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How Not to Buy a SSD

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Re: How Not to Buy a SSD

#41

Post by Ekaros »

senectus1 wrote: post #2

Had the same issue with a Crucial drive from amazon. looked just like the real thing but for some small discrepancies. Performed like an absolute dog and the SMART data was waaaay off. amazon just refunded me the whole amount and I pulled it apart to see what was inside: https://imgur.com/a/NUSuuEh quite annoying, though also amusing.

Pretty much what is expected from lower capacity SSD. Flash memory does not take that much space. And if you are not at top of range you do not need to populate all grids.

Re: How Not to Buy a SSD

#42

Post by senectus1 »

Cervisia wrote: post #19
senectus1 wrote: post #2

Had the same issue with a Crucial drive from amazon. looked just like the real thing but for some small discrepancies. Performed like an absolute dog and the SMART data was waaaay off. amazon just refunded me the whole amount and I pulled it apart to see what was inside: https://imgur.com/a/NUSuuEh quite annoying, though also amusing.

There is nothing obviously suspicious with what's inside. The SATA form factor was designed for HDDs; solid-state drives usually are not much larger than a M.2 drive. These flash part numbers look like Intel. This is actually plausible; until 2018, Intel and Micron had a flash partnership. And while their Crucial brand has some good high-end drives, they are also willing to sell absolute bottom-of-the-barrel trash. W…

yeah sorry i dont have those deets anymore.. I remember they gave a lot less information than another one of the same make model and size.. I also remember the official FW refused to see the device.

It was 2 years ago.. so thats all i have :-P

Re: How Not to Buy a SSD

#43

Post by thisislife2 »

crinkly wrote: post #13

I usually buy second hand enterprise SSDs off eBay. No one bothers to fake them and they last longer than the consumer ones even if they are a few years old.

I hear this a lot online - buy used enterprise stuff online, it'll be cheaper and lasts long (at least you get your money's worth). But when you start to explore the online market for these used enterprise hardware, you find that nobody really sells it for cheap any more, at a price that makes sense to buy it. For example, if a new enterprise class SSD is $250, you may find a used one for $125. But then, brand new consumer SSDs of the same capacity are also available for $125 with warranty. At that point, it doesn't make any sense to buy used hardware, enterprise or otherwise, with no real guarantees of how usable it is. I feel the used hardware markets has also been cornered and monopolised by a few sellers, and you really have to hunt hard for a true bargain. (Maybe on Craigslist?).

Re: How Not to Buy a SSD

#44

Post by encrypted_bird »

yonatan8070 wrote: post #34

I recently got a new 4TB Seagate drive from the biggest computer/electronics retailers here, it was shipped in the worst way I've ever seen a hard drive shipped. An anti-static bag, inside of one of those slightly padded envelopes you get when you order an Arduino from AliExpress. Naturally, it had a big dent on one of the corners, and it started clicking the moment I plugged it in. It was replaced with a working uni…

What was the name of the retailer?

Re: How Not to Buy a SSD

#45

Post by traceroute66 »

moepstar wrote: post #9
jchw wrote: post #4

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.

> 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 defau…

> do you really consider Amazon being a reliable source for anything that is not some unimportant trinket?

Not the person you're asking, but yes, I do.

You know the biggest reason wny ?

Their no-bullshit returns policy.

Seriously. Click button, get your returns label. The refund is sent to you as soon as the courier or post office has scanned the barcode.

Hell, sometimes Amazon just refund you and don't even want the item returned !

You don't get that anywhere else. At most other vendors you have to fight to even get a returns label. And even if those other vendors give you a returns label without a fight, you have to wait until their warehouse has processed your return and hope that you don't get charged a restocking fee or they try to claim some bullshit excuse about you having lightly scratched something.

Oh, you want to know another reason too ?

I don't like spreading my personal data far and wide.

Yeah, sure I'm sure I could buy my widget from some random shop. Probably at a cheaper price than Amazon too, I'm sure.

But that means another place with my personal data on their database.

Open to that company spamming me, and the Russians hacking them and spaffing my personal data all over the darkweb.

Say what you like about Amazon. But I think their Infosec practices are pretty good.

Re: How Not to Buy a SSD

#46

Post by dotancohen »

zh3 wrote: post #27
gmac wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve seen this stated many times on HN, but never knowingly experienced it with Amazon in the UK. Is it possible this varies by market?

Amazon UK With replacement phone or laptop batteries, most definitely. I've seen other stuff sold that looked sketchy enough to not be worth the risk.

Most definitely what? There are counterfeits, or there are not counterfeits?

Re: How Not to Buy a SSD

#47

Post by fx1994 »

Moru wrote: post #7
jchw wrote: post #4

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.

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.

Lots of stuff on Amazon is also from Aliexpress or Temu. Crap, so if I need crap I'll try it on Aliexpress.

Re: How Not to Buy a SSD

#48

Post by dotancohen »

trenchpilgrim wrote: post #16
reeddavid wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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) "Random…

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.

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.

Re: How Not to Buy a SSD

#49

Post by dotancohen »

mook wrote: post #29
kaelwd wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon is literally just aliexpress with faster shipping at this point.

Hmm, does AliExpress do inventory commingling too? I see that they do seem to have something about managed inventories… because I was originally going to say that things bought from "flagship stores" on AliExpress might be more likely to be authentic, but now I'm unsure.

Cables and chargers I will only buy from the official Ugreen store on AliExpress. They are excellent. All other cables and chargers I've seen on AliExpress on junk firestarters waiting to happen.

Re: How Not to Buy a SSD

#50

Post by traceroute66 »

Moru wrote: post #30
jchw wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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? Not really 100% sure why you're getting down-voted (edit: I guess not anymore. Comment was gray when I replied.), but to answer your question, no. I do not trust Amazon for anything imp…

I go out of my way to support local business. I don't care if I have to wait a day or two more. So be it. I am NOT supporting amazon.

> I go out of my way to support local business.

Let me tell you a little story my friend ....

Near my friend's house, there used to be a little mulit-generation "mom & pop" hardware shop.

It was an aladdin's cave. As a customer the place looked a mess, floor to ceiling (and even the ceiling !) covered in hardware widgets. But the owner could wave his magic wand and go find exactly what you wanted.

One day, across the street, a new shop opened. It was the "click & collect" branch for a large national hardware retailer.

All the builders and electricians that used to shop at the little shop moved over to the large retailer because they had all their trade discounts.

The little shop couldn't survive on the random home owner just popping into buy a single screw or a short length of cable. So they shut down.

Fast forward a few years and along comes Mr Property Developer. Takes one look at the patch where the large national retailer's shop is and thinks "ooh, that looks nice".

So they bought out those shops, knocked them down and turned the plot into a high-rise instead. But the national retailer survived because by then most people were getting stuff delivered to site from online orders by couriers and not doing many collections.

So dream all you like about "support your local business". But the reality is that its more like Darwin's theory of evolution out there. Those who can adapt thrive. Those who don't will be eaten by a predator.

The reality is its 2025, we live in an ever increasing online world, and all these "local businesses" of which you speak need to learn that online footfall is just as important (if not more important) than the traditional walk-in footfall.

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