I'm a sucker, I believe in Santa Claus

An 8 TB SSD external drive for a few euros, with advertised transfer rates of 350 Mb/s, and on several different stores, with good reviews, 

it's Christmas my friends !
 

I bought three of them, on three different shops for more safety.
I received one.

Transfer rate of 10 Mb/s instead of 350 Mb/s …
And impossible to read anything I wrote on it.
 

I tested Hdtestw -→ lame disk

I told myself that I had been unlucky with my purchase, these are things that happen 🥴

And then I dug a little.

A real 8TB SSD is over €500, so there's no way my drive is such a drive.

I told myself that it was perhaps a large USB key which would explain the starving transfer rate of 10 Mb / s. But no that does not exist, the largest are 2 TB.

And I found the solution: the Chinese put a small chip that makes Windows believe that the capacity of the key is 8 TB, 16 TB etc... up to 128 TB and that's it 😜
You can write whatever you want to the disk, you can perform write/read tests, it's OK at 10 Mb/s. 

The disk shows you the directory, a facade, but you will never be able to read anything on this fake disk.

A scam for suckers

Of course I asked for the refund for defective hardware, but since Aliexpress knows it's a scam, they don't bother to refund

I'm not one to give up quickly 😡

Client service of Aliexpress : 

Message to : SY Factory Outlet Store – 6 mai 2023

Hello, I've received the disk. It doesn't function. I tested Hdtestw, the disk is defectuous. Nothing that has been written can be read. Please refund. Thanks

Answer from the seller : 

Hi friend, can you provide some evidence that it doesn't work? Then I am willing to refund you or resend a new one

My answer : This disk is sold for a storage of 8TO, t's just a scam. I think you are familiar with Hdtestw, software that tests writing and reading data from disks. In fact you know very well that this disk is not an 8TB but a simple hacked USB key of a few hundred MB. So it is not necessary to discuss too long, and above all do not send me again this type of booby trap, you still have a few suckers to catch.

Just refund

Indeed this scam is a classic one with a modified memory chip that allows continuous writing/overwriting on a small space, obviously corrupting any data larger then the physical capabilities of the storage device (often a tiny stick glued into an empty case that has weights added inside.).

A nice package indeed

With perfection pushed to provide blue USB 3.0 and black 2.0 connectors

Then the weight is too light : 39g

A bit difficult to open, to find only a small ship

There's a cultural question, do U imagine amazon validating such a supplier ? 

I don't think amazon vets any one on their market place and even if you throw some Chinese vendor out they will be back again the day after with another name. The only thing you can do is trust your gut and common sense. If it's too good to be true, it is in the vast majority of cases.

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Okay, I gossiped, they easily reimburse (complaint of 500 characters max, spaces included.)

Hello, I contacted the seller : I've received the disk. It doesn't function. I tested Hdtestw, the disk is defectuous. Nothing that has been written can be read. Please refund. Thanks

Answer from seller : Don't use unofficial software to test.

My answer : This disk is sold for a storage of 8TO. Hdtestw is the standard worldwide test for disks, result is that this disk is not an 8TB but a simple hacked USB key of a few GB capacity. I’ve opened the case to verify. Weight too low: 39g. 

Just refund

Idolenz

I don't think amazon vets any one on their market place and even if you throw some Chinese vendor out they will be back again the day after with another name. The only thing you can do is trust your gut and common sense. If it's too good to be true, it is in the vast majority of cases.

Amazon, same garbage: 

[…]

As for harddrives, I bought a 2TB Seagate Expansion drive in 2013 and it still purrs like a cat. I have backed 3 computers of stuff on it and now store all my videos, pictures and files on it. Downloading and saving is a breeze. Its still only half full and yet this thing is 11 going on 12 years old.