I recently bought a 4TB Seagate OneTouch portable external HDD and wanted to test it thoroughly before using it. Windows recognizes the drive and shows the expected usable capacity of about 3.7TB, but SeaTools and GSmartControl report it as roughly 16.1TB. The drive name also appeared unusual at first and later changed to something resembling a Hitachi model name, despite being sold as a Seagate drive.
SeaTools' long generic test remained at 0% for about 30 minutes, and its short tests caused the drive to disconnect completely. GSmartControl behaved the same way. I tried multiple USB 3 ports and cables with no change. CHKDSK /r does not disconnect the drive, but it is progressing extremely slowly—about 1% per hour—even though the drive is mostly empty.
The system information also identifies the device as a 5400 RPM Hitachi Travelstar with a reported capacity around 16TB, which seems inconsistent with the product I purchased. Are these behaviors normal for a portable 4TB HDD, or are they signs of a counterfeit, modified, or failing drive? I only have a short return window, so I need to decide whether to send it back.
3 Answers
The 16TB figure may come from the device firmware rather than the Windows partition, but that does not make it normal. Combined with the changing model name and disconnections whenever diagnostic tools access the drive, it suggests a bad drive, a tampered enclosure, or a counterfeit product. Stop writing data to it and request a refund or replacement. If possible, mention the mismatched manufacturer and capacity in the return reason so the unit is investigated instead of being resold.
The test speed by itself depends on the connection and the drive's condition, but USB 3 should not normally make an empty 4TB drive crawl along at about 1% per hour. CHKDSK /r reads the entire device and can be slow, but this level of slowness plus repeated disconnections points to hardware or firmware trouble rather than ordinary portable-drive performance. I would not trust it with any files.
I would return it rather than spend more of the return period testing it. A healthy 4TB portable HDD can take a while to scan, but CHKDSK /r taking several days at roughly 1% per hour is not a good sign. That usually indicates repeated read retries, timeouts, or resets. The drive identifying itself as Hitachi and reporting 16TB while being sold as a 4TB Seagate is an even bigger red flag. A genuine drive should not present those conflicting identities and capacities.
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