Resetting S.M.A.R.T. data

[Doomer]

I know this is taboo, dishonest, immoral and maybe even illegal but recently I've bought 2 refurbed Seagate HDs and both of them have had their S.M.A.R.T. data reset. Both have an official Seagate refurb label so there is no doubt that they were previously used. Power on count was 3 and hours used were 0 on both drives. As I see it, this is tantamount to rolling back the speedo of a car after an overhaul. It dose not change the mileage one bit. If a car or a HD has a certain amount of wear, nothing will change this so why can Seagate get away with rolling back the OD?

And btw: both drives checked out as perfect and I've had no issues with them after an extensive burn in. I've had better luck with Seagate refurbs than I've had with Seagate new.

 

[Elixer]

They don't care, and their is no law to prevent them from doing it.

As for seagate refurbs.. 5 "certified repaired" drives all have failed one way or another. Fail times are from 0 day to 8 months.

 

[Murloc]

I'd never get a refurbed HDD in the first place. It's subject to wear, and given the low price of HDDs, the spared money probably isn't that much, so I don't think it's worth risking your data over it.

 

[taq8ojh]

I would never ever get refurbished anything with moving parts on it. I'd rather pay extra for warranty.

 

[Doomer]

Time will tell on these latest 2 but I have 2 more that have been running 24/7 in a server for over a year with zero problems.

 

[bryanl]

I would never ever get refurbished anything with moving parts on it. I'd rather pay extra for warranty.

Moving parts aren't the only things that wear out; I also wouldn't want a refurbished SSD, unless brand new flash memory chips were installed.

 

[Phynaz]

Refurbished <> used, that's how.

 

[Elixer]

Moving parts aren't the only things that wear out; I also wouldn't want a refurbished SSD, unless brand new flash memory chips were installed.

How would you know if they are new NAND chips, they reset all data.

I have seen lots of "refurb" SSDs, but none of them say they have new NAND chips... if they used new NAND chips, then they might as well sell it new.

Heck, when I sent my Sammy 830 for RMA, the unit I got back didn't look new...and it wasn't the old one.

 

[taq8ojh]

Refurbished <> used, that's how.

Can you elaborate?

 

[Phynaz]

Can you elaborate?

What's there to elaborate on? Refurbished means the drive had an issue that was remediated.

Used means it was sold and used by an end user.

While refurbished items can certainly be used (customer returns) they don't have to be.

 

[code65536]

The problem with keeping the SMART stats is that some of it might not make as much sense, depending on what (if anything) was replaced during the refurb.

As for acquiring refurbed HDDs, of the 4 refurbed HDDs that I have owned or currently own, only 1 drive was a purchase (worked fine for 8 years until I finally retired it). The other 3 are replacement drives that I got through RMAs (they don't send you new drives for an RMA). I'd venture a guess that most owners of refurbed drives got them through the RMA process.

 

[bononos]

The problem with keeping the SMART stats is that some of it might not make as much sense, depending on what (if anything) was replaced during the refurb.
......

Would companies actually be making clean room repairs like replacing platters or heads for their refurbs? I just don't think so.

I think that clearing SMART data is like rolling back the odometer like the OP said assuming that refurbs don't always change the guts of the harddrive.