Patriot send used defective drive as new?

[RavFX]

Hi,

===Intro===

Some time Ago (23 April 2009), I buy a Patriot Warp V2 128GB SSD Drive. He came sealed in his original package like any new retail drive.

When I opened the package to taked the drive, I found some usage mark on the power/sata connector so I my head I started thinking that this drive was already used by someone else or directly by Patriot for some in factory testing... So to be sure, I plugged the HDD in my main computer and proceeded to a data dumping of the first 1GB ...

I made a hex view of the datadump and I found that the drive dident contain any partition table (like a new) but contain an NTFS partition Header in the habitual first partition spot :

00007E00   EB 52 90 4E  54 46 53 20  20 20 20 00  02 08 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 F8 00 00  3F 00 FF 00  .R.NTFS    .............?...
00007E1C   3F 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  80 00 80 00  65 5E ED 0E  00 00 00 00  00 00 0C 00  00 00 00 00  ?...........e^..............
00007E38   E6 D5 EE 00  00 00 00 00  F6 00 00 00  01 00 00 00  93 5A 1B F4  71 1B F4 4E  00 00 00 00  .................Z..q..N....
00007E54   FA 33 C0 8E  D0 BC 00 7C  FB B8 C0 07  8E D8 E8 16  00 B8 00 0D  8E C0 33 DB  C6 06 0E 00  .3.....|..............3.....
00007E70   10 E8 53 00  68 00 0D 68  6A 02 CB 8A  16 24 00 B4  08 CD 13 73  05 B9 FF FF  8A F1 66 0F  ..S.h..hj....$.....s......f.
00007E8C   B6 C6 40 66  0F B6 D1 80  E2 3F F7 E2  86 CD C0 ED  06 41 66 0F  B7 C9 66 F7  E1 66 A3 20  ..@f.....?.......Af...f..f.
00007EA8   00 C3 B4 41  BB AA 55 8A  16 24 00 CD  13 72 0F 81  FB 55 AA 75  09 F6 C1 01  74 04 FE 06  ...A..U..$...r...U.u....t...
00007EC4   14 00 C3 66  60 1E 06 66  A1 10 00 66  03 06 1C 00  66 3B 06 20  00 0F 82 3A  00 1E 66 6A  ...f`..f...f....f;. ...:..fj
00007EE0   00 66 50 06  53 66 68 10  00 01 00 80  3E 14 00 00  0F 85 0C 00  E8 B3 FF 80  3E 14 00 00  .fP.Sfh.....>...........>...
00007EFC   0F 84 61 00  B4 42 8A 16  24 00 16 1F  8B F4 CD 13  66 58 5B 07  66 58 66 58  1F EB 2D 66  ..a..B..$.......fX[.fXfX..-f
00007F18   33 D2 66 0F  B7 0E 18 00  66 F7 F1 FE  C2 8A CA 66  8B D0 66 C1  EA 10 F7 36  1A 00 86 D6  3.f.....f......f..f....6....
00007F34   8A 16 24 00  8A E8 C0 E4  06 0A CC B8  01 02 CD 13  0F 82 19 00  8C C0 05 20  00 8E C0 66  ..$.................... ...f
00007F50   FF 06 10 00  FF 0E 0E 00  0F 85 6F FF  07 1F 66 61  C3 A0 F8 01  E8 09 00 A0  FB 01 E8 03  ..........o...fa............
00007F6C   00 FB EB FE  B4 01 8B F0  AC 3C 00 74  09 B4 0E BB  07 00 CD 10  EB F2 C3 0D  0A 41 20 64  .........<.t.............A d
00007F88   69 73 6B 20  72 65 61 64  20 65 72 72  6F 72 20 6F  63 63 75 72  72 65 64 00  0D 0A 4E 54  isk read error occurred...NT
00007FA4   4C 44 52 20  69 73 20 6D  69 73 73 69  6E 67 00 0D  0A 4E 54 4C  44 52 20 69  73 20 63 6F  LDR is missing...NTLDR is co
00007FC0   6D 70 72 65  73 73 65 64  00 0D 0A 50  72 65 73 73  20 43 74 72  6C 2B 41 6C  74 2B 44 65  mpressed...Press Ctrl+Alt+De
00007FDC   6C 20 74 6F  20 72 65 73  74 61 72 74  0D 0A 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  l to restart................
00007FF8   83 A0 B3 C9  00 00 55 AA  05 00 4E 00  54 00 4C 00  44 00 52 00  04 00 24 00  49 00 33 00  ......U...N.T.L.D.R...$.I.3.
00008014   30 00 00 E0  00 00 00 30  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  0......0

