I Bought a Fake External Hard Drive

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Guys, if the price is too good to be true, it probably is. That’s what happened to me when I bought a 2TB Seagate Backup Plus Slim external hard drive online, and at 50 percent discount. It got delivered, unboxed, and I started using it. Alas, the hard drive buckled when I started transferring files and ejected itself. Tried re-plugging it again and it just stopped working. Wouldn’t show up on other computers too. My new external hard drive is officially dead in just 20 minutes.

But that got me wondering, I’m currently using a few older Seagate external hard drives which are more than 5 years old. They still work perfectly fine, with no problems whatsoever.

Then I decided that just for fun, why not tear it down and see what’s actually inside the enclosure? It’s pretty much useless anyway. Needless to say, there are a few noticeable (and surprising) differences.

Here’s the process (left to right):

Nothing wrong here, altough there was something off about the material.
Having bought Seagate hard drives in the past, they don’t have stickers like these on the back.
The external hard drive enclosure is surprisingly easy to open.
This is clearly a poorly placed sticker. Something’s fishy…
Peeled it off to reveal a HGST hard drive. Since when does Seagate use third-party drives for its products?
This looks clearly used and worn.

Then I compared the packaging with a photo of the actual Seagate Backup Plus Slim box, and I noticed some discrepancies.

It should say 2TB TO not GO.
The original Seagate Backup Plus Slim box.

That’s the story of how I got tricked into buying a fake external hard drive. So how can you avoid meeting the same fate?

First, compare the product with the ones sold by reputable computer stores. Best is to visit and get a hands on experience with the product, or at least take a photo of the box. Second, check the seller name and make sure it’s the official brand or a reputable seller. For example, in my case, the official seller is Seagate Flagship Store, and not Seagate Agent Store.

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