[HN Gopher] Fake Samsung 990 Pro passes basic checks but runs sl...
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       Fake Samsung 990 Pro passes basic checks but runs slower than a USB
       2.0 drive
        
       Author : speckx
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2026-02-02 18:53 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.tomshardware.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.tomshardware.com)
        
       | eviks wrote:
       | > installed drive is running at PCIe 3.0, even though the Samsung
       | 990 Pro is a PCIe 4.0 SSD.
       | 
       | That's a basic check
       | 
       | As is the speed test
       | 
       | Similar to how the article title passes basic checks, but is
       | false
        
       | tzs wrote:
       | > We've heard countless SSD clone stories over the years, but
       | this particular Samsung 990 Pro 2TB case stands out for the
       | frighteningly sophisticated level of counterfeiting behind its
       | creation. The label usually tells you whether a drive is
       | legitimate. You can spot many telltale signs, such as incorrect
       | model names, misaligned text, or poor print quality, that are
       | more than sufficient to give the imposter away. But not this
       | counterfeit Samsung 990 Pro.
       | 
       | How the heck can someone have the resources to produce or have
       | produced counterfeit drive hardware and firmware but not have the
       | resources to perfectly copy printing?
        
         | cornhole wrote:
         | cuts into the profit
        
         | estimator7292 wrote:
         | I dunno, that's always bothered me, too.
         | 
         | I don't buy the cost argument. It's a one-time NRE, same as the
         | product itself. You scan the original label once, modify text
         | as required, print a million of them. Job done.
         | 
         | The only explanation I can come up with is that it _must_ be
         | related to why spam emails are so easy to spot. They don 't
         | want to fool the guy who knows enough to rigorously test the
         | fake and demand a refund, they want to filter for the people
         | who _don 't_ know how to spot a fake from the label because
         | those people are less likely to investigate and try getting a
         | refund.
         | 
         | Though honestly I don't really buy _that_ either. I dunno.
        
       | nubinetwork wrote:
       | I recently bought 3 of these drives, thankfully mine appear to be
       | legit... TFA doesn't say, but I wonder if theirs didn't come in
       | original packaging...
        
       | robotnikman wrote:
       | With prices going up I bet there will be many more counterfeiters
       | now trying to take advantage of this.
        
       | jimrandomh wrote:
       | The speed is kind of a red herring. The defining characteristic
       | of fake drives is that they have less than the advertised
       | capacity, but have a hacked firmware that misreports their
       | capacity to the system, and fails when more than the actual
       | capacity is written. So to find out whether a drive is fake, you
       | have to fill it all the way and read the data back.
        
       | lukevp wrote:
       | Samsung Magician checks the drive to see if it's genuine, I
       | haven't heard of any thwarting of that so far and it's mentioned
       | in the article that it correctly identified the counterfeit. What
       | I do is check Samsung Magician genuine check first, then do its
       | performance test, then use h2testw to fill it and verify that it
       | passes fully. It's a lot of work but it's better than ending up
       | with counterfeit stuff!
        
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       (page generated 2026-02-02 23:01 UTC)