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In general I am afraid to buy storage devices except directly from the vendor at the moment. I've heard that there's also lots of fraudulent HDDs being sold wit

by jchw 1y ago

In general I am afraid to buy storage devices except directly from the vendor at the moment. I've heard that there's also lots of fraudulent HDDs being sold with botched SMART data, even on Amazon, even marked as "New", even sold by Amazon. Scary proposition unless you're dying to test out your RAID array redundancy.

doawoo 1y ago
I wanted to upgrade my NAS with some 12TB drives and two of them in the box from Amazon had been powered on (according to the SMART data) for over a year! Thankfully got my money back.
unsnap_biceps 1y ago
I've moved over to almost exclusively buying from B&H. They generally have similar prices to other vendors and they manage their own inventory directly with manufacturers, so no concerns about fraudulent hardware.
- zargon 1y ago
  Me too, for the same reason. Also if you use their store credit card, they give a discount equal to the sales tax.
  - brudgers 1y ago
    Yep, and living in CA that’s almost 10%.
    - qingcharles 1y ago
      10.25% here! I need their store card. Jeesh, I remember the days of no sales tax on other-state transactions. The golden days.
Moru 1y ago
I'm curious with what you mean with "Even sold by Amazon". The last few years I see nothing but reports of cheap fake products over Amazon. Years ago I ordered some T-Shirts to test and they were all fake versions that barely survived the first wash. Haven't ordered anything since then.
- reeddavid 1y ago
  I think this comment references something many people don't realize: Even items that say "Ships from Amazon, Sold by Amazon" could be counterfeit, because the inventory from third party sellers is co-mingled with Amazon's own inventory. If you see "Ships from Amazon, Sold by RandomCompany" you might worry about counterfeits. But the "Sold by Amazon" item might also have been sourced from (or counterfeited by) "RandomCompany".
  - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
    I began noticing this about seven or eight years ago when the oil filters I bought changed from official ones to obvious counterfeits (certain pieces were missing entirely + media was much thinner than the real ones). Had to switch to a local auto parts supplier to guarantee the correct part.
    - dotancohen 1y ago
      How did you notice that the media was thinner? On passenger vehicles at least, the filter media is in a stainless steel cup that precludes examination.
      - marcusb 1y ago
        Not always - some passenger vehicle filters have exposed media. An example GM filter: https://parts.gmc.com/product/acdelco-gm-original-equipment-engine-oil-filter-12605566 https://parts.gmc.com/product/acdelco-gm-original-equipment-... My current car has a traditional steel-can filter. I cut those open after oil changes to inspect for debris.
      - 1y ago
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
moepstar 1y ago
> even sold by Amazon Honest question: after all the reports of co-mingled inventory, plain fakes etc. being sold by Amazon - for years i might add - do you really consider Amazon being a reliable source for anything that is not some unimportant trinket? I went from spending > 10k€ per year to less than 5%, probably not even that, on there, all by their own fault. And i see no reason to buy there anymore: - the default assumption of having the best price on the web went out of the window years ago - next (or 2) day delivery - does not happen anymore in most cases, Prime or not - even finding (!!) what you're searching for is a total sh.t show - for years, Amazon is now a front for chinese cr.p shipped by the boatload - the once useful review system has been and is being gamed, it is beyond broken these days and should not be trusted (basically forget everything that scores 4.5 or less, read all reviews and ensure that the review you're reading is not for some other variant of the item you're looking for or that the review you're looking at hasn't been swapped one item for another, because that's a thing as well on there...) I mean - buying things on Aliexpress is more trustworthy, for crying out loud - yet, most people can't seem to be bothered. scratchinghead
- trenchpilgrim 1y ago
  I quit Prime months ago and honestly the only feature I miss is fast shipping for household items. I can find the same or better prices (including shipping) from other suppliers.
  - kccqzy 1y ago
    The only reason I didn't quit Prime already is that it gives me discounts on certain items from Whole Foods. I save enough from my groceries using Prime that I don't cancel it. And Whole Foods is the grocery store closest to my home. Otherwise I rarely shop on Amazon.
    - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
      Ah, the Whole Foods in my neighborhood closed years ago - they couldn't compete with the locally owned grocery that everyone already shopped at.
chao- 1y ago
If there is a Micro Center near you, they have been reliable. I recently had to replace an entire array of SATA SSDs with models that could support DRAT/DZAT*. Their Samsung 2.5" SATA SSDs came with the original Samsung stickers sealing them, and they scanned each one to attribute it to my purchase. I'm sure it as much to protect them as me, i.e. that if I returned a drive, I gave them back the drive with the exact Device ID that originally came in that package. Nonetheless it was reassuring for me as well. *For anyone who uses SATA drives attached to an SAS HBA, please check that your SATA drives support DRAT and DZAT. Unbeknownst to you, your drives may be failing to TRIM when connected through your HBA!
- qingcharles 1y ago
  Micro Center ran one of those "Free 128GB flash drive next time you drop by!" offers last year. I picked one up. It was fake :(
  - chao- 1y ago
    A useful data point, and disappointing to hear.
pipes 1y ago
How do you buy directly from vendor? Genuine question!
- jchw 1y ago
  At the very least, Western Digital and Seagate both simply do direct sales on their websites: https://www.westerndigital.com/products https://www.westerndigital.com/products https://www.seagate.com/products/shop/ https://www.seagate.com/products/shop/
  - pipes 1y ago
    Thanks. I suppose that was obvious after all :(
alsetmusic 1y ago
Dunno about listings on Amazon, but here’s a bust of a fraud shop resetting SMART data on drives from only six days ago: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/hdds/seagate-spins-up-a-raid-on-a-counterfeit-hard-drive-workshop-authorities-read-criminals-writes-while-they-spill-the-beans https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/hdds/seagate-spin...

