"New" Seagate Exos 20TB from Newegg Dead Drive Plus Additional SMART Errors

TrueNAS General
,
1

So I recently built a new PC to use as a NAS. I have everything setup and was working on getting everything up and running but ran into some drive issues. I ordered two 20TB Seagate Exos from Newegg, which is apparently already a red flag after doing some searching. One came dead, it isn’t recognized either by my NAS system or another PC I tried plugging it into, and the other is currently working but seems to be throwing a lot of errors.

I noticed initially that I was getting some alerts on the web interface. I can’t seem to include an image or a link to the alerts but yesterday I was getting “47 current unreadable sectors (Pending)” and “47 offline uncorrectable sectors”. The most recent ones this morning say 39 instead of 47.

I tried running some SMART tests as well and the short one I ran passed, but the two long ones failed with 90% remaining. See below for the output of smartctl.

root@truenas[~]# smartctl -a /dev/ada0
smartctl 7.2 2021-09-14 r5236 [FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p9 amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-20, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     ST20000NM007D-3DJ103
Serial Number:    ZVT6M5F3
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 0e5fc8ae7
Firmware Version: SN01
User Capacity:    20,000,588,955,648 bytes [20.0 TB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    7200 rpm
Form Factor:      3.5 inches
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   ACS-4 (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.3, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Sun Mar  2 08:09:34 2025 PST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82) Offline data collection activity
                                        was completed without error.
                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      ( 121) The previous self-test completed having
                                        the read element of the test failed.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:                (  559) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:                    (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                        command.
                                        Offline surface scan supported.
                                        Self-test supported.
                                        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 routine
recommended polling time:        (1692) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.
SCT capabilities:              (0x70bd) SCT Status supported.
                                        SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                                        SCT Feature Control supported.
                                        SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   080   068   044    Pre-fail  Always       -       99701864
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   091   091   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       13
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       173
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   100   253   045    Pre-fail  Always       -       222572
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       15
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       13
 18 Unknown_Attribute       0x000b   100   100   050    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   097   000    Old_age   Always       -       12885098499
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   069   063   000    Old_age   Always       -       31 (Min/Max 25/33)
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       103
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   031   040   000    Old_age   Always       -       31 (0 25 0 0 0)
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       40
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       40
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0023   100   100   001    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       10 (51 61 0)
241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       343787236
242 Total_LBAs_Read         0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       55992

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       90%        15         171957856
# 2  Short offline       Completed without error       00%        15         -
# 3  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       90%        12         171957856

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

I’ve already started the process of returning the dead drive, but I wanted to see what everyone here has to say about these results. They seem bad to me but I’m new to this.

My additional question is, if I return these two drives, how to proceed after that? Seagate does have some reputation issues, but I think I was also the victim of Newegg’s selling practice. These drives don’t have the full 5 year warranty after looking them up on Seagate’s site, and they were also shipped in a similar way to what I’ve been seeing when searching, just the drives themselves without much of any packaging or padding. I have the dead drive sitting next to me and it has some visible dents as well, which is another sign.

Is it just a case of needing to buy from a more reputable seller to get actual new drives that are competently shipped, or is it worth trying to buy from another brand?

2

I would return both.

You might have been scammed, as had many others. :pensive:

If you still have the other drive in your possession, you could use the new “FARM” option to see if it has been tampered with, if someone tried to make it appear as a “new” drive:

sudo smartctl -l farm /dev/sdX

It’s not Seagate. They have no control over vendors and resellers.

There are other places, including Amazon.

If you feel cautious about trying your luck with Seagate again, just remember that we only know about this scam because Seagate is more open about it, and they provide the “FARM” feature on their drives, unlike Western Digital, so far.

3

Failing a SMART test is a ground for return—or binning the drive. Full stop.

173 reallocated sectors is way more than anyone should find acceptable. And 40 more are on their way to join… Again, a sufficient reason to return the drive.

It’s unlikely the drive has read and written so many sectors in 15 hours. But you’ll need smartmontools 7.4 to check FARM data. Use CORE 13.3, SCALE, or boot a Linux distro from a LiveUSB.

4

So I managed to run the FARM test. It looks like there’s no issue related to this. It’s showing 17 hours of use, which makes sense. But I’m going to return it still since it still has a ton of errors. I was originally going to get replacements but I think I’ll get refunds and see what I want to do next. Whether order some more Seagate drives from somewhere else or try WD or Toshiba.

