[SOLVED] Bought new nvme ssd, is it actually new?

[rollo84]

Hello!
I just bought a new ssd on Ebay, after installing windows and some driver I noticed on Samsung Magician that 143GB were written on the drive. Now, I bought it as new on Ebay and it came with a pristine box with seals, but I was wondering if the amount of written data looks suspicious to you.
Thank you in advance!

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Might help if you told us which SSD.

 

[Maxxify]

Send picture of all SMART values (CrystalDiskInfo).

 

[popatim]

143 MB are on the drive currently?
I assume you meant that Total Bytes Written are at 143GB.

 

[rollo84]

Might help if you told us which SSD.

Hi, the drive is a Samsun Nvme 970 evo pplus 1 tb

Send picture of all SMART values (CrystalDiskInfo).

https://postimg.cc/9D72CHLt

143 MB are on the drive currently?
I assume you meant that Total Bytes Written are at 143GB.

Yes, as I wrote in the original post looks like 143GB were written the first time I used it: installing windows, drivers, utilities like Crystal disk info and windirstat. I also uninstalled some default apps.

 

[Maxxify]

Thanks.

This looks normal. The SMART values are given in hexadecimal, not decimal. For example it says "64" available spare blocks, which is 100 - that is normal for this drive. It also says total data units written is "601B6" - this is 393654 and is usually given in 512KB units so ~192GB.

 

[Nemesia]

An OS install should not be installing 100+ GB of stuff tho.

Can you install windirstat and show us your C: in a screenshot. We will be able to see the size taken by folders.

https://windirstat.net/

 

[rollo84]

Hi again and thank you all for your help!

Thanks.

This looks normal. The SMART values are given in hexadecimal, not decimal. For example it says "64" available spare blocks, which is 100 - that is normal for this drive. It also says total data units written is "601B6" - this is 393654 and is usually given in 512KB units so ~192GB.

An OS install should not be installing 100+ GB of stuff tho.

Can you install windirstat and show us your C: in a screenshot. We will be able to see the size taken by folders.

https://windirstat.net/

https://postimg.cc/8fs7WmRd
Now I installed the Adobe suite and Unreal engine. I'm not really worried that something is still on the drive from a previous use but that it has been slightly used before I purchased. For example now 77GB are used but 198GB have been written. I understand that some operations need to write more than the final amount they require on the disk, but we are talking about more than double here. I'm curious to know your opinion.

 

[Maxxify]

Your values look correct to me. My only advice would be to install the Samsung NVMe driver. I see nothing else amiss. FYI the temperature is also in hex but based on Kelvin - 13F would be 319 Kelvin or 46C. SSDs throttle around 70C.

 

[rollo84]

Your values look correct to me. My only advice would be to install the Samsung NVMe driver. I see nothing else amiss. FYI the temperature is also in hex but based on Kelvin - 13F would be 319 Kelvin or 46C. SSDs throttle around 70C.

Thank you, I didn't think about the drivers. One last question, maybe OT, I moved the drive a PCI 4x adapter (because I'm missing the vertical bracket for my motherboard) and the speed dropped. The M.B. is an ASUS X99-S. Is there anything I can do about it?
The adapter is a Mailiya M.2 PCIe to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter found on Amazon.

 

[Maxxify]

Thank you, I didn't think about the drivers. One last question, maybe OT, I moved the drive a PCI 4x adapter (because I'm missing the vertical bracket for my motherboard) and the speed dropped. The M.B. is an ASUS X99-S. Is there anything I can do about it?
The adapter is a Mailiya M.2 PCIe to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter found on Amazon.

Depends on the CPU I think. You can check Transfer Mode in CrystalDiskInfo: make sure it's still x4 PCIe 3.0. Regardless of CPU, there is one x4 PCIe slot that will be x4 PCIe 2.0.

 

[rollo84]

Depends on the CPU I think. You can check Transfer Mode in CrystalDiskInfo: make sure it's still x4 PCIe 3.0. Regardless of CPU, there is one x4 PCIe slot that will be x4 PCIe 2.0.

Actually, it lists both https://postimg.cc/yWh0r6t4 Is there some setting in the bios I should change?

 

[USAFRet]

In CrystalDiskInfo, what is the Power On count and Power On hours?

Does that mostly mesh with your use?

 

[Maxxify]

Actually, it lists both https://postimg.cc/yWh0r6t4 Is there some setting in the bios I should change?

First value is the negotiated (actual) link speed while the latter is the device's design/maximum. You need to use a different slot I suppose...

 

[cryoburner]

In CrystalDiskInfo, what is the Power On count and Power On hours?

Does that mostly mesh with your use?

They actually linked to an image with those details already. As per that data, it looks like power on hours was only at 1, and power cycles at 7 at that time...

Hi, the drive is a Samsun Nvme 970 evo pplus 1 tb

https://postimg.cc/9D72CHLt

Yes, as I wrote in the original post looks like 143GB were written the first time I used it: installing windows, drivers, utilities like Crystal disk info and windirstat. I also uninstalled some default apps.

 

[USAFRet]

They actually linked to an image with those details already. As per that data, it looks like power on hours was only at 1, and power cycles at 7 at that time...

Oh, I missed that.

That is a NEW drive. Or at least first use after Secure Erase.

 

[rollo84]

Oh, I missed that.

That is a NEW drive. Or at least first use after Secure Erase.

That is interesting, so you can erase these information and repackage the unit. Anyway I guess I will keep it. I I just need to find a vertical bracket because with the adapter, even after switching the PCIe slot to 4x, the speed is cut in half.
Thank you for all your help, this is definitely a great community!

 

[USAFRet]

That is interesting, so you can erase these information and repackage the unit. Anyway I guess I will keep it. I I just need to find a vertical bracket because with the adapter, even after switching the PCIe slot to 4x, the speed is cut in half.
Thank you for all your help, this is definitely a great community!

Samsung can return those values to zero.
Not thee and me, however.

 

[rollo84]

Samsung can return those values to zero.
Not thee and me, however.

Then I will sleep even better now, thank you for the clarification

 

[Maxxify]

so you can erase these information and repackage the unit.

It's not something you'll see in Western markets with a retail drive. It requires time and expensive hardware (JTAG) plus specific MPTool/MPALL for given controller/flash/firmware combinations. SSDs can definitely be "hacked" but it's usually to get access to encrypted data. It's really not worth the trouble to resell a drive, especially as the manufacturer will know it's been tampered with if returned. OEM drives are a little more questionable.