As the title indicates, I am debating whether to get some more drives (recently bought some new 18TB drives on sale for $199.99).

I also need two 14 TB drives.

Option 1 - $153 WD Elements 14TB ‘Manufacturer Recertified’ by WD.

Option 2 - $150 New Seagate Expansion Desktop 14TB?

Price is not at all a factor (only $3 difference).

Based on the following Backblaze reliability stats, I am leaning towards the Recertified WD, knowing that most of the time mfr recertified drives are quote (from following blog post):

(Start quote): "Factory Recertified Hard Disk Drives (HDD) are “refurbished” by the drive’s manufacturer and undergo rigorous testing guidelines until they are deemed “like new” with zero power-on hours.

Factory Recertified HDDs are predominantly manufacturer product returns or removed from unsold product, which for various reasons can no longer be considered new. The HDD must pass a manufacturer’s strict guideline for testing to be labeled as a “Factory Recertified” product. HDDs that do not meet these stringent testing requirements are not sold as “Factory Recertified.” " (end quote).

https://illumynt.com/blog/what-is-a-factory-recertified-hard-drive/#:~:text=Factory%20Recertified%20Hard%20Disk%20Drives,with%20zero%20power%2Don%20hours.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/xqspjv/does_anyone_have_any_experience_with_wd/iqbd5ju/?context=3

Drive stats:

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-drive-stats-for-q3-2023/