Dude at a thrift store told me my recovery USB was junk and now I always test boot before leaving

Pulled a used drive out of a Dell Optiplex at a Goodwill in Austin, popped it in my bag, and the guy behind me said 'hope you checked if it actually posts' - sure enough the partition was corrupted, so now I carry a mini rig to verify every salvage drive on the spot.

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1 Comment

singh.blair1mo ago

Used to think it was overkill to test drives before leaving the store, but this guy's story really changed my mind. Always figured if the drive looked clean and the price was right, I'd just take my chances at home. Then I grabbed an old Seagate from a different thrift a few months back, got it home, and it wouldn't even spin up. Wasted a whole evening setting up to find out it was dead. Now I do the same thing with a cheap USB caddy and a spare laptop, just to see if it posts before I hand over cash. It takes maybe two minutes and saves you from hauling around a paperweight.