Could be that they’re not even 3TB drives, just reporting that they are. A surface scan may be scanning the same areas multiple times. This sort of chicanery is common with solid state drives fromm dubious sources.

I know I have seen SSDs 4TB for £10 in the reviews one said he opened it up to find multiple SD cards wired together. Anyway going back for full refund. Seller has finally been in touch.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

The old truism you get what you pay for typically holds true. Mostly.

With so much direct selling via the usual platforms from that particular country their is no control over what they are selling.

Many are drop shipped from a bonded warehouse in the UK. The supplier sends a container load of pre-packed goods to the UK. They advertise on places like eBay that often make it appear the goods supplier is based in the UK, but actually they’re in China. So they neatly skip lots through lots of loopholes like avoiding VAT, product compliance and safety etc.

If there is a problem they’ll refund because the sales platform, but they’ll never ask for the goods to be sent back, like a real UK retailer would.

Of course there are also those Chinese sellers that do ship from China but the goods usually take a few weeks to arrive. Sometimes longer.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

Could be that they’re not even 3TB drives, just reporting that they are. A surface scan may be scanning the same areas multiple times. This sort of chicanery is common with solid state drives fromm dubious sources.

Disaster erased me source drive instead of the fake one. Fortunately I have a backup. Funny how the erase is only going to take 4 hours when the specs say 8.

I don't know why you don't buy a new drive and then save up for another new drive later on. You can get a 3TB Seagate drive from ebuyer for £99.

https://www.ebuyer.com/1425706-seagate-ironwolf-3tb-...

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Many are drop shipped from a bonded warehouse in the UK.

That seems to be the norm now, people across China buying ready made businesses with an ebay shop front with thousands of items listed and the very same stock photos, graphics and spelling mistakes in the listings. They all seem to source from the same bonded UK warehouses who are also owned by the Chinese. Most of the sellers know nothing about the products and what they are actually selling.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I don't know why you don't buy a new drive and then save up for another new drive later on. You can get a 3TB Seagate drive from ebuyer for £99.

https://www.ebuyer.com/1425706-seagate-ironwolf-3tb-...

WD has some direct for £80 but they are Shingled drives which are prone to slow downs. Will have to investigate the Ironwolfs.

In reply to a post by Banger:

WD has some direct for £80 but they are Shingled drives which are prone to slow downs. Will have to investigate the Ironwolfs.

If you are using them for back up, then SMR will not make any difference, not so great in a raid system as it may slow things down, but for normal use you are not going to notice much difference I doubt.

The Toshibas I have in my NAS are CMR, Cost me £300 for two 8TB n300 drives. £191 each now for the 8TB ones.

I only went for the CMR because i have them in a raid system in my NAS, otherwise I would have gone for SMR

Spotted two Ironwolfs on Ebay @ £60 each and seller assures me they are brand new in original packaging so have sent him an offer and he has accepted. Bound to hit some good drives eventually lol.

In reply to a post by Banger:

Spotted two Ironwolfs on Ebay @ £60 each and seller assures me they are brand new in original packaging so have sent him an offer and he has accepted. Bound to hit some good drives eventually lol.

Didn't the last scammer say the same thing fella? 😎