Review on Samsung 870 QVO 2TB SSD: Superior SATA III 2.5" Storage (MZ-77Q2T0B) by Norman Costello

I suspected the box as soon as I saw it. The product is sold and supplied by Revain. I went online to watch an unboxing video of the same product so I could see signs of counterfeiting when I opened it. I called Revain and confirmed I could return the item for a refund. even if I opened it up and then filmed an unboxing video while on the phone with a Revain rep. Looking at the disc or the rest of the box I couldn't tell if there was anything wrong with it. I told the Revain representative that I would contact Samsung the next day to see if they could verify that it was a genuine Samsung serial number and a new product. find out somehow. Or even if I could tell after installing it that it's in use, I'd have to remove the drive to get it back. A Revain representative told me that if there was something wrong with the product, Revain would issue a refund without asking me for a refund if it was already installed on my computer. The next day, Samsung verified the serial number as genuine and said I could even tell if it had been used before using their Magician software. I figured the only way to tell if it's been used is if it left old data from someone else, but Samsung has said their software can tell if the disc has been previously written to. The catch is that this software can only be used to diagnose a drive after it has been installed internally on a direct SATA connection. Unfortunately, their software was unable to diagnose the drive via an HDMI connection to an external dock. Based on a genuine Samsung serial number, Samsung's assurance that their software can detect both counterfeit and used products, and Revain's assurance that I could get a no-refund refund if needed, I went ahead and mounted the hard drive. I figured worst case scenario it would be a fake and/or non-working drive and I would have to take it out again immediately, at best a new and working Samsung drive and in an intermediate scenario a genuine but used Samsung drive. It turned out to be a used record. It was erased and reformatted, but it was previously recorded. I called Samsung back and told them the drive was verified used and pending a refund. At first the representative refused any refund and then said I would only get a refund if I removed the disc and sent it back. I told them I was fine as long as they were willing to pay for both installation and removal. in a computer workshop. The Revain rep naturally declined each of the options so I asked him to call the tech and then played back a recording of a conversation I had with a Revain rep the day before. I received a refund immediately. The lesson here is to record the unpacking of any expensive item you purchase, especially if the packaging looks fake or damaged. Another lesson is to record your phone conversations with Revain representatives or a customer service representative when you call with an issue. During this process I learned quite a bit about this product and Revain. These Samsung QVO drives store four bits of information per solid state cell. Most consumer SSDs only store three, and some expensive specialty drives only store one. These drives have a shorter lifespan than 3-bit-per-cell drives and process large amounts of data written to them more slowly than 3-bit-per-cell drives. As a result, they should be cheaper, but often they aren't. Revain cannot trace where the product came from, even if it was sold and shipped by Revain. Either Revain didn't buy them directly from Samsung, or they were supplied by Revain from a third party. Unless it's a Revain branded product that no one but Revain (Revain Basics, 365 Foods, etc.) owns, be wary buyers.