News Seagate hard drive controversy persists as scammers discover methods to alter reliability metrics

[Admin]

Scammers have found a new way to manipulate operating hours in FARM logs, making it harder for users to distinguish new drives from old ones.

Seagate hard drive controversy persists as scammers discover methods to alter reliability metrics : Read more

 

[AkroZ]

certified partners have inadvertently sold these fraudulent drives,

Inadvertence?
"Sorry, I didn't paid attention and sold hard drives bought from a provider different than Seagate for a lower price.
Please don't ban me or I will be forced to sell products from your competition."

 

[Ogotai]

simple way to solve this problem..

just buy a drive from retail, where the anti static bag it comes in, is still sealed....

 

[nightbird321]

simple way to solve this problem..

just buy a drive from retail, where the anti static bag it comes in, is still sealed....

you can buy those bags with stickers on amazon...

 

[johnnyboy5520]

Friends don't let friends buy Seagate drives.

 

[Ogotai]

Friends don't let friends buy Seagate drives.

heh.. i dont care who makes the drives.. they all have issues...

 

[BFG-9000]

Apparently you can still check the power-on hours of the individual heads in FARM even if the global hours have been reset to match a reset to 0 value in SMART. For now at least.

All of this data is just written to the service tracks (Host Protected Area) which tools like hdd.by/victoria have long been able to read and write to, so this news is about the encryption of those FARM logs being broken.

Most people are simply going to go by SMART numbers anyway without bothering to see if the numbers match those in FARM, which besides not being encrypted, is even erased/reset just by flashing a factory firmware to the disk. Which may be why HDD makers don't just post those up for download, so you have to get them emailed to you by support. I recently flashed a 100,000 hour VelociRaptor and found SMART reset to 0 hours, so returned to brand new status.

This is why recertified drives usually have less than 24 hours on them (in SMART, they don't reset the FARM)--because the "refurbishment" is simply flashing the latest firmware then doing a zero-fill and surface scan

 

[SomeoneElse23]

New drives are overpriced. So people look for deals... and get scammed.

For a better price, buy certified refurb with a 3 or 5 year warranty.

I use GoHardDrive.

 

[Ogotai]

and get scammed.

and thats why, id rather go to a retail store and get a drive thats still sealed in the anti static bag... over priced or not, ant least i wont lose the cost of the drive.

 

[Ogotai]

you can buy those bags with stickers on amazon...

stickers ?? what stickers ? what i am referring to, are antistatic bags, that are sealed from the factory, like a chocolate bar is.... if these stickers " close " the bag, its not the same as factory sealed...

 

[George³]

antistatic bags

For 3.5" HDD in aliexpress have antistatic packages for average 1/4 USD per piece.

 

[tamalero]

For 3.5" HDD in aliexpress have antistatic packages for average 1/4 USD per piece.

key word is "SEALED". Not with a sticker.. as in a completely unopened bag.

 

[SomeoneElse23]

key word is "SEALED". Not with a sticker.. as in a completely unopened bag.

I don't think those are as significant as you think they are.

All my certified refurb drives come in sealed bags, like they are new.

 

[Dementoss]

key word is "SEALED". Not with a sticker.. as in a completely unopened bag.

You don't think the scammers haven't already thought about that one? The scammers aren't stupid...

 

[George³]

key word is "SEALED". Not with a sticker.. as in a completely unopened bag.

Have machines for 13-15 USD like this:

Working perfectly for sealing.

 

[Ogotai]

then.. dont by from amazon or ebay, etc.. buy from bestbuy, microcenter etc... either way, you buy from a non reputable source, then get scammed to save a few bucks ?? thats on you 100%

there are some things that should never be bought used, or from an unknown source....

 

[dynamicreflect]

If factory tool was leaked out, then Seagate should renew its encryption or firmware to ensure the leaked tool won't work in the future product.

 

[tamalero]

Have machines for 13-15 USD like this:

Working perfectly for sealing.

And I guess they could also copy hologram style stickers, right?

 

[George³]

And I guess they could also copy hologram style stickers, right?

Use your fantasy.

 

[tamalero]

Use your fantasy.

Sorry my fantasy is reserved for other things 😉

 

[2Be_or_Not2Be]

Just reinforces to me that cryptocurrency should be banned worldwide, with all of its resource-wasting and generally fraud & crime-serving outputs. I like blockchain tech, but cryptocurrency is just terrible.

 

[Ogotai]

Use your fantasy

that makes no sense.. what does that even mean ?

as i said, you buy a drive from a place that isnt retail, or a 3rd party and get scammed, just to save a few bucks,. thats all on you..

All my certified refurb drives come in sealed bags, like they are new.

and where did you get those refurbs from ?