Posted April 6 · Report post I have just taken delivery of two 4TB HGST UltraStar 7K4000 drives that I purchased this week, all good except when I cut them out of their anti static bags I was shocked to see that the sticker on the drives says "JAN-2014". If I'm not mistaken (?) that's the month/year of manufacture. Every other drive I've purchased in the past was made at least in the same year, this is the first time I've had 3+ year old drives delivered, should I be concerned about the reliability of these drives? The model comes with a 5 year warranty, but still... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 6 · Report post You can run SMART tools to ensure they're new, but I'd not worry. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 6 · Report post I wouldn't worry either, especially when it involves HGST. These are exceptionally good drives, hence the 5 year warranty. In February 2016 I bought 2 3TB HGST drives, both of them produced also in 2014. They're running non-stop ever since, in a small business server, and are in perfectly good condition SMART wise. For your peace of mind, have a look at the Blackblaze's stats: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-stats-q1-2016/ HGST drives have extremely low failure rates, around 1%, some models way bellow 1%. Their price and the 5 year warranty are well justified. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 6 · Report post Out of curiosity, which retailer were they from? I generally don't worry much about manufacturer date on drives, but "new" "old" stock that old is unusual. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted April 8 · Report post Thanks for the responses, the disks are definitely brand new and unused (power on hours = 0). I got them from Scan, a well respected supplier in the uk. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
