1. What is parallel import?
Parallel import is not a professional term. Therefore there is no standard definition.
It is generally believed that smuggled goods without paying customs duties are parallel imports. In fact, this definition is not accurate either. What kind of goods are sold at auction after being seized by customs? have no idea! I think parallel imports refer to products that should not be sold in a certain country or region but are sold in that country or region, or products that are sold directly without authorized regular dealers. It has nothing to do with the place of production, only the place of sale!
2. Is there a difference between parallel imports and licensed imports?
First of all, licensed products are products that can be sold under warranty in mainland China. Parallel imports are products that can enjoy warranty abroad (it is impossible to go abroad for warranty after being smuggled in). If our licensed products are taken abroad, they will also be parallel imports!
Therefore, there is no difference in function between parallel imports and licensed imports.
3. What are the parallel imports?
Generally speaking, parallel imports are divided into Hong Kong line (B line), European water (water reform), Malay line, North American version, etc. As the names suggest, the above four types are licensed products in the above-mentioned areas! But after arriving in China, they became parallel imports.
4. Where do parallel imports come from?
As we all know, almost all mobile phone brands in the world have production plants in China. NOKIA has factories in Beijing and Dongguan, Samsung has factories in Tianjin and Shenzhen... Therefore, all licensed products are produced in China (except for a few parts of the machine). Model)
Take Samsung as an example. Before Samsung set up a production plant in mainland China, Samsung's parallel imports mainly included three types: parallel imports (made in South Korea that were smuggled in without paying customs duties), Hong Kong imports and reverse imports (European machines with localized software).
Since Samsung set up a factory in Tianjin (including Shenzhen KJ), Samsung’s parallel imports have only been from Hong Kong banks (including Malaysian parallel imports) and the water supply has changed. At the same time, due to the Hong Kong banks (produced in Tianjin or KJ) The price is not as good as that of water-modified products, and the warranty is not as good as that of licensed products, so it slowly withdraws from the market. The Samsung parallel imports now basically refer to water-modified products. Of course, sometimes some parallel imports from Southeast Asia, such as parallel imports from Singapore and Malaysia, will also flow into the country.
The hardware of Samsung's licensed products and parallel products (modified) are different, so the software versions cannot be mutually updated. But the functions are exactly the same. The only differences are price, appearance and warranty. Samsung licensed products can enjoy the warranty of Samsung KF, while all parallel products can only be covered by the seller's warranty. Since the quality of Samsung mobile phones has always been relatively high, the sales of Samsung parallel imports in China have always been relatively good. It is said that more than 80% of Samsung mobile phones in China are parallel imports.
Therefore, some parallel imports are produced domestically and some are produced abroad.
About hard drives - generally speaking, there will be no fake ones (anyone who can produce fake hard drives is pretty cool)
The main thing to guard against is repaired hard drives and second-hand hard drives
The problem of counterfeit goods:
In the past few years, the problem of counterfeit goods has intensified and has spread to almost all lines of computer accessories. Fortunately, hard drive products only have the problem of purchase channels, and there is no problem of fake products. As long as consumers clearly recognize the logo on the hard drive and learn to identify it, they will generally not be deceived by unscrupulous merchants when purchasing. In addition to fakes, many manufacturers sell you some old-generation hard drives pretending to be new-generation ones. At this time, you must pay attention to asking the merchant to clearly write down the trademark and model of the hard drive. If he gives you the previous generation or newer hard drive, For old products, you can have sufficient basis when you come back to replace them.
Identification of parallel-imported and genuine hard drives
Although the DIY market is becoming increasingly standardized, parallel-imported products are still prevalent, and parallel-imported hard drives are still easy to see on the market. So what is the main difference between parallel imports and genuine hard drives? The difference is mainly reflected in two aspects: quality and service. The parallel-imported hard drives currently on the market come from complex sources and are scattered in the hands of users. Damage may occur during frequent loading and unloading, and production problems may also arise.
Although you can find a dealer to replace it, who wants to buy a new one that is defective? On the other hand, some dealers cannot guarantee the warranty when selling parallel imports.
The biggest intuitive difference between licensed hard drives and parallel imported hard drives is whether there is a packaging box. Of course, just a packaging box is a piece of cake for JS. It is no longer a problem to use parallel imported hard drives plus licensed packaging boxes to deceive consumers. Nothing new. For this type of method, you can confirm it through the warranty label of the domestic agent and the anti-counterfeiting mark on the top of the hard drive.
You can determine whether it is genuine by comparing the hard drive number on the disk body and the agent's warranty certificate
Parallel imported hard drives generally do not have a formal packaging box, and even if there is a packaging box, there is nothing on it. Any warranty stickers. As long as we remember this, we can easily distinguish parallel imports from licensed hard drives.
