Question: I just installed several new HDDs in a machine and I happened to notice one of them had two errors reported, so I ran smartctl -x on it and got this:

smartctl 6.5 2016-01-24 r4214 [x86_64-linux-4.4.0-141-generic] (local build)Copyright (C) 2002-16, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===Model Family: ?Hitachi/HGST Ultrastar 7K4000Device Model: ?HGST HUS724040ALA640Serial Number: ?[REDACTED]LU WWN Device Id: [REDACTED]Firmware Version: MFAOAC50User Capacity: ?4,000,787,030,016 bytes [4.00 TB]Sector Size: ?512 bytes logical/physicalRotation Rate: ?7200 rpmForm Factor: ?3.5 inchesDevice is: ?In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]ATA Version is: ?ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4SATA Version is: ?SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)Local Time is: ?Tue Jan ?1 05:33:21 2019 PSTSMART support is: Available – device has SMART capability.SMART support is: EnabledAAM feature is: ?UnavailableAPM feature is: ?DisabledRd look-ahead is: EnabledWrite cache is: ?EnabledATA Security is: ?Disabled, NOT FROZEN [SEC1]Wt Cache Reorder: Enabled=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSEDGeneral SMART Values:Offline data collection status: ?(0x82) Offline data collection activity ??was completed without error. ??Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.Self-test execution status: ?( ?0) The previous self-test routine completed ??without error or no self-test has ever ??been run.Total time to complete Offline data collection: ?( ?24) seconds.Offline data collectioncapabilities: ?(0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate. ??Auto Offline data collection on/off support. ??Suspend Offline collection upon new ??command. ??Offline surface scan supported. ??Self-test supported. ??No Conveyance Self-test supported. ??Selective Self-test supported.SMART capabilities: ?(0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering ??power-saving mode. ??Supports SMART auto save timer.Error logging capability: ?(0x01) Error logging supported. ??General Purpose Logging supported.Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ?( ?1) minutes.Extended self-test routinerecommended polling time: ?( 543) minutes.SCT capabilities: ?(0x003d) SCT Status supported. ??SCT Error Recovery Control supported. ??SCT Feature Control supported. ??SCT Data Table supported.SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME ?FLAGS ?VALUE WORST THRESH FAIL RAW_VALUE ?1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate ?PO-R– ?100 ?100 ?016 ?- ?0 ?2 Throughput_Performance ?P-S— ?138 ?138 ?054 ?- ?74 ?3 Spin_Up_Time ?POS— ?100 ?100 ?024 ?- ?572 ?4 Start_Stop_Count ?-O–C- ?100 ?100 ?000 ?- ?8 ?5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct ?PO–CK ?100 ?100 ?005 ?- ?0 ?7 Seek_Error_Rate ?PO-R– ?100 ?100 ?067 ?- ?0 ?8 Seek_Time_Performance ?P-S— ?142 ?142 ?020 ?- ?25 ?9 Power_On_Hours ?-O–C- ?100 ?100 ?000 ?- ?520 10 Spin_Retry_Count ?PO–C- ?100 ?100 ?060 ?- ?0 12 Power_Cycle_Count ?-O–CK ?100 ?100 ?000 ?- ?8192 Power-Off_Retract_Count -O–CK ?100 ?100 ?000 ?- ?16193 Load_Cycle_Count ?-O–C- ?100 ?100 ?000 ?- ?16194 Temperature_Celsius ?-O—- ?166 ?166 ?000 ?- ?36 (Min/Max 22/56)196 Reallocated_Event_Count -O–CK ?100 ?100 ?000 ?- ?0197 Current_Pending_Sector ?-O—K ?100 ?100 ?000 ?- ?0198 Offline_Uncorrectable ?—R– ?100 ?100 ?000 ?- ?0199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count ?-O-R– ?200 ?200 ?000 ?- ?0 ??||||||_ K auto-keep ??|||||__ C event count ??||||___ R error rate ??|||____ S speed/performance ??||_____ O updated online ??