After fraud involving Exos drives from Seagate, it now appears that used drives from the Ironwolf series are being sold as new.
Distributors in Germany are believed to be accidentally selling Ironwolf hard drives from Seagate that have already been used. In January, fraud came to light with Exos drives from the manufacturer. These were sold as new, although in reality they already had tens of thousands of hours behind them. Someone had wiped the SMART data, but a more sophisticated FARM test allowed users to discover the real life of their supposedly new drives.
The German website Heise.be discovered the fraud. The same website now notes that the same problems are occurring with Ironwolf and Ironwolf Pro drives. Exos drives are aimed at servers, while Ironwolf range is meant for NAS devices.
New sticker
Again, SMART data has been erased, but FARM analyses are working. This time the fraud continues, and serial numbers appear to have been altered. A counterfeit sticker with the production date additionally states that the drives were recently manufactured. Still, some drives show signs of use.
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It is unclear how widespread the fraud is, and whether used drives are also being sold as new in Belgium. Seagate previously indicated it had nothing to do with the barge. The company does not sell the fraudulent drives itself. In a conversation with a victim, Seagate allegedly confirmed the fraud. It also revealed that a drive for the U.S. market had found its way to Europe.
How the used discs got into circulation remains a mystery.