About the method of identifying licensed Seagate hard drives
Seagate’s domestic hard drive products have Seagate’s laser labels. Seagate’s agents in China include Laser Computer, Guangyuanxing, and Wei Shihe Bixin. Among them, in addition to Seagate's own golden laser label, the Seagate hard drive sold by Laser Computer also has a rectangular black label. However, the hard drives of Laser Computer, Guangyuanxing, Weiss and Bixin all have Seagate's own golden laser labels on them. Therefore, when buying a Seagate hard drive, you must first confirm whether it has Seagate's own golden laser label
This is VST's licensed product, with ST's toll-free phone number on it
Repair and second-hand hard drive identification
Some hard drives with physical bad sectors can be used again after repairs by the manufacturer, but their stability has been greatly reduced and their lifespan will not be very long. Therefore, this type of hard drive is the most dangerous. Generally speaking, as long as the serial number on the surface of the hard drive matches the product packaging box one-to-one, and the packaging box is not opened, then we can basically confirm that it is not a repaired product.
Teach you a practical way to identify repaired hard drives
Because hard drives have a relatively high technical content, and there are only a few places around the world that can produce them, so hard drives within the warranty period, They are all returned to the original manufacturer for repair. After repairing the hard disk, the manufacturer will make a corresponding mark on the disk. This has become an important symbol of our distinction. However, because it is written in English, if you are not careful, you may ignore it. past. As for the WD hard drive in the picture, in the circle shown in the picture, there is an "R" letter after the date, which proves that the circle marks the date of repair, not the date of production; in addition, in the marked box, look carefully You can see the light blue "REFURBISHED" (meaning "refurbished" in English), and a more conspicuous "Refurbished" in the upper right corner. If you see such a mark on the hard drive, you must not buy it. In addition, if the price of the hard drive is much cheaper than elsewhere, it may be necessary to repair the hard drive or "don't be greedy for cheap".
As for second-hand hard drives, the confirmation method is even simpler. Used hard drives always have some scratches on the IDE interface. In addition, if the hard drive you buy has been divided into partitions, then you can be sure that it is a second-hand hard drive, because the manufacturer will not partition it for you.
The numbering rules of various hard disks:
At present, everyone is familiar with the hard disk brands on the market, and the larger manufacturers are nothing more than IBM, Maxtor, and WestJet There are several "famous and time-honored brands" such as Seagate and Western Digital. However, with the continuous innovation of hard drive products, it is difficult for most users to decipher the hard drive model numbers of each brand. In fact, each manufacturer's hard drive number has its own internal rules, and each string of numbers also represents a specific meaning of the hard drive itself. Through these complex numbers, users can more accurately understand the various performances of the hard drive. Indicators include interface type, speed, capacity, cache, etc. We focus on mainstream ATA interface products and introduce the latest hard drive numbering rules of each manufacturer for your reference.
1. Seagate
IDE series produced after January 1, 1999:
ST-X-XXXXXX-X-XX
p>
ST stands for Seagate product
The second part represents the appearance of the hard drive. 3 represents 3.5 inches, low profile, 1 inch high
The number in the third part indicates the capacity, in MB.
The fourth part represents the interface type. A——Ultra ATA, AS——Serial ATA
As shown in the picture, ST3120023AS represents Seagate’s 3.5-inch model with a capacity of 120023MB (120GB). The AS at the end indicates that this is the latest Serial ATA Barracuda 5 with interface and 8MB cache.
2. IBM
IBM’s new numbering rules are as follows (applicable to SCSI hard drives after Ultrastar 73LZX and IDE hard drives after Deskstar 60GXP):
IC FF H CAP IF xx SP - >
H: Height, L stands for 1 inch (25.4 mm), T stands for 0.49 inch (12.5 mm), N stands for 0.37 inch (9.5 mm)
CAP: Capacity, in GB
IF: Interface type, AV - ATA interface, UW - Ultra160 SCSI 68-pin Wide, UC - Ultra160 SCSI 80-pin SCA, XW - Ultra320 SCSI 68-pin Wide, XC - Ultra320 SCSI 80-pin SCA, F2 - FC-AL-2 (2 Gbit).
XX: Specific code, indicating product series model, ER represents Deskstar 60GXP series, VA represents Deskstar 120GXP series, and V2 represents Deskstar 180GXP.
SP: Speed, the unit is RPM/minute. 04——4200, 05——5400, 07——7200, 10——10000, 15——15000.
X: Indicates cache capacity, enabled from Deskstar 180GXP, 0-2MB cache, 1-8MB cache. Among them, the 60GB product using one disk has a cache of 2MB, the 80GB and 120GB products using two disks have a cache of 2MB and 8MB, and the 180GB product using three disks has a cache of 8MB. Pay attention to the distinction when purchasing.
As shown in the figure, IC35L060AVV207-0 is a 3.5-inch, 1-inch height Ultra ATA100 interface Deskstar 180GXP (Tamron fifth generation) hard drive produced by IBM, with a capacity of 60GB and a rotation speed of 7200/min. Finally The "0" indicates that this hard drive only has a 2MB cache.