|______ P prefailure warningGeneral Purpose Log Directory Version 1SMART ?Log Directory Version 1 [multi-sector log support]Address ?Access ?R/W ?Size ?Description0x00 ?GPL,SL ?R/O ?1 ?Log Directory0x01 ?SL ?R/O ?1 ?Summary SMART error log0x03 ?GPL ?R/O ?1 ?Ext. Comprehensive SMART error log0x04 ?GPL ?R/O ?7 ?Device Statistics log0x06 ?SL ?R/O ?1 ?SMART self-test log0x07 ?GPL ?R/O ?1 ?Extended self-test log0x08 ?GPL ?R/O ?2 ?Power Conditions log0x09 ?SL ?R/W ?1 ?Selective self-test log0x10 ?GPL ?R/O ?1 ?SATA NCQ Queued Error log0x11 ?GPL ?R/O ?1 ?SATA Phy Event Counters log0x20 ?GPL ?R/O ?1 ?Streaming performance log [OBS-8]0x21 ?GPL ?R/O ?1 ?Write stream error log0x22 ?GPL ?R/O ?1 ?Read stream error log0x80-0x9f ?GPL,SL ?R/W ?16 ?Host vendor specific log0xe0 ?GPL,SL ?R/W ?1 ?SCT Command/Status0xe1 ?GPL,SL ?R/W ?1 ?SCT Data TransferSMART Extended Comprehensive Error Log Version: 1 (1 sectors)Device Error Count: 2 ?CR ?= Command Register ?FEATR ?= Features Register ?COUNT ?= Count (was: Sector Count) Register ?LBA_48 = Upper bytes of LBA High/Mid/Low Registers ] ?ATA-8 ?LH ?= LBA High (was: Cylinder High) Register ?] ?LBA ?LM ?= LBA Mid (was: Cylinder Low) Register ?] Register ?LL ?= LBA Low (was: Sector Number) Register ?] ?DV ?= Device (was: Device/Head) Register ?DC ?= Device Control Register ?ER ?= Error register ?ST ?= Status registerPowered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed asDDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It “wraps” after 49.710 days.Error 2 [1] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 16878 hours (703 days + 6 hours) ?When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. ?After command completion occurred, registers were: ?ER — ST COUNT ?LBA_48 ?LH LM LL DV DC ?– — — == — == == == — — — — — ?40 — 51 00 0f 00 01 12 cd a0 31 02 00 ?Error: UNC at LBA = 0x112cda031 = 4610433073 ?Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: ?CR FEATR COUNT ?LBA_48 ?LH LM LL DV DC ?Powered_Up_Time ?Command/Feature_Name ?– == — == — == == == — — — — — ?————— ?——————– ?60 00 10 00 10 00 01 12 cd a0 30 40 00 ?1d+08:13:30.021 ?READ FPDMA QUEUED ?61 00 10 00 00 00 01 12 63 a0 30 40 00 ?1d+08:13:30.021 ?WRITE FPDMA QUEUED ?60 00 10 00 00 00 01 12 cc a0 30 40 00 ?1d+08:13:30.017 ?READ FPDMA QUEUED ?61 00 10 00 10 00 01 12 62 a0 30 40 00 ?1d+08:13:30.011 ?WRITE FPDMA QUEUED ?60 00 10 00 00 00 01 12 cb a0 30 40 00 ?1d+08:13:30.004 ?READ FPDMA QUEUEDError 1 [0] occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 10610 hours (442 days + 2 hours) ?When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. ?After command completion occurred, registers were: ?ER — ST COUNT ?LBA_48 ?LH LM LL DV DC ?– — — == — == == == — — — — — ?40 — 51 01 34 00 01 12 f9 3a fc 02 00 ?Error: UNC at LBA = 0x112f93afc = 4613290748 ?Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: ?CR FEATR COUNT ?LBA_48 ?LH LM LL DV DC ?Powered_Up_Time ?Command/Feature_Name ?– == — == — == == == — — — — — ?————— ?——————– ?60 00 08 00 10 00 00 00 00 01 2c 40 00 ?2d+01:26:34.533 ?READ FPDMA QUEUED ?61 00 10 00 08 00 00 57 04 60 00 40 00 ?2d+01:26:33.675 ?WRITE FPDMA QUEUED ?60 02 00 00 00 00 01 12 f9 3a 30 40 00 ?2d+01:26:33.386 ?READ FPDMA QUEUED ?60 02 00 00 00 00 01 12 f9 38 30 40 00 ?2d+01:26:33.384 ?READ FPDMA QUEUED ?60 02 00 00 00 00 01 12 f9 36 30 40 00 ?2d+01:26:33.382 ?READ FPDMA QUEUEDSMART Extended Self-test Log Version: 1 (1 sectors)Num ?Test_Description ?Status ??Remaining ?LifeTime(hours) ?LBA_of_first_error# 1 ?Short offline ?Completed without error ?00% ?26741 ?-SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN ?MIN_LBA ?MAX_LBA ?CURRENT_TEST_STATUS ?1 ?0 ?0 ?Not_testing ?2 ?0 ?0 ?Not_testing ?3 ?0 ?0 ?Not_testing ?4 ?0 ?0 ?Not_testing ?5 ?0 ?0 ?Not_testingSelective self-test flags (0x0): ?After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.SCT Status Version: ??3SCT Version (vendor specific): ?256 (0x0100)SCT Support Level: ??1Device State: ??Active (0)Current Temperature: ??36 CelsiusPower Cycle Min/Max Temperature: ?35/38 CelsiusLifetime ?Min/Max Temperature: ?22/56 CelsiusUnder/Over Temperature Limit Count: ?0/0SCT Temperature History Version: ?2Temperature Sampling Period: ?1 minuteTemperature Logging Interval: ?1 minuteMin/Max recommended Temperature: ?0/60 CelsiusMin/Max Temperature Limit: ?