Bought one 2 days ago so it hasn't come in yet. However realize that this is ecost (yes, it is in the description but it's easy to miss). WD is good but ecost is terrible.

I bought a refurbed Buffalo Linkstation from ecost a while back. It didn't work out of the box and was missing screws. I did manage to get it to work after a firmware update.

I will post as soon as I get this.

I've read the eCost horror stories as well.

Bought 2 refurbs from them over the past 3-4 years and have had no problem with them. One was a set-top DVD recorder that gets daily use and the other an SD HDD camcorder.

An after-market extended warranty is probably a good idea on the higher value refurbs from eCost.

If you buy from eBay- you will have paypal protection. I personally don't buy directly from ecost. But buy @ ebay and also easy paypal claim- I don't mind it if price is cool. It's is $10 cheaper then the reburb from Meritline.com.