Fake Samsung 990 Pro passes basic checks but runs slower than a USB 2.0 drive

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/ssds/fake-samsung-990-pro-passes-basic-checks-but-runs-slower-than-a-usb-2-0-drive-counterfeit-ssds-proliferate-as-nand-shortage-creates-the-perfect-storm-for-bogus-deals

by speckx • 6 months ago

35 14 6 months ago

tomshardware.com

eviks• 6 months ago

installed drive is running at PCIe 3.0, even though the Samsung 990 Pro is a PCIe 4.0 SSD.

That's a basic check

As is the speed test

Similar to how the article title passes basic checks, but is false

tzs• 6 months ago

We've heard countless SSD clone stories over the years, but this particular Samsung 990 Pro 2TB case stands out for the frighteningly sophisticated level of counterfeiting behind its creation. The label usually tells you whether a drive is legitimate. You can spot many telltale signs, such as incorrect model names, misaligned text, or poor print quality, that are more than sufficient to give the imposter away. But not this counterfeit Samsung 990 Pro.

How the heck can someone have the resources to produce or have produced counterfeit drive hardware and firmware but not have the resources to perfectly copy printing?

cornhole• 6 months ago

cuts into the profit

estimator7292• 6 months ago

I dunno, that's always bothered me, too.

I don't buy the cost argument. It's a one-time NRE, same as the product itself. You scan the original label once, modify text as required, print a million of them. Job done.

The only explanation I can come up with is that it must be related to why spam emails are so easy to spot. They don't want to fool the guy who knows enough to rigorously test the fake and demand a refund, they want to filter for the people who don't know how to spot a fake from the label because those people are less likely to investigate and try getting a refund.

Though honestly I don't really buy that either. I dunno.

nubinetwork• 6 months ago

I recently bought 3 of these drives, thankfully mine appear to be legit... TFA doesn't say, but I wonder if theirs didn't come in original packaging...

robotnikman• 6 months ago

With prices going up I bet there will be many more counterfeiters now trying to take advantage of this.

jimrandomh2• 6 months ago

The speed is kind of a red herring. The defining characteristic of fake drives is that they have less than the advertised capacity, but have a hacked firmware that misreports their capacity to the system, and fails when more than the actual capacity is written. So to find out whether a drive is fake, you have to fill it all the way and read the data back.

rcxdude• 6 months ago

Counterfeit mainly just means it's pretending to be something that it isn't. It's entirely possible this drive has the advertised capacity (though I wouldn't count on it), but it would still be a fake.

jimrandomh2• 6 months ago

No, it isn't the advertised capacity, because counterfeiting scams require a large ratio between the value of the part claimed and the part provided, and you can't get 2TB of flash memory chips cheaply no matter how slow you're willing to accept. When counterfeit storage devices like this are disassembled, usually they're found to have a small microSD card in them.

creatonez• 6 months ago

I thought this was only common on fake flash drives and external SSDs? Has this been happening to NVMe SSDs as well? It's definitely possible, but scammers tend to be lazy to branch out beyond what already works, and SSDs are a bit more complex.

lukevp• 6 months ago

Samsung Magician checks the drive to see if it’s genuine, I haven’t heard of any thwarting of that so far and it’s mentioned in the article that it correctly identified the counterfeit. What I do is check Samsung Magician genuine check first, then do its performance test, then use h2testw to fill it and verify that it passes fully. It’s a lot of work but it’s better than ending up with counterfeit stuff!

Fake Samsung 990 Pro passes basic checks but runs slower than a USB 2.0 drive

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