980 PRO 8TB M.2 Gen 4 - $58.25 USD ?

[joeschmuck]

Well the NVMe came in and it was pretty fast delivery as well (3 weeks from China). Here is what I got.

Looks like a Samsung, ALMOST. It does not say "Samsung" and has a different web address "Do not visit it, unless you want a virus". I used my Sandbox so I would stay safe, and it was a good thing.

The PN even has a Samsung number. And yes, not 8TB, but had this been a real Samsung 4TB drive, I'd have been fine. Samsung Magician did not recognize it either.

I did test it out and here are my results:
1) The firmware report the model as a 4TB SSD, the SN is 000024. When I first looked at the serial number, I knew the jig was up.
2) Tried to run a Self-test, it refused. Another red flag.
3) I did a transfer of speed test (in an external USB enclosure) and it was on par for the enclosure (~420 MB/s Read, ~363 MB/s Write), nothing really fast but I am hesitant to install in my computer to do proper testing.
4) After I transfered 169GB of data to the drive (the transfer started really good but after a few minutes it slowed to a crawl) I did another throughput test and it was horrible (~20MB/s Read, ~9MB/s Write).
5) But wait, there was one other special feature. As I continued to add more data, I'm watching the available capacity drop but suddenly it jumped up. This drive has the "April Fools Deletion Protocol" enabled, apparently it thinks everyday is 1 April. I suspect they faked the firmware out to just start all over again with respect to the memory chip addressing.
6) I have initiated a WIPE using Partition Magic, I would not trust the nvme secure erase command. It will take some time but that is okay.

What am I doing now?
Well I have filed for a refund from AliExpress and the return should cost me nothing, and it was fairly simple. It will likely be a month before I see my money back.
If AliExpress does not play ball, I will file a claim with PayPal and be sure to get my money back.

What did we learn from this? Watch out what you are purchasing. I was not upset about what showed up but I was excited when I first looked at the nice shiny new Samsung 980 Pro 4TB drive for just over $60 USD, great deal, that is what my brain saw initially, until testing started and then I was a little disappointed. I will not purchase from AliExpress again, I'd rather use NewEgg, B&H Photo, or some other place that I've had good luck with and has a great return policy. To be fair to AliExpress, I have previously purchased from them a few times, I received exactly what I ordered and no complaints.

 

[Apollo]

Well the NVMe came in and it was pretty fast delivery as well (3 weeks from China). Here is what I got.
View attachment 76437

Looks like a Samsung, ALMOST. It does not say "Samsung" and has a different web address "Do not visit it, unless you want a virus". I used my Sandbox so I would stay safe, and it was a good thing.

The PN even has a Samsung number. And yes, not 8TB, but had this been a real Samsung 4TB drive, I'd have been fine. Samsung Magician did not recognize it either.

I did test it out and here are my results:
1) The firmware report the model as a 4TB SSD, the SN is 000024. When I first looked at the serial number, I knew the jig was up.
2) Tried to run a Self-test, it refused. Another red flag.
3) I did a transfer of speed test (in an external USB enclosure) and it was on par for the enclosure (~420 MB/s Read, ~363 MB/s Write), nothing really fast but I am hesitant to install in my computer to do proper testing.
4) After I transfered 169GB of data to the drive (the transfer started really good but after a few minutes it slowed to a crawl) I did another throughput test and it was horrible (~20MB/s Read, ~9MB/s Write).
5) But wait, there was one other special feature. As I continued to add more data, I'm watching the available capacity drop but suddenly it jumped up. This drive has the "April Fools Deletion Protocol" enabled, apparently it thinks everyday is 1 April. I suspect they faked the firmware out to just start all over again with respect to the memory chip addressing.
6) I have initiated a WIPE using Partition Magic, I would not trust the nvme secure erase command. It will take some time but that is okay.

What am I doing now?
Well I have filed for a refund from AliExpress and the return should cost me nothing, and it was fairly simple. It will likely be a month before I see my money back.
If AliExpress does not play ball, I will file a claim with PayPal and be sure to get my money back.