-40/70 CelsiusTemperature History Size (Index): ?128 (43)Index ?Estimated Time ?Temperature Celsius ?44 ?2019-01-01 03:26 ?37 ?****************** … ?..( 15 skipped). ?.. ?****************** ?60 ?2019-01-01 03:42 ?37 ?****************** ?61 ?2019-01-01 03:43 ?36 ?***************** … ?..( 20 skipped). ?.. ?***************** ?82 ?2019-01-01 04:04 ?36 ?***************** ?83 ?2019-01-01 04:05 ?35 ?**************** … ?..( ?2 skipped). ?.. ?**************** ?86 ?2019-01-01 04:08 ?35 ?**************** ?87 ?2019-01-01 04:09 ?36 ?***************** ?88 ?2019-01-01 04:10 ?36 ?***************** ?89 ?2019-01-01 04:11 ?35 ?**************** … ?..( 40 skipped). ?.. ?**************** ?2 ?2019-01-01 04:52 ?35 ?**************** ?3 ?2019-01-01 04:53 ?36 ?***************** … ?..( ?4 skipped). ?.. ?***************** ?8 ?2019-01-01 04:58 ?36 ?***************** ?9 ?2019-01-01 04:59 ?37 ?****************** … ?..( 30 skipped). ?.. ?****************** ?40 ?2019-01-01 05:30 ?37 ?****************** ?41 ?2019-01-01 05:31 ?36 ?***************** ?42 ?2019-01-01 05:32 ?36 ?***************** ?43 ?2019-01-01 05:33 ?36 ?*****************SCT Error Recovery Control: ?Read: Disabled ?Write: DisabledDevice Statistics (GP Log 0x04)Page ?Offset Size ?Value Flags Description0x01 ?===== ?= ?= ?=== ?== General Statistics (rev 2) ==0x01 ?0x008 ?4 ?8 ?— ?Lifetime Power-On Resets0x01 ?0x018 ?6 ?1598892472 ?— ?Logical Sectors Written0x01 ?0x020 ?6 ?1386302 ?— ?Number of Write Commands0x01 ?0x028 ?6 ?3655763419 ?— ?Logical Sectors Read0x01 ?0x030 ?6 ?7494155 ?— ?Number of Read Commands0x03 ?===== ?= ?= ?=== ?== Rotating Media Statistics (rev 1) ==0x03 ?0x008 ?4 ?520 ?— ?Spindle Motor Power-on Hours0x03 ?0x010 ?4 ?520 ?— ?Head Flying Hours0x03 ?0x018 ?4 ?16 ?— ?Head Load Events0x03 ?0x020 ?4 ?0 ?— ?Number of Reallocated Logical Sectors0x03 ?0x028 ?4 ?0 ?— ?Read Recovery Attempts0x03 ?0x030 ?4 ?0 ?— ?Number of Mechanical Start Failures0x04 ?===== ?= ?= ?=== ?== General Errors Statistics (rev 1) ==0x04 ?0x008 ?4 ?0 ?— ?Number of Reported Uncorrectable Errors0x04 ?0x010 ?4 ?0 ?— ?Resets Between Cmd Acceptance and Completion0x05 ?===== ?= ?= ?=== ?== Temperature Statistics (rev 1) ==0x05 ?0x008 ?1 ?37 ?— ?Current Temperature0x05 ?0x010 ?1 ?35 ?N– ?Average Short Term Temperature0x05 ?0x018 ?1 ?- ?N– ?Average Long Term Temperature0x05 ?0x020 ?1 ?56 ?— ?Highest Temperature0x05 ?0x028 ?1 ?22 ?— ?Lowest Temperature0x05 ?0x030 ?1 ?41 ?N– ?Highest Average Short Term Temperature0x05 ?0x038 ?1 ?25 ?N– ?Lowest Average Short Term Temperature0x05 ?0x040 ?1 ?- ?N– ?Highest Average Long Term Temperature0x05 ?0x048 ?1 ?- ?N– ?Lowest Average Long Term Temperature0x05 ?0x050 ?4 ?0 ?— ?Time in Over-Temperature0x05 ?0x058 ?1 ?60 ?— ?Specified Maximum Operating Temperature0x05 ?0x060 ?4 ?0 ?— ?Time in Under-Temperature0x05 ?0x068 ?1 ?0 ?— ?Specified Minimum Operating Temperature0x06 ?===== ?= ?= ?=== ?== Transport Statistics (rev 1) ==0x06 ?0x008 ?4 ?60 ?— ?Number of Hardware Resets0x06 ?0x010 ?4 ?13 ?— ?Number of ASR Events0x06 ?0x018 ?4 ?0 ?— ?Number of Interface CRC Errors ??|||_ C monitored condition met ??||__ D supports DSN ??|___ N normalized valueSATA Phy Event Counters (GP Log 0x11)ID ?Size ?Value ?Description0x0001 ?2 ?0 ?Command failed due to ICRC error0x0002 ?2 ?0 ?R_ERR response for data FIS0x0003 ?2 ?0 ?R_ERR response for device-to-host data FIS0x0004 ?2 ?0 ?R_ERR response for host-to-device data FIS0x0005 ?2 ?0 ?R_ERR response for non-data FIS0x0006 ?2 ?0 ?R_ERR response for device-to-host non-data FIS0x0007 ?2 ?0 ?R_ERR response for host-to-device non-data FIS0x0009 ?2 ?1 ?Transition from drive PhyRdy to drive PhyNRdy0x000a ?2 ?2 ?Device-to-host register FISes sent due to a COMRESET0x000b ?2 ?0 ?CRC errors within host-to-device FIS0x000d ?2 ?0 ?Non-CRC errors within host-to-device FIS

