36TB Seagate Exos SATA hard drive goes on preorder for $800 - world's largest HDD is already sold as refurbished, but why?

Seagate 36TB Exos M hard drive is large enough to store over 1,440 single-layer Blu-ray discsNew model ships alongside refurbished versions at nearly the same priceDesigned for AI, cloud, and data-heavy workloads with lower power useThe Exos M ST36000NM003K is Seagate’s newest and largest SATA data center hard drive to date. It follows the 32TB model launched in late 2024, which itself came nearly a year after the company’s 30TB release.We wrote about the 36TB version back in January 2025, and now it’s gone up for preorder at ServerPartDeals.com, priced at $799.99 (which equates to $22.22 per terabyte, if you’re wondering).What’s intriguing is that, alongside the new drive, manufacturer-recertified and seller-refurbished models are also being offered at slightly lower prices.Refurbished and recertifiedThe 3.5-inch drive runs at 7,200 RPM and uses the SATA 6Gb/s interface. It introduces a new areal density milestone of 3TB per platter, reaching high capacity without changing the form factor.Seagate combines its latest Mozaic 3+ technology with 90% of components used in earlier models. Designed for cloud services, big data, and AI infrastructure, the Exos M offers higher capacity in the same physical footprint.It claims to deliver three times the power efficiency per terabyte compared to traditional drives, helping lower data center operating costs.Seagate says the Exos M uses more recycled materials and renewable energy than any of its past products.Recertified and refurbished versions of the 36TB model are already available to preorder now, priced only slighter cheaper that the brand new version.The manufacturer-recertified version is listed at $789.99 ($21.94 per TB), while the seller-refurbished model is available for $779.99 ($21.66 per TB).That used units are being offered for preorder alongside the new models is interesting and possibly linked to testing or early returns.Aside from availability shortages, I can’t imagine many people are going to rush to buy one of those models just to save $10-$20 per drive.Each new unit comes with a 3-year warranty. That drops to two years for the recertified version and to just 90 days for the refurbished model.You might also likeThese are the fastest hard drives on offer todayAnd these are the largest hard drives you can buy right nowSeagate claims its flagship hard drives could last more than 7 years