Seagate, a well-known hard drive manufacturer, has denied any involvement in the fraudulent resale of hard drives that were previously used in Chinese Chia cryptocurrency mining farms and sold as new by unsuspecting retailers. A recent investigation revealed that used high-mileage Seagate Exos models, originally used in data centers, were being marketed as brand new in various markets such as Europe, Australia, Thailand, and Japan.

During the peak of the cryptocurrency boom, the demand for high-end HDDs increased due to the need for vast storage capacity in mining operations. However, as the profitability of Chia mining declined, many farms closed down and sold their hardware. These repackaged hard drives with thousands of operational hours were then introduced back into the market, deceiving customers. Concerned buyers can use special diagnostic tools to verify the true usage history of their Seagate HDDs, as certain values like FARM (field-accessible reliability metrics) provide a more accurate record than SMART parameters that can be reset to hide prior use.

Seagate has emphasized that it only distributes genuine hard drives through official channels and suspects that these used HDDs entered the secondary market before reaching consumers. The company has initiated a full-scale investigation and urged affected buyers to report any suspicious purchases. Affected retailers are taking steps to address the issue, with some offering free returns and replacements for customers who unknowingly purchased these second-hand drives. Wortmann has insisted on verifying HDDs before providing compensation.

For more tech news, you may find interest in the fastest hard drives currently available, top picks for network storage drives, and a warning from Google about cybercrime funding rogue nations worldwide.