As you can see, the drive’s power-on hours are 520 (which is accurate, as I’ve had it for under a month), but the two errors say they occurred at 10610 hours and 16878 hours obviously impossible.

What’s happening here? ?Are the errors real? ?Worrisome? ?Could there be some kind of “odometer tampering” going on here by my vendor?

Update

(I would have had this much earlier, but HGST Western Digital :/ is really unhelpful (why do they give OEM drives serial numbers if they’re not going to keep any info about them at all?), and slow to respond too.)

When I’d installed these, I had noticed that they didn’t have the manufacture dates on the labels like my old ones had, but I just chalked that up to the maker not printing them any more and thought nothing more of it till I saw Deltik’s great answer. ?It hadn’t occurred to me these would (or could effectively) be erased.

After my attempts to get official word from the manufacturer (‘s new owner) failed, I pulled them all and sicced my flatbed scanner on ’em, at max settings. ?By doing the old zoom-and-enhance, I was able to spot evidence of each one having been erased. ?Here’s one of the easier-to-read examples:

(Original 5717 8117px, 64.0MB .png omitted for mercy)

Reduced, redacted .jpg overview:

Original resolution cropped .png of the scene of the crime (the upper-right corner of the label):

The more eagle-eyed of you can probably already read it, but here’s a rectangle of auto-levels:

So, yeah. ?All the drives have subtle markings remaining from this deliberate attempt to defraud, and they’re all from March/April/May of 2015. ?Not quite what “new” means at the end of November 2018.

Additionally, as some of the other commenters are, I’m pretty shocked that SMART can be subverted like this. ?Isn’t most of the point of it gone if it can be reset?

I’ll be pursuing this further, believe you me. ?Watch this space.

Answer: I think that your suspicion of “odometer tampering” is correct, and it is possible. ?The recorded errors are likely real and definitely worrisome because they indicate bad sectors upon reading. ?The disk was likely wiped before making its way to you, so those bad sectors have probably been remapped.

