Seagate office in the Silicon Valley, Fremont, CaliforniaGetty ImagesThere are a number of reports, example, of used Seagate Nearline HDDs being sold as new HDDs, where the SMART log for power on hours has been reset. Articles say these used HDDs are being sold to customers in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, the UK, the Czech Republic, Japan and the USA. These drives are being sold by third parties through outlets such as eBay.Many of these drives are reported to have been in operation for about 25,000 hours. There are other locations on an HDD where the usage of the drive is stored and these can be accesses with the appropriate software tools to confirm whether an HDD is new or not. However, it is better to avoid purchasing a misrepresented HDD than to determine that it is not new and try to return it.Buyer awareness is key when purchasing a hard drive. Below is a what appears to be a new Exos 24TB drive on eBay selling for a price that a user might expect to pay for a new HDD. However, at the top description it says that the drive is renewed and also when a potential buyer scrolls down, the drive being sold is actually a refurbished drive.Example of eBay Used Drive PostSeagate TechnologyWhen looking to buy a new HDD always check the condition of drive, the packaging, and serial number to confirm its origin or if it is new or refurbished. Note that you can look up information on the warranty condition of a Seagate HDD on the companys web site using the drive serial number.MORE FOR YOUSeagate actually sells refurbished and sanitized used HDDs as part of its sustainability efforts with a 6-month warrantee, but these used drives are sold at a significant discount to new HDDs. In addition, HDDs sold to system integrators usually have a warrantee from the system integrator, rather than the HDD company.Used HDDs removed from these system integrators storage systems likely have no warrantee or warrantees that are less than those from the original HDD manufacturer. Used HDDs, particularly those refurbished and certified by the manufacturing HDD company, play an important role by providing additional life for these products, but you shouldnt pay new prices for old used products.In addition to the SMART logs on HDDs there is another drive data log called the Field Accessible Reliability Metrics, FARM, which cant be altered. These values can be accessed to see information about the HDD use using smartmontools or Seagates Seatools. If you think you may have bought a used HDD, you can use these tools to find out if that is true.When asked about this matter, Seagate provided me with a a statement to share, We take this matter very seriously and are conducting a thorough investigation. Seagate did not sell or distribute these drives to resellers. While we cannot share specific details of this ongoing investigation, we suspect these drives were new products that Seagate sold to customers who later sold them on the used market.In this instance, we believe that somewhere in the used market supply chain, the drives were remarketed and resold as new. We recommend that resellers purchase drives from Seagate authorized distribution partners, as purchasing from Seagate-authorized distributors is the best way resellers, and consequently, their end customers can be sure of the authenticity of Seagate products.Seagate processes are in place to investigate these types of cases, with teams working proactively with our resellers to take corrective action when necessary. Our security team also regularly collaborates with local authorities to take necessary actions. Many investigations are initiated based on anonymous tips, and reports from partners and customers. Measures we have implemented are intended to protect Seagate partners and end customers in an increasingly global marketplace.We encourage anyone who suspects that they received a used drive marketed as new to help the investigation by reporting it to us directly at fraud@seagate.com. Suspect drives and/or sellers can also be reported anonymously through our ethics hotline: https://secure.ethicspoint.com/domain/media/en/gui/38559/index.htmlWe are grateful for the trust our customers place in us and are committed to doing everything possible to uphold that trust.Some online sites are selling used Seagate nearline HDDs as new with reset SMART logs. Users should avoid buying from sites who are not Seagate authorize distributors or resellers, check drive serial numbers to determine if there is a warrantee and, if purchased, use tools to read the FARM data from the drive to determine its actual usage.