3rd hard drive replacement and still faulty

-matt-

Hi. I wasn't sure which forum was the correct one to post this but I need some advice in regards to an online retailer. Back in February I bought a hard drive from eBuyer which was faulty on arrival and since then I've had three replacements because none of them worked correctly. Every hard drive I got was tested for SMART errors and it failed the tests as per the manufacturer specification using the tools that came from the manufacturer.

I am very frustrated and don't know what to do because I needed a hard drive back in February but since then its been almost 3 months of waiting. Not only that but I had to pay postage fees which apparently can only be refunded to me as account credit. I obviously don't want account credit because I don't want to buy from eBuyer any more. I've contacted them in response to this issue and still waiting for a reply. I'm obviously looking for a full refund now but I posted here because I've got a feeling they will come up with that account credit rubbish. Is there anything else I can do, three months of waiting? Come on... :mad:

spakkker

Hi , I bought a tablet for a friend which was faulty and had to be returned. The company gave me an online credit which I did not want.
When I asked by email for a refund to card they obliged.
I do think that the DSR say a full refund when item is faulty, inc. return postage.

Rich99

Do you have another computer you could test the hard drives in? I ask because although hard drives do fail, if you've had 4 hard drives, each of which failed on arrival, it suggests there's something else wrong with your computer which is either causing the hard drives to fail, or making it look they have. The only way to confirm that problem would be to try the hard drives in another computer.....

-matt-

Rich99 wrote: »

Do you have another computer you could test the hard drives in? I ask because although hard drives do fail, if you've had 4 hard drives, each of which failed on arrival, it suggests there's something else wrong with your computer which is either causing the hard drives to fail, or making it look they have. The only way to confirm that problem would be to try the hard drives in another computer.....

As I've said, the hard drives fail SMART errors when tested with a tool provided by the manufaturer. The drive works but fails the smart errors. Since it fails the SMART errors who knows what may happen to the data on the drive a few weeks or months down the road. It is nothing wrong with my computer, it seems that there's a whole batch of these hard drives that are faulty. Every drive that was sent back was deemed faulty by the technicians.

tronator

-matt- wrote: »

As I've said, the hard drives fail SMART errors when tested with a tool provided by the manufaturer. The drive works but fails the smart errors. Since it fails the SMART errors who knows what may happen to the data on the drive a few weeks or months down the road. It is nothing wrong with my computer, it seems that there's a whole batch of these hard drives that are faulty. Every drive that was sent back was deemed faulty by the technicians.

What is the exact error message? Maybe you misinterpret the result of the test.

It could also be a problem with your SATA controller. That's why you should test it on a different computer. As others already pointed out, it is highly unlikely that you have 4 faulty hard disks in a row. Maybe you should play lotto...

banger9365

one faulty yes but 4 no ,all with same fault no.
sata controla reporting it wrong yes
just to give you an idea
i've 4 samsung hdds all f3's all fail standard test ,using there testing software ,but all pass extended test,are they faulty or not ,well no they are not faulty ,they have been running for years and still working fine
your just testing the smart test which the sata controla can report wrong, not the full extended test
one more thing ocz ssd's showed a smart fail on gigabyte motherboards for months until they fixed the bios ,so thats one more thing to look at.

one more thing pc's and parts are not cut and dry ,they can give errors for no reason ,there are too many variables between manufacturers and most of the time it makes no different how they work or how long they last

-matt-

banger9365 wrote: »

one faulty yes but 4 no ,all with same fault no.
sata controla reporting it wrong yes
just to give you an idea
i've 4 samsung hdds all f3's all fail standard test ,using there testing software ,but all pass extended test,are they faulty or not ,well no they are not faulty ,they have been running for years and still working fine

Yes all four are faulty. Faulty doesn't make them non working. They're actually Samsung M3s. All come scratched in the same place above the USB3 port. All fail to read serial number of off the hard drive and give the following error code:

i.imgur.com/VVRKKmi.png

The drives that have been sent back have "apparently" been checked by technicians and marked as faulty. With an error like that I'm kind of wary of what may happen a few weeks down the road. The first time, I did the long test, but that came out faulty due to that single error. That single error could lead to more in the future.

tronator

-matt- wrote: »

Yes all four are faulty. Faulty doesn't make them non working. They're actually Samsung M3s. All come scratched in the same place above the USB3 port. All fail to read serial number of off the hard drive and give the following error code:

i.imgur.com/VVRKKmi.png

Are you for real? It's the first time you mention the tiny detail, that the hard disks are external USB drives. This error has nothing to do with S.M.A.R.T. It just says that the software can't read the serial number. It could be one of many things, limitation or bug of the software, limitation of the USB chipset, problem with the driver, ...

Also a quick google search with this error code suggests that "99% of USB bridges do not support the commands required for SMART or other meaningful diagnostics."

The least I would have tried is to test it on a different PC after the 1st replacement was "faulty" and, depending on whether the drive can be easily removed from the enclosure, test it on a internal SATA port.

-matt- wrote: »

The drives that have been sent back have "apparently" been checked by technicians and marked as faulty. With an error like that I'm kind of wary of what may happen a few weeks down the road. The first time, I did the long test, but that came out faulty due to that single error. That single error could lead to more in the future.

Maybe they didn't really check the drive and it's just cheaper to replace the drive. I don't know.

forgotmyname

A dodgy internal cable connection can appear to show a drive as faulty also.

But as above USB and SMART testing. Pointless. You wont get accurate results.

-matt-

I know I posted it as SMART errors, I didn't exactly mean SMART, but the "technicians" kept calling it a SMART error when I told them the exact error code so I gave up with that one and left it as that.

On the other hand I have tried a different PC and I get the same issues. Not only that but when I test any of my other external USB hard drives I don't get any errors and all of them pass these tests.

To those saying testing for SMART via USB is useless, have you got any sources to back up what you're saying?

HO87

-matt- wrote: »

I know I posted it as SMART errors, I didn't exactly mean SMART, but the "technicians" kept calling it a SMART error when I told them the exact error code so I gave up with that one and left it as that.

On the other hand I have tried a different PC and I get the same issues. Not only that but when I test any of my other external USB hard drives I don't get any errors and all of them pass these tests.

To those saying testing for SMART via USB is useless, have you got any sources to back up what you're saying?

Before asking for references it might be useful to go back and carefully re-read some of the advice already offered.

The chances of four essentially randomly selected although identical HDD's, seemingly band-new out-of-the-box, to all fail with the same issue is pretty low. And that is simply an application of logic.

Logic also dictates that the chances are that the issue (and it may well not be a fault but simply a glitch) lies in the common elements of the rig. Different HDD's but the same machine; same MB, same SATA controller, same USB hub etc etc.

As just a starter I would be checking my MB manufacturers site for BIOS updates - something that is frequently overlooked.

It is a matter of settled fact (Google is your friend) that there is no commonly agreed SMART standards and most manufacturers use their own implementation each of which differs from the next. In addition, because of the way Windows can influence diagnostic test reporting I would not even consider the reliability of any such tests unless run on a bare test rig.

The issue is not whether SMART will run (it will usually do so) but whether the different implementations of it on your machine will provide a reliable result.