Whoever sold you the hard drive reset the S.M.A.R.T. attributes to make it look like a new hard drive.

Anecdote

On 25 July 2015, I purchased six very similar hard drives from goHardDrive.com. ?When I checked all the disks, I experienced almost the exact same symptoms:

root@box52:~# smartctl -a /dev/sdbsmartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [x86_64-linux-3.13.0-57-generic] (local build)Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===Model Family: ?Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000Device Model: ?Hitachi HDS722020ALA330Serial Number: ?JK1101B9G7U8NFLU WWN Device Id: 5 000cca 222c38d7eFirmware Version: JKAOA3MAUser Capacity: ?2,000,398,934,016 bytes [2.00 TB]Sector Size: ?512 bytes logical/physicalRotation Rate: ?7200 rpmDevice is: ?In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]ATA Version is: ?ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4SATA Version is: ?SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/sLocal Time is: ?Thu Jul 30 13:57:13 2015 CDTSMART support is: Available – device has SMART capability.SMART support is: Enabled=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===SMART STATUS RETURN: incomplete response, ATA output registers missingSMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSEDWarning: This result is based on an Attribute check.General SMART Values:Offline data collection status: ?(0x80) Offline data collection activity ???was never started. ???Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.Self-test execution status: ?( ?0) The previous self-test routine completed ???without error or no self-test has ever ???been run.Total time to complete Offlinedata collection: ?(23653) seconds.Offline data collectioncapabilities: ??(0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate. ???Auto Offline data collection on/off support. ???Suspend Offline collection upon new ???command. ???Offline surface scan supported. ???Self-test supported. ???No Conveyance Self-test supported. ???Selective Self-test supported.SMART capabilities: ?(0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering ???power-saving mode. ???Supports SMART auto save timer.Error logging capability: ?(0x01) Error logging supported. ???General Purpose Logging supported.Short self-test routinerecommended polling time: ?( ?1) minutes.Extended self-test routinerecommended polling time: ?( 394) minutes.SCT capabilities: ?(0x003d) SCT Status supported. ???SCT Error Recovery Control supported. ???SCT Feature Control supported. ???SCT Data Table supported.SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME ?FLAG ?VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE ?UPDATED ?WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE ?1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate ?0x000b ?100 ?100 ?016 ?Pre-fail ?Always ?- ?0 ?2 Throughput_Performance ?0x0005 ?100 ?100 ?054 ?Pre-fail ?Offline ?- ?0 ?3 Spin_Up_Time ?0x0007 ?100 ?100 ?024 ?Pre-fail ?Always ?- ?0 ?4 Start_Stop_Count ?0x0012 ?100 ?100 ?000 ?Old_age ?Always ?- ?1 ?5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct ?0x0033 ?100 ?100 ?005 ?Pre-fail ?Always ?- ?2 ?7 Seek_Error_Rate ?0x000b ?100 ?100 ?067 ?Pre-fail ?Always ?- ?0 ?8 Seek_Time_Performance ?0x0005 ?100 ?100 ?020 ?Pre-fail ?Offline ?- ?0 ?9 Power_On_Hours ?0x0012 ?100 ?100 ?000 ?Old_age ?Always ?- ?0 10 Spin_Retry_Count ?0x0013 ?100 ?100 ?060 ?Pre-fail ?Always ?- ?0 12 Power_Cycle_Count ?0x0032 ?100 ?100 ?000 ?Old_age ?Always ?- ?1192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 ?100 ?100 ?000 ?Old_age ?Always ?- ?1193 Load_Cycle_Count ?0x0012 ?100 ?100 ?000 ?Old_age ?Always ?- ?1194 Temperature_Celsius ?0x0002 ?206 ?206 ?000 ?Old_age ?Always ?- ?29 (Min/Max 25/29)196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 ?100 ?100 ?000 ?Old_age ?Always ?- ?2197 Current_Pending_Sector ?0x0022 ?100 ?100 ?000 ?Old_age ?Always ?- ?0198 Offline_Uncorrectable ?0x0008 ?100 ?100 ?000 ?Old_age ?Offline ?- ?0199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count ?0x000a ?200 ?200 ?000 ?Old_age ?Always ?- ?0SMART Error Log Version: 1ATA Error Count: 2 ?CR = Command Register [HEX] ?FR = Features Register [HEX] ?SC = Sector Count Register [HEX] ?SN = Sector Number Register [HEX] ?CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX] ?CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX] ?DH = Device/Head Register [HEX] ?DC = Device Command Register [HEX] ?ER = Error register [HEX] ?ST = Status register [HEX]Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed asDDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It “wraps” after 49.710 days.Error 2 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 31311 hours (1304 days + 15 hours) ?When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. ?After command completion occurred, registers were: ?ER ST SC SN CL CH DH ?– — — — — — — ?40 51 ff 01 58 5d 08 ?Error: UNC 255 sectors at LBA = 0x085d5801 = 140335105 ?Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: ?CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC ?Powered_Up_Time ?Command/Feature_Name ?– — — — — — — — ?—————- ?——————– ?25 00 00 00 58 5d 40 00 ?9d+05:13:00.528 ?READ DMA EXT ?25 00 00 00 57 5d 40 00 ?9d+05:12:59.801 ?READ DMA EXT ?25 00 00 00 56 5d 48 00 ?9d+05:12:59.797 ?READ DMA EXT ?25 00 00 00 55 5d 48 00 ?9d+05:12:59.794 ?READ DMA EXT ?25 00 00 00 54 5d 48 00 ?9d+05:12:59.789 ?READ DMA EXTError 1 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 31243 hours (1301 days + 19 hours) ?When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. ?After command completion occurred, registers were: ?ER ST SC SN CL CH DH ?– — — — — — — ?40 51 ff 01 58 5d 08 ?Error: UNC 255 sectors at LBA = 0x085d5801 = 140335105 ?Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: ?CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC ?Powered_Up_Time ?Command/Feature_Name ?– — — — — — — — ?—————- ?——————– ?25 00 00 00 58 5d 40 00 ?41d+18:29:24.394 ?READ DMA EXT ?25 00 00 00 57 5d 48 00 ?41d+18:29:24.388 ?READ DMA EXT ?25 00 00 00 56 5d 40 00 ?41d+18:29:24.383 ?READ DMA EXT ?25 00 00 00 55 5d 40 00 ?41d+18:29:24.376 ?READ DMA EXT ?25 00 00 00 54 5d 40 00 ?41d+18:29:24.371 ?READ DMA EXTSMART Self-test log structure revision number 1Num ?Test_Description ?Status ??Remaining ?LifeTime(hours) ?LBA_of_first_error# 1 ?Short offline ?Completed without error ?00% ?0 ?-SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN ?MIN_LBA ?MAX_LBA ?CURRENT_TEST_STATUS ?1 ?0 ?0 ?Not_testing ?2 ?0 ?0 ?Not_testing ?3 ?0 ?0 ?Not_testing ?4 ?0 ?0 ?Not_testing ?5 ?0 ?0 ?Not_testingSelective self-test flags (0x0): ?After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