Here’s the FARM info

Seagate Field Access Reliability Metrics log (FARM) (GP Log 0xa6)
        FARM Log Page 0: Log Header
                FARM Log Version: 4.24
                Pages Supported: 6
                Log Size: 98304
                Page Size: 16384
                Heads Supported: 24
                Number of Copies: 0
                Reason for Frame Capture: 0
        FARM Log Page 1: Drive Information
                Serial Number: ZVT6M5F3
                World Wide Name: 0x5000c500e5fc8ae7
                Device Interface: SATA
                Device Capacity in Sectors: 39063650304
                Physical Sector Size: 4096
                Logical Sector Size: 512
                Device Buffer Size: 268435456
                Number of Heads: 20
                Device Form Factor: 3.5 inches
                Rotation Rate: 7200 rpm
                Firmware Rev: SN01
                ATA Security State (ID Word 128): 0x01621
                ATA Features Supported (ID Word 78): 0x016cc
                ATA Features Enabled (ID Word 79): 0x0000000000000040
                Power on Hours: 17
                Spindle Power on Hours: 15
                Head Flight Hours: 11
                Head Load Events: 122
                Power Cycle Count: 16
                Hardware Reset Count: 55
                Spin-up Time: 10 ms
                Time to ready of the last power cycle: 22561 ms
                Time drive is held in staggered spin: 0 ms
                Model Number: ST20000NM007D-3DJ103
                Drive Recording Type: CMR
                Max Number of Available Sectors for Reassignment: 18204
                Assembly Date (YYWW): 2205
                Depopulation Head Mask: 0
        FARM Log Page 2: Workload Statistics
                Total Number of Read Commands: 4710
                Total Number of Write Commands: 369537
                Total Number of Random Read Commands: 887
                Total Number of Random Write Commands: 286518
                Total Number Of Other Commands: 10476
                Logical Sectors Written: 343858028
                Logical Sectors Read: 57427
                Number of dither events during current power cycle: 13
                Number of times dither was held off during random workloads: 2
                Number of times dither was held off during sequential workloads: 0
                Number of Read commands from 0-3.125% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 4305
                Number of Read commands from 3.125-25% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 0
                Number of Read commands from 25-75% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 0
                Number of Read commands from 75-100% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 321
                Number of Write commands from 0-3.125% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 351057
                Number of Write commands from 3.125-25% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 10526
                Number of Write commands from 25-75% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 0
                Number of Write commands from 75-100% of LBA space for last 3 SMART Summary Frames: 8262
        FARM Log Page 3: Error Statistics
                Unrecoverable Read Errors: 0
                Unrecoverable Write Errors: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors: 173
                Number of Read Recovery Attempts: 0
                Number of Mechanical Start Failures: 0
                Number of Reallocated Candidate Sectors: 40
                Number of ASR Events: 13
                Number of Interface CRC Errors: 1
                Spin Retry Count: 0
                Spin Retry Count Normalized: 100
                Spin Retry Count Worst: 100
                Number of IOEDC Errors (Raw): 0
                CTO Count Total: 3
                CTO Count Over 5s: 3
                CTO Count Over 7.5s: 3
                Total Flash LED (Assert) Events: 0
                Index of the last Flash LED: 0
                Flash LED Event 0:
                        Event Information: 0x0000000000000000
                        Timestamp of Event 0 (hours): 0
                        Power Cycle Event 0: 0
                Flash LED Event 1:
                        Event Information: 0x0000000000000000
                        Timestamp of Event 1 (hours): 0
                        Power Cycle Event 1: 0
                Flash LED Event 2:
                        Event Information: 0x0000000000000000
                        Timestamp of Event 2 (hours): 0
                        Power Cycle Event 2: 0
                Flash LED Event 3:
                        Event Information: 0x0000000000000000
                        Timestamp of Event 3 (hours): 0
                        Power Cycle Event 3: 0
                Flash LED Event 4:
                        Event Information: 0x0000000000000000
                        Timestamp of Event 4 (hours): 0
                        Power Cycle Event 4: 0
                Flash LED Event 5:
                        Event Information: 0x0000000000000000
                        Timestamp of Event 5 (hours): 0
                        Power Cycle Event 5: 0
                Flash LED Event 6:
                        Event Information: 0x0000000000000000
                        Timestamp of Event 6 (hours): 0
                        Power Cycle Event 6: 0
                Flash LED Event 7:
                        Event Information: 0x0000000000000000
                        Timestamp of Event 7 (hours): 0
                        Power Cycle Event 7: 0
                Uncorrectable errors: 0
                Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read errors due to ERC: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 0:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 1:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 2:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 3:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 4:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 5:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 6:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 7:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 8:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 9:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 10:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 11:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 12:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 13:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 14:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 15:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 16:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 17:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 18:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
                Cum Lifetime Unrecoverable by head 19:
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Repeating: 0
                        Cumulative Lifetime Unrecoverable Read Unique: 0
        FARM Log Page 4: Environment Statistics
                Current Temperature (Celsius): 36
                Highest Temperature: 37
                Lowest Temperature: 30
                Average Short Term Temperature: 0
                Average Long Term Temperature: 0
                Highest Average Short Term Temperature: 0
                Lowest Average Short Term Temperature: 0
                Highest Average Long Term Temperature: 0
                Lowest Average Long Term Temperature: 0
                Time In Over Temperature (minutes): 0
                Time In Under Temperature (minutes): 0
                Specified Max Operating Temperature: 60
                Specified Min Operating Temperature: 5
                Current Relative Humidity: 0
                Current Motor Power: 4882
                Current 12 volts: 12.272
                Minimum 12 volts: 11.992
                Maximum 12 volts: 12.272
                Current 5 volts: 4.845
                Minimum 5 volts: 4.845
                Maximum 5 volts: 5.052
                12V Power Average: 0.000
                12V Power Minimum: 0.000
                12V Power Maximum: 0.000
                5V Power Average: 0.000
                5V Power Minimum: 0.000
                5V Power Maximum: 0.000
        FARM Log Page 5: Reliability Statistics
                Error Rate (SMART Attribute 1 Raw): 0x0000000005f26e8b
                Error Rate (SMART Attribute 1 Normalized): 80
                Error Rate (SMART Attribute 1 Worst): 68
                Seek Error Rate (SMART Attr 7 Raw): 0x0000000000036f4a
                Seek Error Rate (SMART Attr 7 Normalized): 100
                Seek Error Rate (SMART Attr 7 Worst): 253
                High Priority Unload Events: 3
                Helium Pressure Threshold Tripped: 0
                LBAs Corrected By Parity Sector: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 0: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 1: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 2: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 3: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 4: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 5: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 6: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 7: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 8: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 9: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 10: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 11: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 12: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 13: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 14: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 15: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 16: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 17: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 18: 0
                DVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 19: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 0: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 1: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 2: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 3: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 4: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 5: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 6: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 7: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 8: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 9: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 10: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 11: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 12: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 13: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 14: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 15: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 16: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 17: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 18: 0
                RVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 19: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 0: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 1: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 2: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 3: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 4: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 5: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 6: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 7: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 8: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 9: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 10: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 11: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 12: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 13: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 14: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 15: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 16: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 17: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 18: 0
                FVGA Skip Write Detect by Head 19: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 0: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 1: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 2: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 3: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 4: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 5: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 6: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 7: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 8: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 9: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 10: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 11: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 12: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 13: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 14: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 15: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 16: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 17: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 18: 0
                Skip Write Detect Threshold Exceeded by Head 19: 0
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 0: 35
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 1: 36
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 2: 44
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 3: 29
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 4: 28
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 5: 30
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 6: 29
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 7: 26
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 8: 28
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 9: 29
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 10: 30
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 11: 28
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 12: 28
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 13: 34
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 14: 30
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 15: 29
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 16: 31
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 17: 29
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 18: 30
                Write Power On (hrs) by Head 19: 29
                MR Head Resistance from Head 0: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 1: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 2: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 3: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 4: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 5: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 6: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 7: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 8: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 9: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 10: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 11: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 12: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 13: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 14: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 15: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 16: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 17: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 18: 0
                MR Head Resistance from Head 19: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 0: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 1: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 2: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 3: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 4: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 5: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 6: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 7: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 8: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 9: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 10: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 11: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 12: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 13: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 14: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 15: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 16: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 17: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 18: 0
                Second MR Head Resistance by Head 19: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 0: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 1: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 2: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 3: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 4: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 5: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 6: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 7: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 8: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 9: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 10: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 11: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 12: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 13: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 14: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 15: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 16: 173
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 17: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 18: 0
                Number of Reallocated Sectors by Head 19: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 0: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 1: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 2: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 3: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 4: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 5: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 6: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 7: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 8: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 9: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 10: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 11: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 12: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 13: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 14: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 15: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 16: 40
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 17: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 18: 0
                Number of Reallocation Candidate Sectors by Head 19: 0

