Buyer Beware

[Garno]

Yesterday I wrote a new thread regarding a "bargain" external SSD I had found on Amazon Just found this

Update:- All worked well for a few hours and I attempted to register it, firstly the utility pack that comes with it (bundled) did not and would not install, this is needed to get the serial number required for registration. To get around this I downloaded the bundle direct from WD and tried to register it, I did not hold out too much hope of being able to due to it being a "used" item, however WD did not even recognise the serial number let alone it being pre - registered.

Just after that it stopped working for a while then started sporadically, One of the things available on the WD "bundle" is a disc checker, it actually has 3 tests check 1 lasts a few seconds and I got a green tick ( whoopiedoo) the second test last appx 2 minutes, after 30 minutes the drive had crashed and was fully unresponsive. Test 3 was a full test and was to take between 2 to 3 hours to complete, after 20 or so minutes it stopped the test and left a message in red saying "This drive has failed the test"

I then tried moving everything back onto my main computer and had problems doing that cleanly but managed it in the end (I hope). Whilst checking the serial number of the drive I did notice that the firmware was dated 2005, I don't know if that bares any importance or not but in all honesty I did expect the firmware to be of a nearer date than that. Amazon have been fine about it all and have arranged for Hermes to collect it tomorrow when they will issue a refund back onto my gift cards (my original payment method) and I shall then order a new version and keep my fingers crossed that all is fine.

I may have just been unlucky in the one I had and others from the same seller may be fine to use, but too many red flags have been raised for me to take that risk, I am not going to slag off the seller due to the fact that this may be an isolated incident but I will advise caution if you are thinking of buying one, the one you get may run perfectly and I hope it does, Sometimes bargains are only for the lucky people in life.

Gary

 

[thetyreman]

oh dear! I was going to say there is a popular one star review of it, you should be fine in terms of getting your money back with amazon, I've never had a problem with that.

 

[Duncan A]

Firmware dated 2005. On a NVMe SSD?
I wouldn't have thought that very likely.
Couldn't be a conventional HD inside could it?
Duncan

 

[Spectric]

a "bargain" external SSD I had found on Amazon

I do wonder where the term bargain came from, it might just be me but I have never really found anything that could be termed a bargain, have seen a lot of stuff that could be classed as bargain basement though.

I would advise you to look into DAM, or digital asset management and it should change your outlook on bargain storage anything. The very first thing you need to accept is that your files are valuable if only to yourself and you may have invested considerable time and effort in creating them not to mention hours of research and therefore you need a good regular system to keep them all backed up. I use four pen drives, and two sets of DVD's and these are then also all duplicated and saved away from my residence so my files are all safe. You can put literally days into writing a single software function or a detailed 2D cad drawing so value them and only buy storage devices from known reputable suppliers and brands. I do use a lot of Western digital and Hitachi drives and purchase from places like Scan and Overclockers because they also understand the concepts of DAM and the value of your files.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Unfortunately this is the classic Chinese knock off product. When buying things like this in China you actually sit with the vendor while they prove it is actually what it claims to be. Many of these are not the stated size, speed or in some cases even SSD.

 

[Spectric]

The problem that Paul mentions is a serious issue because apart from computer components like drives they also do dodgy battery cells, Pen drives, wall chargers, power supplies, etc and then it gets worse because you get decent quality branded equipment that has been unintentionally manufactured using maybe just one fake component that lets the whole thing down, and this can find it's way into many areas of industry, utilities and medical where it could be life dependant. I have seen rolls of fake cable branded as being a quality item but when tested by the genuine OEM the copper was very low grade with impurities, and even some PLC's that were very obviously fake and yet people still take a chance and buy cheap asian goods like VFD's for woodworking machinery.

 

[silentsam]

I may have just been unlucky in the one I had and others from the same seller may be fine to use, but too many red flags have been raised for me to take that risk, I am not going to slag off the seller due to the fact that this may be an isolated incident but I will advise caution if you are thinking of buying one, the one you get may run perfectly and I hope it does, Sometimes bargains are only for the lucky people in life.

Gary

You should reconsider and possibly give them a negative feedback. If someone else who had the same issues had done that it would have saved you the hassle.

 

[Garno]

Unfortunately this is the classic Chinese knock off product. When buying things like this in China you actually sit with the vendor while they prove it is actually what it claims to be. Many of these are not the stated size, speed or in some cases even SSD.

I think I may have found out the problems a lot faster than others, I say that because it was running ok for a few hours. I have a 6TB as my D:/ drive and 6TB as my F:/ drive (That is external and none SSD) my C:/ drive is 250GB SSD. What I wanted the 1TB SSD NVMe drive for was to run 2 games fully modded (Skyrim SE and Fallout 4) Yes I know I'm far too old to be playing computer games let alone modding them

Had I only been using it to store pics of the family and our last 10 years of electricity and gas bills I may have never hit a problem. The more I think about it the more I am inclined to agree that it could well be a copy and I only have myself to blame for buying it, let this be a lesson to us all, when you have spent days researching what would be the best buy and something pops up that meets all of the criteria as well as such a cheap price that is the time to hold back and take stock. Fortunately after explaining it all to Amazon they have sorted out the return.

