Indistinguishable: Fake Samsung 990 PRO SSDs Appear on the Market
Due to the ongoing NAND memory shortage, counterfeit solid-state drives are increasingly appearing on the market, and one such case has caught the attention of Reddit users.
What is Known
A user from India with the nickname xox-lover reported that he couldn't resist the enticing price and purchased a "flagship" Samsung 990 PRO 2TB SSD for $200 instead of the $330 usually asked for such a model.
During the purchase, nothing seemed suspicious, the device looked quite convincing: Windows and CrystalDiskInfo identified it as a real 990 PRO, operating through a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. However, testing revealed that the drive operated at USB 2.0 levels — read speeds did not exceed 20 MB/s, and write speeds were limited to about 10 MB/s. Neither changing the slot nor reinstalling drivers improved the situation.
Only Samsung's proprietary utility, Samsung Magician, was able to identify the problem: the program immediately warned that the device was not a genuine Samsung SSD and lacked a correct serial number.
The author of the story warns that the market is flooded with fake models and distinguishing them from originals is becoming increasingly difficult, so he advises purchasing components only from trusted sellers.
And we remind you that this advice applies not only to SSDs, but also to memory chips.
Source: Reddit