What did we learn from this? Watch out what you are purchasing. I was not upset about what showed up but I was excited when I first looked at the nice shiny new Samsung 980 Pro 4TB drive for just over $60 USD, great deal, that is what my brain saw initially, until testing started and then I was a little disappointed. I will not purchase from AliExpress again, I'd rather use NewEgg, B&H Photo, or some other place that I've had good luck with and has a great return policy. To be fair to AliExpress, I have previously purchased from them a few times, I received exactly what I ordered and no complaints.

Funny how the QR code looks like, Its more of an art piece than anything else.

 

[joeschmuck]

Funny how the QR code looks like, Its more of an art piece than anything else.

That is so true, I didn't even notice it. Now that I'm thinking of it, it was strange that when I was snapping off the photos, the QR code didn't pop up wanting to go to a website.

 

[Ericloewe]

5) But wait, there was one other special feature. As I continued to add more data, I'm watching the available capacity drop but suddenly it jumped up. This drive has the "April Fools Deletion Protocol" enabled, apparently it thinks everyday is 1 April. I suspect they faked the firmware out to just start all over again with respect to the memory chip addressing.

It's one of those! That old scam, I remember when they'd just sell multi-TB HDDs that were a hacked SD card and some weights inside a chassis.

Funny how the QR code looks like, Its more of an art piece than anything else.

That is so true, I didn't even notice it. Now that I'm thinking of it, it was strange that when I was snapping off the photos, the QR code didn't pop up wanting to go to a website.

That's because it's not a QR code! It's a crap imitation of one (the first giveaway is that QR codes have one corner with a smaller, different calibration square, so the reader can determine the orientation).
Oh man, this reminds me of the Chinese warlord pistols. In the late 19th/early 20th centuries, as China was thoroughly enveloped in chaos, lots of little shops were making knockoffs of various western pistols - on a wide spectrum of quality. But this is the early 1900s, and your average Chinese gunsmith is likely to not really be familiar with the Latin alphabet, much less know enough English, French or German to know what the hell they're engraving on a pistol. The results were often hilarious gibberish - see for instance this video linked here. Other times, it's not gibberish because it's copied from a template, but it's used ridiculously. Like Mausers stamped with "BelgiqueBelgiqueBelgiqueBelgique", just absolute lack of understanding of what the hell they're doing. Just cargo cult putting on all the markings they think they saw on the real thing.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

The results were often hilarious gibberish - see for instance this video linked here. Other times, it's not gibberish because it's copied from a template, but it's used ridiculously. Like Mausers stamped with "BelgiqueBelgiqueBelgiqueBelgique", just absolute lack of understanding of what the hell they're doing. Just cargo cult putting on all the markings they think they saw on the real thing.

As if in retaliation there are uncounted westerners walking around with kanji from hell tattoos.

 

[Ericloewe]

Yeah, one shudders to imagine the horrors some people carry around (artist's impression).

 

[Koop]

Dang I figured it would end like this but it was an interesting story. Just a silly scammer nvme.

AliExpress or hardware purchased from companies based in mainland China can be an interesting experience. I've picked up some real hardware made by decent places that have prices that make sense, like Hasivo switches (not the best but for the price you get a decent product). Also Gowin who make some cool mini-PC systems (they are not cheap though actually!).

You definitely have to dig sometimes understand what corners they're cutting though if the cost seem too good to be true. Especially on AliExpress. That's usually where you need to scrutinize stuff like "eh ok so why is this CPU integrated and missing cores vs the individual chip" and yeah haha you can figure it all out from there.

As the saying goes- if it's sounds too good to be true it probably is.

Sorry you got some fake trash @joeschmuck. Hope the return process works out for you. Ultimately you'll have PayPal and more to back things up.

I personally use my amex card for purchases like this. They usually refund first and investigate to my advantage when I need to charge back. But I try not to buy too much stuff like that haha. Haven't needed to do a chargeback in many years.

 

[Davvo]

As a side note, the website doesn't appear to be available for me.

 

[joeschmuck]

I knew it was a risk purchasing the device, didn't really expect a great outcome but sometimes strange things happen. I was actually hoping I would get an 8TB NVMe, Samsung brand, and someone just updated the price for it incorrectly because it was so new of a product.

As a side note, the website doesn't appear to be available for me.

At first I turned on my VPN, the website refused to let me in. Then I turned off VPN and it did let me in.