Seagate Exos 14TB X16 drive, possible fake.

[samarium]

Anybody got a 14T or 16T Seagate Exos X16 drive they can run some identifications commands for me please, trying to verify the drive that I've been sent is a fake.

$ sudo bash -s
# hdparm -I /dev/sdX
# smartctl -a /dev/sdX
#

Thanks

 

[ocfguy]

Could you post the output of these commands on your drive? Also a front and back photo can be helpful.

 

[samarium]

Could you post the output of these commands on your drive? Also a front and back photo can be helpful.

Sure, I also some some comparison data with an Seagate Ironwolf 10TB, the closest drive I have to the Exos.

Having trouble with the images, will have to work on reducing the size. Seems under 1MB works.

I already have the text files. Zip is them all if that is easier.

My current opinions:

Drive packaging was in good order.
Drive label verify.seagate.com number 741221328110 fails verification, says contact vendor, ie fraud.
Drive does not detect on target controller LSI 2008, and I'm not going to change controller for a bad drive when the other 7 drives work fine.
Drive gives IO errors on non-target controller Marvel 9915, and partial SMART, enough to show WWN mismatch.
Drive WWN on label 50C500A031Q2B5 is invalid, Q is not a valid WWN character, so the label on the drive is fake, fraud.
Drive WWW on label 50C500A031Q2B5 is different from value returned from SMART 5000c500c74e627d, which is not even close, so looks like drive firmware is reflashed form another drive, fraud.
Drive SMART does not return data on attributes or tests, and has many other faults, like the firmware has been flashed on an incompateble or broken drive, fraud.
Drive gives IO and SMART errors on non-target controller on another computer, AMD EYPC, same as above. Same errors, same situation, fraud.

So we have the following issues with the on disk front label:
1 The WWN is invalid, since it contains a Q which is not a valid character for a WWN.
2 The WWN is significantly different to the WWN as reported by the drive.
3 The verify.seagte.com number fails verification.
This says the label is fake.

The disk has the following issues:
4. Can not read first block on disk. IO errors, probably not an 14TB X16 drive, so reflashed firmware doesn't work.
5. Can not read last block on disk. IO errors, probably not an 14TB X16 drive, so reflashed firmware doesn't work.
6. SMART data is only partially available, probably not an 14TB X16 drive, so reflashed firmware doesn't work.
7. SMART WWN differs significantly from the label, an indicator of a fake/fraud drive with reflashed firmware from another drive.
8. SMART attributes are not available, so can't see errors rates, useful for hiding information for a fake/fraud.
9. SMART attributes are not available, so can't see power on hours, useful for hiding information for a fake/fraud.
10. SMART attributes are not available, so can't see power cycle count, useful for hiding information for a fake/fraud.
11. SMART test results are not available, so can't see test history, useful for hiding information for a fake/fraud.
12. SMART tests are not startable, so can't enable self testing as is normal procedure for monitoring disk status.
13. hdparm shows "Integrity word not set (found 0x0000, expected 0xeea5)", while a normal drive shows "Checksum OK". Another indicator of a fake/fraud drive with reflashed firmware from another drive.
This says the drive has been reflashed with different firmware.

So the drive is a fake, with reflashed firmware form a different drive, possible even a different model drive.
Drive is totally unusable.

 

[ocfguy]

Sure, I also some some comparison data with an Seagate Ironwolf 10TB, the closest drive I have to the Exos.

Having trouble with the images, will have to work on reducing the size. Seems under 1MB works.

I already have the text files. Zip is them all if that is easier.

My current opinions:

OK on first glance at the front of the drive I can say it's likely a fake:

Font looks off.
Regulatory labels don't match production date (produced in 2022 but no UKCA logo).
Seagate verification code returns no results.

 

[ocfguy]

What is the date code on the back?

Date code shows the casing was made in 2019, which renders the printed prod. date of 2022 unlikely.

I don't have an X16 on hand right now but the back looks like an X16. Might be a used drive that is much older that was relabeled.

 

[ocfguy]

No SMART data is extremely suspicious, and the secure erase time is too low for a 14TB drive. The firmware has likely been tampered with. I'll upload the SN04 firmware for the X16 drives. You might want to see if the official firmware can be flashed onto the drive.

 

[ocfguy]

The label was poorly applied and the reg. model is wrong: STR006 on your drive (which corresponds to an SSD) and STR008 on X16 drives.

 

[ocfguy]

The back of your drive looks similar to the one pictured here, which is an X18 qualifying unit, but it's different from the retail X18 layout:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...e_EXOS_X18_18_TB_20221006_bottom_view_001.png (retail)

https://storage.googleapis.com/stateless-www-realhardwarerevi/rhr-storage/images/images/Storage/Seagate_Exos_X18/Seagate_Exos_X18_bot2.jpg

Your PCB seems to be identical to the PCB on my 14TB X16, indicating that the drive should be a X16 series drive. (PCBs on X14 and earlier are much larger)

The back looks like an early production X16: Seagate Exos X16 16TB HDD Review

The dent on the back probably doesn't mean anything other than the casing was made on a different line.