If it weren’t for the S.M.A.R.T. errors that they either forgot to erase or could not erase, I would have been convinced that the disks I bought were new.

Suspicious, I telephoned Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and learned that at least two of the disks had their warranties activated on 24 September 2010, almost five years before I bought them. ?The manufacturer’s warranty expired 3 years later.

In my complaint to the seller, I wrote:

?

Erasing the S.M.A.R.T. attribute values is like zeroing the odometer in a car. ?A big problem with erasing the S.M.A.R.T. attributes is that end users like me have no way of identifying whether sectors have been reallocated. ?There could be anywhere from no reallocated sectors to all of the spare sectors reallocated. ?Considering that these drives are nearly five years old with over 73.7% of the time at least one of the drives was powered on, there are very likely remapped sectors that I don’t know about.

?

goHardDrive.com has sold me at least one defective hard drive, has knowingly erased the operational history of all six hard drives, and did not reveal the used nature of any of the hard drives at the time of sale.

I also took a photograph of the hard drives:

The hard drive at the bottom of the image is a reference disk from the same manufacturer.

Notice that the reference disk has APR-2012 printed on it, showing when it was manufactured. ?The date of manufacture was removed from the six disks I bought, but not quite well enough. ?Look at the middle disk, where you can faintly make out AUG-2010.

This surely confirms the disks’ history: I bought used hard drives that had their “odometers” reset.

In the end, the seller accepted my request for a return, and I sent back all of the disks for a full refund.

Be careful with what hard drives you buy! ?It’s good that you checked them for residual signs of wear.