Hard Drive

The risk of buying used hard drives falsely advertised as new is increasing. Fraudsters manipulate QR codes and serial numbers to hide prior use, with reports of some drives logging over 27,000 hours before being resold. Specifically, fraudsters are targeting Seagate Exos and IronWolf Pro HDDs.

Using fraudulent drives can compromise data security, reduce reliability, and create compliance risks. Worn-out components reduce performance and increase failure rates, leading to potential data loss and system downtime. To ensure authenticity, it is recommended to always purchase from manufacturer-authorized distributors.

When customers choose to buy Seagate Exos drives from 45Drives, they are choosing to buy from trusted and authorized distributor. it an authorized arrive to customers factory-fresh and sealed from Seagate, untouched and never repackaged. Whether buying new or receiving an RMA replacement, you can trust your drive is exactly as it should be—new and factory-sealed.

However, we recognize this issue affects organizations who did not purchase drives from us. In the spirit of openness and transparency, we’ve developed a free, easy-to-use tool that details drive usage, ensuring you get what you paid for. This tool is publicly accessible and can be downloaded below or from our Github for all to use.

Click below to download the Drive Checker for your operating system (client OS, not server OS).