Recently, a wave of complaints from over 50 German consumers has surfaced, alleging that the Seagate hard drives they purchased, despite being labeled as brand new, were in fact second-hand and had logged over 10,000 hours of usage. In response, Seagate clarified that it did not directly sell these hard drives to dealers and advised customers to purchase through certified distributors. While Seagate's recertified hard drives bear specific labels, the problematic units somehow still found their way into the market.

An investigation conducted by Heise.de revealed that all five stores selling these questionable hard drives were certified Seagate partners, raising further questions about the supply chain. Seagate stated that it resets the usage time of hard drives, yet reports suggest that these drives may have been refurbished after initial use and then resold as brand new products.