Thanks guys. I’m open to suggestions as well. I know that people have no trouble with Seagate drives. I’ve been running some cheap, consumer ones myself for like a decade with no issues. Maybe I was just lucky with those but I’d think these enterprise drives would have a better track record than those consumer drives.

5

Also, one more question, could poor shipping causing the drives to tumble around cause the results I’m getting? If I know it’s possible, and I can see dents on the drives themselves, that could be reassuring that I just need to be careful about where I buy from.

6

Did you buy the drives from Newegg or from vendors on Newegg? A lot of ecommerce sites have followed the Amazon model of allowing anyone to hawk garbage from their storefront. Not necessariliy a bad thing, but it requires a little more caution.

I’ve got 100+ Seagate drives ranging from 1-3 years old, most of which were bought ‘recertified’ (used). Their ‘reputation’ is typically from people developing expertise from numbers released by BackBlaze and not from their own experience or reasoning. The type that say a brand is bad because some drives have a 2-out-of-100 annualized failure rate instead of 1-out-of-100 and so expect a devastating impact on their 4 disk pool :slight_smile:

That said, I’d get a refund from whatever vendor you bought your drives from and look elsewhere.

7

They were sold and shipped by Newegg based on the store page. They’re eligible for the no hassle 30 day return, so we’ll see how no hassle it is.

1 Like
8

Good luck! Maybe abusive shipping as others have mentioned, or bad luck. I don’t know if Newegg is involved with the fraud that was going on.

9

Parcels being used as football while in transit is one thing, marks on the drives themselves are an other: If the drives have dents from a previous installation, they aren’t “new”.

10

Bad shipping (or packaging, really) resulting in damage to the drive, and thus bad sectors? Completely plausible. Bad enough that you’d see physical dents on the drive? That’s pretty shocking. It’s been a while since I bought from Newegg, but I haven’t encountered that with them before–but I’d be looking elsewhere if I had.

11

Dents? Wow.

We’ve had to destroy hard drives in austere locations and it’s when I learned how tough they are…

We’re they in any sort of packaging? Unless the two drives were loose in the box and being tossed from a plane, these were damaged before shipping.

12

Is there any way to post images or links or anything here? I’d show the pictures I just took, as I just sent some to Newegg’s customer service while talking to them. They’re not big dents, but they’re definitely there.

An interesting thing too is that the customer service person said that any drives of this size are going to be OEM. I don’t know how true that is but that doesn’t seem right to me. But in any case they’re not labeled as OEM on the site and I told them that.

13

What was the warranty?

Also, you are lucky in one way, the FARM data tells you it is a new drive.

Newegg has always been easy to deal with, that is why I like purchasing from them. Return policy has always been great and worth spending a few more bucks if the price was a little higher.

I also only buy the items Newegg sells themselves, not 3rd party vendors.

Good luck on the returns, and tell them you want the drive packaged better this time.

14

Could be. I guess it would explain the warranty shorter than 5 years.

All the Exos I’ve bought have just been in the anti-esd bag, in a foam clamshell if I’ve bought enough. However, they’ve had the 5 year warranty. Not sure if there’s anything other than running the serial to determine if it was sold as OEM or not. I’m not sure why Newegg would sell OEM unless they’ve gotten into the hardware business?

15

What was the warranty?

The warranty is 5 years from the manufacture date. So I guess that makes it hard to really get a drive with the full 5 year warranty. But the ones I got both had their warranties expire in 2027, so only 2 years from now. So at best these drives have been sitting in a warehouse for 3 years.

All the Exos I’ve bought have just been in the anti-esd bag, in a foam clamshell if I’ve bought enough.

These came shipped together in a single, unlabeled cardboard box, with both drives wrapped in anti-static bags I imagine. They were and stacked on top of each other. With very little packing that I remember. And from what I’ve found searching around this isn’t uncommon.

16

When you contact Newegg, ensure they are aware of the age of the drives, tell them you expect to receive drives that were manufactured in late 2024 so you have a 5 year warranty. They may give you lip service but they should note it on your account. If you get old disks again, send them back. Or you could contact Seagate and give them a copy of your receipt to see if they will honor 5 years from purchase. Then if they say yes, follow up and ensure the website reflects the change.

Sorry you are having bad luck, it is very odd to get drives that old directly from Newegg, or so has been my experience.

Best of luck to you.

17

Are you sure these were not White Label drives? I also get my drives in a clam shell. Complain to them about it.

18

I already got them to set it up so I get a refund on both drives. Gonna ship them back tomorrow. I’m going to maybe buy from Amazon or see if I can find someplace else with a good reputation. I don’t seem to have any place anywhere near me that I could find that I could go and physically pick anything I’m looking for up in person, which is disappointing. Even Best Buy has a very limited stock of computer parts in store when I checked recently, much less higher end drives.