 

[ocfguy]

for your reference, the hdparm -I output of my 14TB X16 drive reads:

/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
    Model Number:       ST14000NM001G-2KJ103
    Serial Number:      ********
    Firmware Revision:  SN04
    Transport:          Serial, ATA8-AST, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6, SATA Rev 3.0
Standards:
    Used: unknown (minor revision code 0xffff)
    Supported: 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
    Likely used: 11
Configuration:
    Logical        max    current
    cylinders    16383    16383
    heads        16    16
    sectors/track    63    63
    --
    CHS current addressable sectors:    16514064
    LBA    user addressable sectors:   268435455
    LBA48  user addressable sectors:  3418095616
    Logical  Sector size:                  4096 bytes [ Supported: 256 2048 ]
    Physical Sector size:                  4096 bytes
    Logical Sector-0 offset:                  0 bytes
    device size with M = 1024*1024:    13351936 MBytes
    device size with M = 1000*1000:    14000519 MBytes (14000 GB)
    cache/buffer size  = unknown
    Form Factor: 3.5 inch
    Nominal Media Rotation Rate: 7200
Capabilities:
    LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
    Queue depth: 32
    Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
    R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16    Current = 16
    Recommended acoustic management value: 254, current value: 0
    DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6
         Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
    PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
         Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
    Enabled    Supported:
       *    SMART feature set
            Security Mode feature set
       *    Power Management feature set
       *    Write cache
       *    Look-ahead
       *    WRITE_BUFFER command
       *    READ_BUFFER command
       *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
            Power-Up In Standby feature set
       *    SET_FEATURES required to spinup after power up
            SET_MAX security extension
       *    48-bit Address feature set
       *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
       *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
       *    SMART error logging
       *    SMART self-test
       *    Media Card Pass-Through
       *    General Purpose Logging feature set
       *    WRITE_{DMA|MULTIPLE}_FUA_EXT
       *    64-bit World wide name
       *    IDLE_IMMEDIATE with UNLOAD
            Write-Read-Verify feature set
       *    WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE_EXT command
       *    {READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands
       *    Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
            unknown 119[6]
            unknown 119[7]
            unknown 119[8]
            unknown 119[9]
       *    Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
       *    Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
       *    Gen3 signaling speed (6.0Gb/s)
       *    Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
       *    Phy event counters
       *    Idle-Unload when NCQ is active
       *    READ_LOG_DMA_EXT equivalent to READ_LOG_EXT
       *    DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
            Device-initiated interface power management
       *    Software settings preservation
            unknown 78[7]
       *    SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
       *    SCT Write Same (AC2)
       *    SCT Error Recovery Control (AC3)
       *    SCT Features Control (AC4)
       *    SCT Data Tables (AC5)
            unknown 206[7]
            unknown 206[12] (vendor specific)
            unknown 206[13] (vendor specific)
            unknown 206[14] (vendor specific)
       *    SANITIZE_ANTIFREEZE_LOCK_EXT command
       *    SANITIZE feature set
       *    OVERWRITE_EXT command
       *    All write cache is non-volatile
       *    Extended number of user addressable sectors
Security:
    Master password revision code = 65534
        supported
    not    enabled
    not    locked
    not    frozen
    not    expired: security count
        supported: enhanced erase
    1246min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 1246min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT.
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: 5000************
    NAA        : 5
    IEEE OUI    : 000c50
    Unique ID    : ********
Checksum: correct

 

[ocfguy]

Likely not a retail X16 drive, and appears unusable due to the controller and SMART errors. I'd suggest contacting the seller/marketplace or initiate a chargeback/PayPal/eBay case

 

[ocfguy]

the WWN on the label indicates a ~2016 manuf. date, which makes no sense for an X16. The WWN from hdparm makes sense for X16 (~2020)

 

[ocfguy]

I would highly suggest returning the drive, but if you want to try flashing the firmware, here's the SN04 firmware for ST14000NM001G:

https://files.catbox.moe/yt5wim.zip

SHA256: 1286275758fe7eb0161429d9f0e011f26411542906d71374c0727ef8ef13688b

the drive should reject incorrect firmware, so there should be little risk in trying to flash the firmware

* try connecting the drive directly to a sata port on the motherboard and see if smart can be read, also better to flash the firmware w/o a RAID controller or HBA

 

[ocfguy]

To future users who might want to check if their drive is counterfeit: the code under the verify.seagate.com QR code should always return a result, regardless of the sales channel of the drive (OEM*, recert, retail). The serial number from verify.seagate.com should match the label and smartctl output. If not, your drive likely has been tampered with.

* "white label" drives, HPE/Dell drives have no Seagate Verify QR codes on them

 

[pimposh]

LOL. Really, chinese c....s do these things now ?
Here you go, genuine X16/16T.

Obviously you got Ironwolf firmware (SC60) loaded.... looks like relabeled Ironwolf drive.

 

[samarium]

Thanks both of you. @ocfguy @pimposh

 

[samarium]

FYI, eventually got a refund after returning the disk at their expense.

 

[ocfguy]

FYI, eventually got a refund after returning the disk at their expense.

Nice, glad it worked out