Maestro Technology sells used drives as new (2025-04-30)
At rsync.net we have trusted suppliers with verified supply chains and a long history of providing reliable service.
However, from time to time, it is worth purchasing parts from Amazon – something we do with caution and skepticism.
On or about April 22nd of 2025, we purchased four SSD chunks from “Maestro Technology” for use in the ZFS “special” metadata device.
This is important because even though the four SSDs that we typically add as “special” devices to a Zoolpool are a small addition to the 60 drive Zoolpool, losing the “special” device means losing the entire Zoolpool.
For this reason it is extremely important that the SSD parts we start with are in perfect, new, unworn condition – if their lifespan is reduced it could be a disaster.
Here is the Smart Data for the Intel SSD D3-S4510 SSDSC2KB038T801 3.84TB which was advertised and sold as brand new by Maestro Technology:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 22865 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 9 170 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 171 Program_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 172 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 174 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 7 175 Power_Loss_Cap_Test 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 2411 (9 65535) 183 SATA_Downshift_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 184 End-to-End_Error_Count 0x0033 100 100 090 Pre-fail Always - 0 187 Uncorrectable_Error_Cnt 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 190 Drive_Temperature 0x0022 079 079 000 Old_age Always - 21 (Min/Max 13/22) 192 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 7 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 21 197 Pending_Sector_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 199 CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 225 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 155717 226 Workld_Media_Wear_Indic 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 235 227 Workld_Host_Reads_Perc 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 228 Workload_Minutes 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1371935 232 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 233 Media_Wearout_Indicator 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 234 Thermal_Throttle_Status 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0/0 235 Power_Loss_Cap_Test 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 2411 (9 65535) 241 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 155717 242 Host_Reads_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 143 243 NAND_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 3068104
Here is the SMART data for the Intel SSD D3-S4610 SSDSC2KG038T801 3.84TB which was advertised and sold as brand new by Maestro Technology:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 22663 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 20 170 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 171 Program_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 172 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 174 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 14 175 Power_Loss_Cap_Test 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 2251 (20 65535) 183 SATA_Downshift_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 2 184 End-to-End_Error_Count 0x0033 100 100 090 Pre-fail Always - 0 187 Uncorrectable_Error_Cnt 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 190 Drive_Temperature 0x0022 080 079 000 Old_age Always - 20 (Min/Max 13/21) 192 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 14 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 20 197 Pending_Sector_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 199 CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 225 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 50743 226 Workld_Media_Wear_Indic 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 40 227 Workld_Host_Reads_Perc 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 97 228 Workload_Minutes 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1359717 232 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 233 Media_Wearout_Indicator 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 234 Thermal_Throttle_Status 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0/0 235 Power_Loss_Cap_Test 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 2251 (20 65535) 241 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 50743 242 Host_Reads_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1679980 243 NAND_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 356474
These are old, used drives that have been in use for about three years.
This is especially troubling because the intended duty cycle of these parts is intensive and we will probably exhaust the remaining writes on these SSDs in less than two years.
For comparison, here’s what this exact part looks like when it’s actually new:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 2 170 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 171 Program_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 172 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 174 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 2 175 Power_Loss_Cap_Test 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 1562 (2 22) 183 SATA_Downshift_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 184 End-to-End_Error_Count 0x0033 100 100 090 Pre-fail Always - 0 187 Uncorrectable_Error_Cnt 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 190 Drive_Temperature 0x0022 079 078 000 Old_age Always - 21 (Min/Max 16/22) 192 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 2 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 21 197 Pending_Sector_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 199 CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 225 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 226 Workld_Media_Wear_Indic 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 65535 227 Workld_Host_Reads_Perc 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 65535 228 Workload_Minutes 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 65535 232 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 233 Media_Wearout_Indicator 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 234 Thermal_Throttle_Status 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0/0 235 Power_Loss_Cap_Test 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 1562 (2 22) 241 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 242 Host_Reads_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 243 NAND_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 430
Remember: workload_minutes defaults to 65535 (0xffff) until the workload timer reaches 60 minutes…
There is very little we can do in response to this seller selling old, used parts as brand new.
Our only other recourse, other than returning the four parts for a refund (which we did) and documenting this behavior here, was Guarantee These four specific parts were never again sold as new:
It’s worth noting that other people have also observed the same behavior from Maestro Technology:
…Buyer Beware Maestro Technology LLC
new drive has 13 thousand hours on it