware reporting bugs, but only trust that explanation if the vendor actually documents it.

5 0 helpful
Tariq Sorensen
@tariq.sorensen16
10 rep · 1 posts
2 mo. ago
screenshot the SMART data now and send it to the seller with the purchase date. A warning within teh return period is teh easiest refund you will ever get... waiting only weakens ur position. hope that helps :)

10 0 helpful
Eamon Lindqvist
@eamonl627
36 rep · 8 posts
2 mo. ago
ahh classic whatever you decide, set up a real backup today. A second drive with a scheduled copy, or File History, or robocopy /MIR in a scheduled task. A cheap drive is fine if losing it costs you nothing.

2 0 helpful

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