Edited to change size of C:/ drive to 250GB up from 25GB

 

[Garno]

You should reconsider and possibly give them a negative feedback. If someone else who had the same issues had done that it would have saved you the hassle.

You are right, It makes sense to do so, thank you

 

[Garno]

You should reconsider and possibly give them a negative feedback. If someone else who had the same issues had done that it would have saved you the hassle.

Now done

 

[sometimewoodworker]

I do wonder where the term bargain came from

bargain; something you not want at a price you can not refuse.

 

[Spectric]

But I strongly believe in that if it sounds too good to be true then it is too good to be true, I think it plays with peoples minds and blinds them. People who think that they are getting a good deal when offered a meal for "Only £5" are not getting a good deal but probably £1.50 worth of yesterdays left overs.

You will only get what you pay for, but upto a point because you have the junk at the bottom, the middle where the rule basicaly applies and then the top end where you get ripped off and pay OTT for less.

 

[D_W]

low cost memory cards, drives, thumb drives, etc. on amazon on this side of the water tend to be fake. e.g., 2gb memory cards turn out to be 256mb cards.

The chance of getting a deal and having it be "real" and reliable is not great.

The brand name makers seem to be chasing lower prices, too, as reviews tend to suggest the branded stuff is getting less reliable on the small memory bits. I would assume either some of the listings are fraud/counterfeit, or the premium makers are making easy money on their name in lower ranges by getting aliexpress quality goods and slapping their brand on them.

 

[Spectric]

I test all memory devices as soon as I get them and if they are not as described they go straight back.

H2testw and FakeFlashTest are some I use but how long before the test software becomes fake!

 

[Garno]

I have tried posting the following on Amazon but for some reason they are reviewing it before showing it and have said if it is about the seller they may move it to his/her page

This review is being made in the hope others do not do what I did.

I purchased this for the bargain price of £83.99 from InnovativeIdeas you will find them by clicking on the new and used offers where it gives the add to bag option (Purchase) They claim that the item is "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING" , I dare say that amongst other things they would claim is that planet Earth is flat and the moon is made of cheese. Well we all know that planet Earth is not flat ....

I purchased this item not because Planet Earth is flat nor because the moon is made of cheese but because of their claims that it was "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING", Oh, and the fact it was so cheap, us pensioners need to watch our pennies.

So I ordered it at 9pm 5th April 2021 and it duly arrived the next day before 5pm, I opened the Amazon box it came in and found it was packed inside a small jiffy bag along with a small lead, this did not surprise me, after all they had already said it is "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING" I took it out of the bag and hooked it up to the computer. The computer recognised it immediately and that held no big surprise because it was "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING" after all.

I did a lot of research regarding this particular model after ordering it (on the strength of it being "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING") well I say research what I really mean is I looked at a few websites that I have never heard of before and watched loads of YouTube Video's. I enjoyed being able to fast forward past the unpacking parts on the video's as I had no need to watch that due to mine being "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING", us old folk manage to find enjoyment out of the minutest of things in life, What I learnt or gathered or even assumed was that it would be unlikely to get the full advertised speeds of the Drive and indeed most seem to be getting around 750MBS (not sure if the MBS should be in capitals or not, it all confuses me) when using Crystaldisk or crystalmark again not sure what one, anyway 750 whatever they are is absolutely phenomenal compared with a normal HDD, it does slow down a little but not by any great shouts. So I installed the crystal whatever it is and ran a test on mine and got a result of 420MBS, well that result put me right off my Ovaltine for the night, my chin hit the floor so hard and with such a thud that our 3 cats were queueing up at the catflap ready to leave home, whatever had happened to my other 330MBS (or what ever they are)? because the only difference between the one I got and a new one was the packaging not being with mine, I know this because the seller InnovativeIdeas have said mine will be "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING"

Undeterred I went back to Google who put me in touch with YouTube, once again I found myself researching and what I discovered was a little worrying, it seems the generation before this one was giving out those speeds (under the right conditions I should add), well I knew my one was from the latest generation as it states that at the pricing on this page and because mine was "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING" new generation as well.
I tried not to let the mystery of the missing 330MBS (or whatever they are called) worry me, I tempted the cats back into the house with some catnip and started to transfer some files over, I have to give credit where credit is due and say the speeds were impressive even without the missing 330MBS (or whatever they are).

I then went onto the WD site to register drive because it was after all "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING" but to do so it needs the serial number. To get the serial number you need to use the WD App on the drive, the app was very easy to find due to it being 1 of 2 apps on the drive one is for windows the other is for Mac (who ever he is) You get, or I got, one option only and that is to click the install button, I went ahead and clicked it and watched the drive do what it's designed to do, except it didn't, it started off great then 2 things happened, it stopped installing three quarters of the way through (I know this because of the big green bar) and secondly the cats made a beeline for the cat flap. I tried another 5 times and it always stopped at the same spot.

