Counterfeit Hard Drive Workshop Busted in Malaysia

Lid on 29/08/2025 - 17:00
Last edited 29/08/2025 - 17:36 by 1 other user

How old HDDs end up on e-shops: counterfeit hard drive workshop busted in Malaysia

Well well…well.

We all knew these all along. Shady practice but cheap eg. Hard Drives being wiped of their smart data and resold as new, seconds or refurbished. Hard Drive company are cracking down. Recently big operation in Malaysia was raided and shutdown as requested by Seagate.

Wonder if east digital will come into the spotlight, then again they are pretty transparent except they should have a disclaimer wiped smart. They sort of do. Glist reset. But that's not the whole story.

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Comments

  • Clear on 29/08/2025 - 17:42
    +1

    Having the hours wiped isn't new and has been known for a while. The most recent news is that operations were raised where they were converting surveillance and other drives into ironwolf .

    https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/hdds/seagate-spin…

    • stirlo on 29/08/2025 - 18:34

      Are there any physical differences between these drive models? Or is the difference all in the software (and supplied warranty). If there's no physical difference then I'd have no problems with updated firmware being applied and unlocking better performance…

      • Clear on 31/08/2025 - 05:06

        Yeah physically different drives.

        • stirlo on 31/08/2025 - 08:31

          Ah, damn, that’s not cool at all then.

  • kahn on 29/08/2025 - 18:17
    +11

    I hope the authorities were smart and respected their writes during the raid otherwise it might spark a revolution.

    • Ulysses31 on 29/08/2025 - 23:42

      lel

    • EightImmortals on 30/08/2025 - 07:15
      +7

      Yes they did but I heard the perps were feeling a little fragmented, they were spinning in circles and swore that from now on they were going lead solid-state lives.

  • tanksinatra on 29/08/2025 - 18:30

    Yep got a SMART wiped drive from east digital. Probably via these guys. scum.

  • mskeggs on 29/08/2025 - 18:31
    -1

    Nekminit people will be tampering with car speedos.
    Dodgy operators should show some respect!

  • Gunnar on 29/08/2025 - 21:02

    Ohhh second hand porn… hold my tissue

  • id on 30/08/2025 - 15:05
    +5

    donkey decades ago, I used to work in data recovery companies like Payam, Ontrack, and others overseas, until I had to step away due to a neurological condition.

    I'm not against the ethical sale of 2nd hand HDD, as long as they've undergone basic testing and come with full, relevant critical unmasked SMART data. I also have no issue with officially wiped smart and recertified drives that go through the proper channels. I dont have an issue of selling decommissioned server pulls that are sold transparently for what they are. Many are even simply powered up making sure no clicks and the likes of hdsentinel reports an A-OK 100% health, bang format, repackage!

    The article simply highlights concerns that there are many shady, unethical operations running out of backyards and warehouses that people need to be aware of. East Digital has built a strong global following, but we can’t ignore the fact that there's no way to fully verify whether any of their HDD inventory comes from questionable sources.

    Personally, I’ve bought many drives from them, knowing full well it was a personal risk I took for the savings. However, I would never resell or use their drives in any client systems.

    • BatsRule on 01/09/2025 - 07:54

      i remember ontrack! Ontrack system suite purchased in 2010.

      hdd purchased…
      Seagate EXOS X16 16TB x5 east digital on 09/2024
      Seagate EXOS X16 16TB x7 neology on 12/2023

      have you used steve gibson - spinrite?

      • id on 01/09/2025 - 13:50
        +1

        The issue was gathering momentum roundabouts start of this year.. it was infiltrating supplies to various official Seagate dealers. Even Amazon were affected. Some guy released a tool for Seagate drives to check and compare smart power on hrs vs farm poh details. "Seagate HDD Farm Check"

        Incidentally after this was gathering momentum, majority of east digitals inventory of "new" exos drives.. disappeared. Hmm coincidence?

        PS . I worked at ontrack for 5 years doing "physical" data recovery which included lots of contracted forensics tasks.

    • BatsRule on 01/09/2025 - 07:57

      just found my copy of Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional v6.10.07
      wonder if it still woulkd work… ;)

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