Seagate ST4000DM000 multiple product versions - amazon mismatch

[genBTC]

Hey. So i already have two 4TB Seagate drives. ST4000DM000 - 1F2168. Both Dated ~2013ish. One has 34k POH hours, one has 16k POH hours and they work great, but I want/need at least 1 new 4tb. One. Just one. one. So last week I tried to order _TWO_ more (2 for good luck) NEW identical ones , from reputable sellers. But that plan failed. Amazon + Seagate is doing false advertising so to speak.
They came today. Both Sealed, New, but....

Seagate Re-used the model number and completely changed the drive. One is 4 platter. One is 3 platter.

Drive 1) ST4000DM000-2AE166 !(3 Platters/6 heads)! @ Date of Manufacture: June 2016 = Has only ~1 year left on the 2 year warranty (Oct 2018).Horribly packaged, for sure bounced around and possibly damaged in shipping. No plastic clamshell, just once over with bubble wrap that got completely *flattened* in shipping.
My research tells me that this drive is in fact likely a DM005 (aka a "Barracuda Compute"), which came out right around that time. (8/31/2016)
I can tell by the 12V = 0.37A power consumption number on the 12V rail, where the other DM000's are 12V = 0.55A. This is directly proportional to the number of platters the 12V motor has to spin. Less platters, less power.
This is clearly the better drive, but it doesnt match my other two 4 platter drives, and I wanted to use them in a RAIDZ1, and who knows if its compromised from G-shock.
Will that matter ?
Datasheet: http://www.seagate.com/www-content/...a-fam/barracuda-new/en-us/docs/100804656b.pdf

Drive 2) ST4000DM000-1F2168 (4 Platters/8 heads) @ Date of Manufacture: April 2013 = Already so far out of 2yr warranty (June 2015). But it did have proper shipping protection and clamshell ;/
Paying full price for no warranty with no disclaimer is NOT cool amazon/seagate!!!!!
This drive is called the "HDD.15". They came in Firmware versions CC52 and CC54 (and my two current drives have one on each.)
My belief is he CC52 is from ~2013, and the CC54 is from ~2015.
Datasheet: http://www.seagate.com/www-content/product-content/desktop-hdd-fam/en-us/docs/100782401c.pdf
They are both the 5900 Rpm version.

Fyi - The amazon ordering page was no help. The picture shows a 1F2168 CC54 drive from 10/2015 which is what I wanted. The reviews are from years ago, the page is mixed with other capacities, and people are complaining about unrelated sellers doing other scams/shenanigans like selling OEM un-warrantyable drives. Or OLD af out of warranty drives. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B99JU4S (I made sure it was an official page) They were $107 each. Not a bargain. What I ended up getting was a mess!
Which is now confusing me on what to do. My plan is to return one, but IDK which one. I guess I can return two but I waited quite a long time for this, and my existing array is degraded, and now this puts that on hold - which is bad.

If anyone knows about these drives - to fill in the gaps in my knowledge, just post what you know...
How can you differentiate Seagate drives if they have the same model number. This is apparently common too.

 

[will.mhtz]

Personally I would return both since they were "incorrectly listed". Amazon will gladly take those back for that reasoning. However, I understand your dilemma with the degraded volumes. With 2 drives currently in use, I am assuming you are running a mirrored pool. Right away, you could use one of the new drives to do a complete backup to in the event of an emergency.

Order new drives. When they come in, return the old ones AFTER you have completely restored your volumes with proper drives. This way, you always have a fallback plan if things go south.

I'm no expert, but these are my 2 cents.

 

[Stux]

Send them both back. And order an IronWolf instead.

 

[genBTC]

Send them both back. And order an IronWolf instead.

There was a good deal on a 10TB ironwolf, but i figured that 10TB was too large and risky. All the other Red/NAS/Ironwolf drives are considerably more expensive in the normal sizes. I do kind of agree though.

Personally I would return both since they were "incorrectly listed". Amazon will gladly take those back for that reasoning. However, I understand your dilemma with the degraded volumes. With 2 drives currently in use, I am assuming you are running a mirrored pool. Right away, you could use one of the new drives to do a complete backup to in the event of an emergency.

Order new drives. When they come in, return the old ones AFTER you have completely restored your volumes with proper drives. This way, you always have a fallback plan if things go south.

I'm no expert, but these are my 2 cents.

Also no, it was a 3 drive RAID-z1, where one failed, and whats left is not redundified at all and is waiting to go poof.
I can return drives to amazon after I used them ? I still havent opened the package and I'm gonna wait another 18 hours before I do, so i can get some more feedback. This sounds like the best plan.

What about the platter discrepancy ?

 

[scrappy]

I do see Amazon itself as a retailer of these drives if you check the new and used purchase options. I'd say send them back and buy again from the seller amazon.com, not third party.

 

[genBTC]

I do see Amazon itself as a retailer of these drives if you check the new and used purchase options. I'd say send them back and buy again from the seller amazon.com, not third party.

Yes, i see now. I didnt realize thats how amazon works lol. Wonderful. But it amounts to $18 more. Tho that is useful to know.

 

[scrappy]

Yes, i see now. I didnt realize thats how amazon works lol. Wonderful. But it amounts to $18 more. Tho that is useful to know.

I tend to be wary of third party electronics sellers on Amazon. Even if Amazon proper costs a little more, it's usually worth buying from them over Joe Schmoe selling non-authorized refurbs out of his garage.

 

[genBTC]

Me too. No wonder the price was so good. I thought "Fulfilled by Amazon" was all I had to look for. I'm gonna stick to Newegg though. They charge me tax, but so does Amazon proper.