By this time it has to said I was becoming a little flummoxed, had I purchased one that is second hand? so I came here and checked, after checking I was now certain that the one I got was "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING" Not to be beaten I went back to the WD website and had a bit of a look around for a solution as to how I could register it with no serial number, then it occurred to me I was looking for the wrong thing, instead of looking for solutions for no serial number why not see if I could download and install the app that was not fully installing. Well I found it downloaded it and it installed correctly and I finally had access to the serial number.

I went back to the WD site, the cats came back in and curled up in front of the tele and I proceeded to register this "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING" device. I put in all of the info, hit the submit button, and regained my appetite for my Olvaltine. Nothing happened, not a thing, absolute silence. I then noticed a note at the top asking me to put in the correct information, I knew my name and address were correct, my Email was correct, the product was correct, what else could it be? Then at roughly the same time as the cats once again reached the catflap I realised it was the serial number, the fact it was highlighted should of given me a clue, I retyped in the serial number again, then again and more times. Well it must be the WD site playing up because my device is "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING". I got in touch with WD who were wonderful by the way, and explained my issue, they asked me to read out my serial number, they then asked me again as they must of typed it in wrong, after the third time they said that the serial number is not one of theirs, of course it's one of yours I tell them because this device is "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING"

It takes more than that to disgruntle this O.A.P.

10 minutes later I was disgruntled, this "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING" device decided to stop working, totally freeze up for a few minutes, on the WD app it allows you to check the drive, it has up to 3 tests that it can do, the first test was to last mere seconds and it gave me a big green tick, The second test was to last up to 2 minutes, some 20 minutes later it still had not finished, that could of been because the drive had once again froze, the third test was to last 2 to 3 hours well it didn't it lasted 15 - 20 minutes then gave up with a message saying "This drive has failed the test" or something similar. On the app for the drive it also stated that the firmware was dated 2005 yes 16 years old.

I have informed Amazon of all of the above but left out the part with the cats and the Ovaltine and they are refunding me, the "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING" device is being collected tomorrow. There is a good possibility I will get a new one when refunded. This is not the fault or WD or Amazon nor is it a critique of the product as I have yet to see how a real new one is. Below is a short version that I have posted on the sellers page.
By the way have I mentioned it was supposed to be "BRAND NEW JUST WITHOUT THE PACKAGING"

WD 1TB SSD NVMe drive stopped working after a few hours. Serial number not recognised by the manufacturer. Utility pack to get serial # from would not install so had to get it from manufacturer, failed 2 out of 3 drive tests in utility pack, Firmware dated 2005, when it did work it was very sporadic. That's all of the positive stuff out of the way. nothing else is good.

 

[Spectric]

Have used Wd drives for many years going way back to the days of SCSI and can honestly say they have been reliable and given me no problems and I still purchase WD black drives to this day. Will also be buying this one in the near future to use only for my OS in a new build

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/250...ead-550mb-s-write-525mb-s-95k-81k-iops-retail

 

[JohnPW]

As mentioned, this is a secondhand item from a third party seller on Amazon. The review should be left for the seller, not on the product page.

With items where you have to depend on the brand and you can't really tell what's the quality or if it's fake, eg electronic goods, I always buy from Amazon itself.

BTW, 1TB internal SSDs are about £80-100, which becomes an external drive if you put in an USB enclosure.

 

[Garno]

BTW, 1TB internal SSDs are about £80-100, which becomes an external drive if you put in an USB enclosure.

I have never heard of those, Would I need to get one that is a 3.1 (blue) it may be a better option.

 

[Padster]

To be frank, disk drives and memory are the few times I will pay extra and only buy either direct or from reputable companies. I have recently purchased a new NAS by WD (My Cloud 2 drive version, RAID1) and bought direct, it was nearly £50 cheaper than elsewhere (surprising although included discount for registering to site). Memory & internal ssd I got from Crucial a couple of years ago no issues and 'known' good with warranty because if I'm trusting photos or documents (memories basically) it's not worth the risk to cut corners (even though I also take backups!).
It also means I have re-purposed the aforementioned ssd into USB enclosure (as per JohnPW these are dirt cheap just buy mid range with good reviews) to give additional external storage, now the original machine died knowing the ssd will still be good for years.

Garno, Sorry as it's a bit after the horse has bolted but advice worth passing on I believe (and dare I say I work in IT).

 

[Spectric]

Remember that solid state drives do have a limited lifespan and is really their only downside, but another aspect to keep an eye on is the storage format. We all know how technology is fast paced and seems to be forever changing and this can catch people out if you are using non proprietry software. Good example is photography where if you shoot in the RAW format the file is saved in the camera manufacturers own format which for me was NEF being a Nikon user. To ensure my files were future proof I would convert from NEF into Adobe Dng which is an open source format. Another catch out for me was some electrical design files I had produced in a program and when I needed them I knew I would need to re-install the software to read them BUT the software will not run under Windows 10, I kast used it under XP. So just something to bear in mid when saving things like photos and memories for later use.