Hardware Counterfeiting

A small story in PC Magazine got my attention today because there is probably more to it than just the story being printed.  The story goes that Seagate is going to verify that its hard drives are "authentic" using a variation of block chain.  I'm sure the main audience of this user oriented mag thought this was a good thing for Seagate to do - and it is - but not for the reasons being stated. 

Why did Seagate think it was important to verify the authenticity of its hard drives?  Are there getting to be so many counterfeits that they are being hit by the loss of sales?  I went to see what was out there on this issue and found similar guidance by Western Digital as follows:

There are key areas where you can ensure you are getting a genuine external WD drive:

Manufacturing Date: When purchasing your WD hard drive, make sure it has a manufacturing date no more than one year from purchase.

Package Integrity: WD packages should have no marks, scratches or other signs of tampering. Original WD products come in WD packaging with a tamper proof sticker.

Serial Number: If there is any concern, verify your warranty below and enter your serial number of your product to check the warranty.

New WD hard drive nomenclatures: Check our website for the latest brands available and images of what the drive logo looks like. It should not have the word “Recertified”.

How to identify a counterfeit WD product

Incorrect packaging

Low quality printing on label

Improperly sized hard drive labels

Made up or incorrect product names. Visit wd.com for a complete list of WD products.

Low quality packaging/plastic or low quality printing on packaging/labels.

“Made in China”. WD only manufactures internal and external hard drives in Malaysia and Thailand.

Has a lower actual capacity than the capacity printed on the packaging or label.

If the price is too good to be true, it probably is.

Just how big is the counterfeiting market for hard drives?  It seems - so far in my Internet searches-  that most of the problem seems to be selling used drives as new.  Refurbished is not a term that is used on these drives but that is what it may be.  These small drives are not very expensive and it seems like they would not be worth reselling under any circumstances, but the vendors are pointing out how to recognize one.  My concern would be drives made in China that were not the brand they are sold under - a Shenzhen drive made as a Western Digital drive, when they don't make drives in China.  How do we know which drives those might be?  Maybe we can find out pretty soon because the vendors are getting better at making sure we can recognize a fraud when we see one.