Hard disk fraud: used, refurbished, reconditioned and recertified
The current Seagate hard disk fraud case is all about used hard disks being sold as new. An attempt to untangle the situation.
(Image: hispan/Shutterstock.com)
A new hard disk is new, i.e., it has been running for zero hours, the SMART values are zero, the SMART logs are empty, and the FARM values of Seagate drives are also zero. In the current cases of fraud involving Seagatehard drives, however, the drives only look new at first glance; according to their FARM values, they have already been running for many thousands of hours.
This means that the drives are used, albeit with deleted SMART values. Refurbished, some would say, recertified others. And that's where the confusion starts.
The terms recertified (recertified) and refurbished (sometimes also refurbished) are often used interchangeably, although they have different meanings. Recertified usually refers to hard drives that have been refurbished and recertified by the original manufacturer (Seagate or Western Digital). These drives undergo rigorous testing and should, in theory, be in a condition equivalent to a new drive.
(Image:Â Seagate)
There is a simple reason why Toshiba is missing from this list: According to its information, Toshiba does not sell factory refurbished hard disks. We also did not find any factory refurbished internal drives on the Western Digital website, only external models. However, some retailers do offer such drives. Western Digital has not yet responded to our inquiry in this regard. Seagate sells recertified drives on Ebay in the USA.
Recertified drives are sometimes not only “as good as new”, but actually unused. It is common for companies to buy hard drives in bulk and then return some drives that are either not working properly or are simply surplus. These drives are then recertified by the manufacturer and usually sold with almost zero real operating hours.
Refurbished
In contrast, refurbished drives may have been refurbished by third-party vendors. The quality of these drives can vary considerably, depending on how thorough the seller has been in refurbishing and testing the drive. A conscientious seller will take many of the same steps that the manufacturer would, such as updating the firmware, resetting the SMART stats and running various tests. Less reputable sellers, however, may do much less, such as simply erasing the data from the drive and checking the drive for basic functionality before reselling it.
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Used or refurbished
A used hard disk should differ only slightly from a refurbished hard disk. The SMART values may not have been reset on a used hard disk, but this may be more of an advantage than a disadvantage. This means that a buyer can easily see how many hours the hard disk has already been used. However, you hardly ever get warranty services with a used hard disk.
(Image:Â Pascal K.)
Some users explicitly buy recertified drives because they have already been burned in. They may have already been running for many hours and have therefore survived the typical failure frequency at the beginning of their use – The failure frequency is often referred to as the bathtub curve because most failures occur at the beginning and end of the usage period.
However, the statistics from cloud provider Backblaze now show fewer and fewer drives failing after a short time – It is likely that manufacturers' quality control is improving all the time. We would therefore no longer necessarily accept this reason for buying recertified drives today.
Used is used
One reason for buying recertified drives may be the price. However, don't be fooled by the pictures on retailers' websites: Some use pictures of recertified drives for their used hard drives – What is important is what is on the invoice. Always take a screenshot of the offer to be on the safe side.
Manufacturers generally give a six-month warranty on recertified drives. The warranty on used drives depends on the provider.
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