Unscrupulous retailer selling 3-year-old used SSDs as 'new'

John Kozvik, a network engineer who bought a new SSD from Amazon, has issued a warning after being sold a used one that was three years old.

Maestro Technology Sells Used Drives as New
https://kozubik.com/items/MaestroTechnology/

Around April 2025, Kozbic purchased four SSDs from a seller called 'Maestro Technology.'

For Kozvik's purposes, being new was the top priority, so he looked at the SSD's SMART data.

The data for one of them is below.

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 22865
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 9
170 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0
171 Program_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
172 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
174 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 7
175 Power_Loss_Cap_Test 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 2411 (9 65535)
183 SATA_Downshift_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
184 End-to-End_Error_Count 0x0033 100 100 090 Pre-fail Always - 0
187 Uncorrectable_Error_Cnt 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
190 Drive_Temperature 0x0022 079 079 000 Old_age Always - 21 (Min/Max 13/22)
192 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 7
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 21
197 Pending_Sector_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
199 CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
225 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 155717
226 Workld_Media_Wear_Indic 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 235
227 Workld_Host_Reads_Perc 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
228 Workload_Minutes 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1371935
232 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0
233 Media_Wearout_Indicator 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
234 Thermal_Throttle_Status 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0/0
235 Power_Loss_Cap_Test 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 2411 (9 65535)
241 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 155717
242 Host_Reads_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 143
243 NAND_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 3068104

When new it should look like this:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 2
170 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0
171 Program_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
172 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
174 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 2
175 Power_Loss_Cap_Test 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 1562 (2 22)
183 SATA_Downshift_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
184 End-to-End_Error_Count 0x0033 100 100 090 Pre-fail Always - 0
187 Uncorrectable_Error_Cnt 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
190 Drive_Temperature 0x0022 079 078 000 Old_age Always - 21 (Min/Max 16/22)
192 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 2
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 21
197 Pending_Sector_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
199 CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
225 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
226 Workld_Media_Wear_Indic 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 65535
227 Workld_Host_Reads_Perc 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 65535
228 Workload_Minutes 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 65535
232 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0
233 Media_Wearout_Indicator 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
234 Thermal_Throttle_Status 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0/0
235 Power_Loss_Cap_Test 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 1562 (2 22)
241 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
242 Host_Reads_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
243 NAND_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 430

The drives Kozvik found were used and about three years old. Not only were they old, but they had already reached the end of their expected operating cycles, meaning they would likely use up their remaining write capacity within two years.

Kozvik has since returned the product, and it appears Maestro Technology has previously sold used products as new.

A user on the social networking site Hacker News also reported being scammed into buying a 'brand new' iPhone with 25,371 hours of use. The user then posted a negative review on Amazon, which was subsequently deleted by Amazon.

Amazon did not like that I called it fraud https://t.co/USk00MAaFW pic.twitter.com/QToAVH0wrP

— johnboiles (@johnboiles) January 16, 2025