Recently, many Seagate HDD users in Germany have reported to the media that they purchased brand-new Seagate Exos HDDs of various capacities, but testing revealed that the products were actually used.
According to a survey by market research firm Heise, these second-hand hard drives originated from China and were likely sourced from former Chia cryptocurrency mining farms.
During the peak of China prices, demand for HDDs surged, leading to shortages and price increases.
However, as the economic returns from Chia mining declined, many mining farms shut down, flooding the market with used hard drives.
The investigation revealed that these hard drives had been used for between 15,000 to 50,000 hours, but their internal records had been tampered with to show them as brand-new and unused.
In response, Seagate has denied any involvement.
Additionally, Seagate has launched an investigation.
So far, there have been over 200 reports of affected hard drives worldwide, including in Europe, Australia, Thailand, and Japan.
This type of fraudulent sales activity was first detected in January 2025, when it was discovered that supposedly brand-new Seagate Exos data center-grade hard drives had been used for thousands of hours.
The report stated that affected German retailers responded differently to the scam.
Among them, Alternative claimed that neither the store nor its German suppliers were aware that the hard drives were not new, but advised customers to contact the store if they found their “new” drives had been used.
Meanwhile, Galaxus set up an online information page, and Proshop offered free returns and exchanges.
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