3. Maxtor
XX-XXX-X-X
The first part indicates the product series model.
2R——Fireball 531DX first generation, 2B——Fireball 541DX second generation, 2F——Fireball 3, 4W——Diamondmax 536DX second generation, 4D, 4K, 4G——Diamondmax 540X third generation, 4R— —Diamondmax 16-star diamond fourth generation, 5T — Diamondmax Plus60 gold diamond sixth generation, 6L — Diamondmax Plus D740X gold diamond seventh generation, 6E — Diamondmax Plus8, 6Y — Diamondmax Plus9.
The second part indicates the capacity, in GB.
The third part indicates the buffer capacity, interface and spindle motor type. H——Ultra ATA100 interface, 2MB cache, J——Ultra ATA133 interface, 2MB cache and using ball bearing motor (Ball Bearing Motor), L——Ultra ATA133 interface, 2MB cache and using fluid dynamic bearing motor (Fluid Dynamic Bearing Motor) , P - Ultra ATA133 interface, 8MB cache and use of liquid bearing motors, M - Serial ATA/150 interface (Serial ATA/150), 8MB cache and use of liquid bearing motors.
The fourth part indicates the number of heads used, that is, the number of recording surfaces, from which the capacity of a single disc can also be calculated.
As shown in the picture, 6L020L1 indicates that this is Maxtor's Golden Diamond seventh-generation hard drive with a capacity of 20GB, Ultra ATA133 and uses a liquid bearing motor, and the number of heads (recording surface) is 1.
4. Western Digital (WD, Western Digital)
As shown in the figure below, the number of a Western Digital hard drive usually consists of a main number and an additional number, but Western Digital does not disclose the additional number to the retail market. The specific meaning of the number.
Main number part: WD-XXXX-X-X
The first part WD represents the product of Western Digital.
The second part indicates the capacity, in GB.
The English letters in the third part represent the speed and cache capacity. A - 5400, B - 7200, J - 7200 and have 8MB cache.
The fourth part represents the interface type. A——Ultra ATA66, B——Ultra ATA100. Additional number part: XX-XX-XX
The first part is the OEM customer identification, 00 is the retail market, and the others are OEM customer codes.
The second part is the version code of the same series, corresponding to the single disc capacity, CP - Protégé series (commonly known as the EB series) 40GB single disc capacity version, CB - Caviar5400 series (ie AB series) 40GB single disc capacity version, CA - Caviar7200 series (ie BB series) 40GB single disc capacity version, CR - Caviar SE 7200 series (ie JB series with 8MB cache) 40GB single disc capacity version.
The third part is the Firmware version.
As shown in the picture, the main number WD1800JB indicates that this hard drive has a capacity of 180GB, a rotation speed of 7200 rpm and an Ultra ATA100 interface product with 8MB cache. The 00 in the first part of the additional number indicates that this hard drive is a retail product. In the version code part, Western Digital has not yet provided detailed information for inquiry. The Firmware version is A0.
5. Samsung
X-X-XXX-X-X
The first part represents the product family, and S represents the SpinPoint family.
The second part indicates the product series, V——V series with 5400 rpm, P——P series with 7200 rpm.
The third part represents the capacity. For models before P40 and V40 (including these two models), multiply this number by 100MB to get the total capacity. Starting from V60, these three numbers are used to represent the capacity. The unit is GB.
The fourth part indicates the number of magnetic heads, that is, the number of recording surfaces, from which the capacity of a single disk can be calculated.
The fifth part is the interface type, H——Ultra ATA100, D——Ultra ATA66.
As shown in the figure, SV1204H represents the Samsung SpinPoint family V60 series 5400 rpm product with a capacity of 120GB and uses 4 heads (recording surfaces). Based on this, the single disk capacity is calculated to be 60GB and uses the Ultra ATA100 interface.
By understanding the hard drive number, I believe everyone will be able to correctly identify the drive they require when purchasing, and be targeted. It should be noted that the serial numbers of many hard drives have been polished. Please pay more attention when purchasing.
After-sales service
Finally, let’s talk about after-sales service. Due to the frequent read and write operations on hard disks, warranty issues are even more prominent. I believe all DIYers are very aware of the controversy surrounding the hard drive warranty that was aroused some time ago. Under normal circumstances, most hard drives currently provide only one-year warranty, but Maxtor has a two-year warranty; Samsung has a three-year warranty, and it still has a one-year warranty. Most high-end hard drives are also three years old. We have said a lot about the hard drive warranty before, so I won’t go into details here. Of course, the above refers to the failure of the hard drive itself. If you damage it artificially, you are not responsible for the warranty. Therefore, when buying a hard drive, you must go to some formal channels to protect your rights when something goes wrong. Brands with good reputations in after-sales service include Maxtor, Samsung and other brands.