by jchw 1y ago

doawoo 1y ago

I wanted to upgrade my NAS with some 12TB drives and two of them in the box from Amazon had been powered on (according to the SMART data) for over a year! Thankfully got my money back.

unsnap_biceps 1y ago

I've moved over to almost exclusively buying from B&H. They generally have similar prices to other vendors and they manage their own inventory directly with manufacturers, so no concerns about fraudulent hardware.

zargon 1y ago
Me too, for the same reason. Also if you use their store credit card, they give a discount equal to the sales tax.
- brudgers 1y ago
  Yep, and living in CA that’s almost 10%.
  - qingcharles 1y ago
    10.25% here! I need their store card. Jeesh, I remember the days of no sales tax on other-state transactions. The golden days.

Moru 1y ago

I'm curious with what you mean with "Even sold by Amazon". The last few years I see nothing but reports of cheap fake products over Amazon. Years ago I ordered some T-Shirts to test and they were all fake versions that barely survived the first wash. Haven't ordered anything since then.

reeddavid 1y ago
I think this comment references something many people don't realize: Even items that say "Ships from Amazon, Sold by Amazon" could be counterfeit, because the inventory from third party sellers is co-mingled with Amazon's own inventory. If you see "Ships from Amazon, Sold by RandomCompany" you might worry about counterfeits. But the "Sold by Amazon" item might also have been sourced from (or counterfeited by) "RandomCompany".
- trenchpilgrim 1y ago
  I began noticing this about seven or eight years ago when the oil filters I bought changed from official ones to obvious counterfeits (certain pieces were missing entirely + media was much thinner than the real ones). Had to switch to a local auto parts supplier to guarantee the correct part.
  - dotancohen 1y ago
    How did you notice that the media was thinner? On passenger vehicles at least, the filter media is in a stainless steel cup that precludes examination.
    - marcusb 1y ago
      Not always - some passenger vehicle filters have exposed media. An example GM filter: https://parts.gmc.com/product/acdelco-gm-original-equipment-engine-oil-filter-12605566 https://parts.gmc.com/product/acdelco-gm-original-equipment-... My current car has a traditional steel-can filter. I cut those open after oil changes to inspect for debris.
    - 1y ago

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

moepstar 1y ago

> even sold by Amazon Honest question: after all the reports of co-mingled inventory, plain fakes etc. being sold by Amazon - for years i might add - do you really consider Amazon being a reliable source for anything that is not some unimportant trinket? I went from spending > 10k€ per year to less than 5%, probably not even that, on there, all by their own fault. And i see no reason to buy there anymore: - the default assumption of having the best price on the web went out of the window years ago - next (or 2) day delivery - does not happen anymore in most cases, Prime or not - even finding (!!) what you're searching for is a total sh.t show - for years, Amazon is now a front for chinese cr.p shipped by the boatload - the once useful review system has been and is being gamed, it is beyond broken these days and should not be trusted (basically forget everything that scores 4.5 or less, read all reviews and ensure that the review you're reading is not for some other variant of the item you're looking for or that the review you're looking at hasn't been swapped one item for another, because that's a thing as well on there...) I mean - buying things on Aliexpress is more trustworthy, for crying out loud - yet, most people can't seem to be bothered. scratchinghead

trenchpilgrim 1y ago
I quit Prime months ago and honestly the only feature I miss is fast shipping for household items. I can find the same or better prices (including shipping) from other suppliers.
- kccqzy 1y ago
  The only reason I didn't quit Prime already is that it gives me discounts on certain items from Whole Foods. I save enough from my groceries using Prime that I don't cancel it. And Whole Foods is the grocery store closest to my home. Otherwise I rarely shop on Amazon.
  - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
    Ah, the Whole Foods in my neighborhood closed years ago - they couldn't compete with the locally owned grocery that everyone already shopped at.

chao- 1y ago

If there is a Micro Center near you, they have been reliable. I recently had to replace an entire array of SATA SSDs with models that could support DRAT/DZAT*. Their Samsung 2.5" SATA SSDs came with the original Samsung stickers sealing them, and they scanned each one to attribute it to my purchase. I'm sure it as much to protect them as me, i.e. that if I returned a drive, I gave them back the drive with the exact Device ID that originally came in that package. Nonetheless it was reassuring for me as well. *For anyone who uses SATA drives attached to an SAS HBA, please check that your SATA drives support DRAT and DZAT. Unbeknownst to you, your drives may be failing to TRIM when connected through your HBA!

qingcharles 1y ago
Micro Center ran one of those "Free 128GB flash drive next time you drop by!" offers last year. I picked one up. It was fake :(
- chao- 1y ago
  A useful data point, and disappointing to hear.

pipes 1y ago

How do you buy directly from vendor? Genuine question!

jchw 1y ago
At the very least, Western Digital and Seagate both simply do direct sales on their websites: https://www.westerndigital.com/products https://www.westerndigital.com/products https://www.seagate.com/products/shop/ https://www.seagate.com/products/shop/
- pipes 1y ago
  Thanks. I suppose that was obvious after all :(

alsetmusic 1y ago

Dunno about listings on Amazon, but here’s a bust of a fraud shop resetting SMART data on drives from only six days ago: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/hdds/seagate-spins-up-a-raid-on-a-counterfeit-hard-drive-workshop-authorities-read-criminals-writes-while-they-spill-the-beans https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/hdds/seagate-spin...