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SSD capacity
tp4tissue:
Those wear levels can be overwritten and changed. Same with HDD hours. That's the risk you get with enterprise used.
Coreda:
--- Quote from: tp4tissue on Sat, 20 April 2024, 14:50:03 ---Those wear levels can be overwritten and changed. Same with HDD hours. That's the risk you get with enterprise used.
--- End quote ---
I know some sources (including 'factory recertified' from Seagate themselves) reset SMART data entirely. However judging by power on hours/etc in SMART data (ideally pre-provided by the seller) you can see if it makes sense for the number of years it's likely been in operation, which is how most do this (and also obviously running a full sector scan after purchase for bad sectors).
Everything I've read shows that only SMART resets using vendor specific low level tools are possible, rather than any specific values, hence why users can still gauge this.
tp4tissue:
--- Quote from: Coreda on Sun, 21 April 2024, 04:15:33 ---Everything I've read shows that only SMART resets using vendor specific low level tools are possible, rather than any specific values, hence why users can still gauge this.
--- End quote ---
But how do you then gauge whether they're setting up a plausible ruse using such tools? To them it's money, and they know the vast majority of buyers have such low loads that they wouldn't notice the cheat.
Coreda:
--- Quote from: tp4tissue on Sun, 21 April 2024, 11:22:33 ---But how do you then gauge whether they're setting up a plausible ruse using such tools? To them it's money, and they know the vast majority of buyers have such low loads that they wouldn't notice the cheat.
--- End quote ---
I mean we could consider the possibility if you want. If a seller of used server hardware has a model from a particular year (visible from the listing) and resets all SMART data (which is the only option from what I've seen of the tools) then to ramp up the power on hours artificially and be plausible they'd have to have it powered on for a similar amount of time as a realistic used lifespan (let's assume based on endurance spec or warranty period given sellers sell in bulk batches, suggesting scheduled replacements). So from a purely time consideration seems unrealistic, assuming such a lifecycle (ie: not drives from many years earlier).
However what if the drive hadn't run for an expected duration but for the sake of argument instead perhaps only a shorter duration and the seller reset the data (due to some concerning stat level) then left it powered on to clock up hours. To be plausible, since all the other stats were reset, including wear level, they'd have to also artificially induce those, too. Could it be done? Yes. Does inducing realistic-seeming stat levels artificially like wear on an already well-used drive while also offering seller warranties sound plausible? I may have to don a tp hat :p
For the users who aren't browsing sellers who post SMART stats, or who don't care, someone wouldn't need to go through all that rigmarole, especially when manufacturer refurb'd models are already known to reset all data. One can see just from existing sales that most people will buy based on return window or some kind of warranty period.
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