Facepalm: Unscrupulous resellers are nonetheless attempting to hawk used Seagate arduous drives as model new. After tinkering with the SMART system, the fraudsters have discovered a brand new method to clear utilization logs and make worn-out drives seem as new. Customers can nonetheless shield themselves towards this rip-off however have to be vigilant. It’s nonetheless a giant drawback that’s not going away.
A not too long ago up to date report by Heise on-line discovered that fraudsters are nonetheless discovering methods to move off used Seagate arduous disk drives as new. Emails from deceived consumers sharing their unlucky buy expertise haven’t ended since Heise uncovered the fraud weeks in the past. The one change is that the scammers are actually conscious of their tell-tale errors and have developed a brand new method to faux utilization information.
The unique methodology, found earlier this yr, concerned a number of methods to faux utilization logs and make the drive look new. As Heise identified, analyzing the Discipline Accessible Reliability Metrics (FARM) values provides away the ruse. Now, the crooks have labored out how one can change even these deep-seated analytic numbers.
The FARM log system offers entry to metrics relating to drive well being, utilization, and environmental parameters. Together with SMART values, information saved in FARM logs might assist clients predict a possible drive failure occasion. The FARM log is straightforward to make use of with the fitting instruments. That’s to say that every one clients can readily entry logged metrics utilizing brazenly out there instruments.
Earlier than the scammers found their new tinkering methodology, customers might reliably detect a “faux” new drive by evaluating the variety of working hours recorded by SMART values with these saved in FARM. Heise notes that this strictly hardware-based check-up methodology is not dependable. Trying on the saved drive information in newer, multi-terabyte Seagate Exos HDDs is ineffective now that the scammers are tampering with it.
All is just not misplaced, although. Customers can make use of ideas and methods to guard themselves towards untrustworthy sellers. First, new HDDs mustn’t have a manufacturing date older than six months. A lacking sticker on the drive’s entrance can also be an indication the drive is fraudulent. As beforehand really useful, scan the drive’s QR or barcodes and examine the guarantee expiration with the drive’s manufacture date. It ought to be a number of months greater than 5 years.
The rip-off found in January concerned closely used Seagate drives from Chia cryptocurrency miners. Chinese language coin farmers shut down most of those mining operations and tried to resell the drives, many going to respected retailers. Seagate is just not concerned within the rip-off however is investigating because it ramps up its HAMR drive manufacturing and gross sales.