I see lot of

AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  E9 86 AA 55  4A 4D 46 36  .......................UJMF6
00010808   30 58 2D 56  30 30 31 00  FB A0 00 FB  A0 01 05 72  00 FB A0 02  08 4F 02 FB  A0 03 FE D1  0X-V001........r.....O......
00010824   04 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  .UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
00010840   55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
0001085C   55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
00010878   55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
00010894   55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
000108B0   55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
000108CC   55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
000108E8   55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  55 55 55 55  AA AA AA AA  UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....
00010904   AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  ............................
00010920   AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  ............................
0001093C   AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  ............................
00010958   AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  ............................
00010974   AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  ............................
00010990   AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  ............................
000109AC   AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  ............................
000109C8   AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  ............................
000109E4   AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  AA AA AA AA  ............................
00010A00   E9 86 AA 55  4A 4D 46 36  30 58 2D 56  30 30 31 00  FB A0 00 00  CF 00 01 98  00 02 DE 00

Before and after the NTFS wreck partition and after 00018058 it's filed by FF FF FF FF.....................

After that I got the certitudes that I got a refurbished drive probably returned for a defect problem... But I buy a new for a new price directly from a respectable supplier. So I thinked that it was from a user PEBKAC that returned the drive because of a stupid reason and proceded to the installation in my laptop ...

I used a bit since this date (After the OS was installed, diden't used space except for small documents files)...

===TODAY===
I download 2 Linux DVD ISO and tried to transfer them in my laptop to bring them home... But after a moment my laptop hang, the HDD drive stay lit for 5 minute and the copy aborted .... So I recopied and stopped just before the hang and started to copy another big file... And know what?? Another huge hang in the same place I got the other earlier. I deleted the file partially copied, made a full shutdown, and retested after that... Same thing I can't use more that 33% of the disk space

I want to know if it's possible to get a true new drive because the one I got was a used refurbished factory-sealed defective drive.

Thank

[earls]

Where/Who did you buy the drive from?

[RavFX]

I made the order from my superviser in my job. we can get part from 3 or 4 main computer suppliers (the same that suply other shops). I will ask him tomorrow from wich one he made the order.

Here some information I extracted from the drive:

/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
        Model Number:       PATRIOT MEMORY 128GB SSD                
        Serial Number:      MK0B0909086AE0002                       
        Firmware Revision:  02.10104                                
Standards:                                                          
        Used: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 4a                     
        Supported: 8 7 6 5 & some of 8                              
Configuration:                                                      
        Logical         max     current                             
        cylinders       16383   16383                               
        heads           16      16                                  
        sectors/track   63      63                                  
        --                                                          
        CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064                 
        LBA    user addressable sectors:  250445824                 
        Logical/Physical Sector size:           512 bytes           
        device size with M = 1024*1024:      122288 MBytes          
        device size with M = 1000*1000:      128228 MBytes (128 GB)
        cache/buffer size  = unknown
Capabilities:
        LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
        Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
        R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 1   Current = ?
        Recommended acoustic management value: 128, current value: 254
        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
             Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
        PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
             Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
        Enabled Supported:
           *    SMART feature set
           *    Power Management feature set
           *    Write cache
                Look-ahead
           *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
           *    Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
           *    Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
           *    Host-initiated interface power management
           *    Phy event counters
Checksum: correct

darkstar ravfx # dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=1M count=1024
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 11.5095 s, 93.3 MB/s

As you see, the drive perform very well until I reach the defective place (3GB after this test)

[earls]

Was the box shrink-wrapped?

[RavFX]

The box was wrapped as I remember.

The drive came from Supercom distributor ( http://pub.supercom.ca ).

[earls]

RMA it through Supercom.

Q. What is an RMA? How do I obtain an RMA?
A. Unless otherwise specified, all products are sold with a 1-Year Parts & Labour Warranty against defects in material and workmanship. If your products are found to be defective, you can ship them back to Supercom with a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number obtained from our Service/Technical Department. Please visit our Policies page for RMA procedures. If you need to obtain an RMA, you can fill out our RMA Request Form or contact our Service/Technical Department. NOTE: The Service/Technical Support area is reserved for Supercom resellers only.

[Patriot_Ben]

Drives that get RMA'd or returned get shipped back to the manufacturer for analysis (even if the drive is in working condition). We also might do random QC checks on new drives from time to time. However, these drives shouldn't have any extensive use, just quick function test, formatted and return to ensure functionality.

Other than that, Patriot does not sell any refurbished or "used" drives nor send any out for RMA thereafter.

However, you shouldn't have any writing or data on it whatsoever. I would return it to vendor as suggested. If you have any issues with the return or drive don't hesitate to contact support@patriotmem.com for a direct exchange to us.