Listing Notes

Main listing keywords included:

• 3.5-inch hard drive
• not usable on Windows, Linux (Ubuntu) only
• made in Thailand
• brand new

Received Drive Photos and Initial Check

Packaging and appearance looked new. Manufacture date was 2021.

SMART check showed power-on hours = 0 at first boot.

Later recheck on 2023-03-28 (CrystalDiskInfo on Windows 10): Power-on count was 1 and power-on hours still 0.

On Windows, the device could be detected but could not be normally partitioned/formatted for regular usage.

Installation

Physical connector and form factor are standard, so installation is straightforward.

How to Use (Host-Managed/Zoned Disk)

Reference: https://zonedstorage.io/docs/linux/fs

Common filesystems such as ext4/xfs are not suitable here; use zoned-capable filesystems like Btrfs or F2FS.

Btrfs setup

1. Install tools:

1

sudo apt install btrfs-progs

2. Find device:

1

fdisk -l

3. Format with zoned option:

1

sudo mkfs.btrfs -O zoned -d single -m single /dev/sda

4. Mount:

1

sudo mount /dev/sda /mnt/t

F2FS setup

1. Install tools:

1
2

sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get install -y f2fs-tools

2. Find device:

1

fdisk -l

3. Format:

1

mkfs.f2fs -m /dev/sdb

Mounting Notes

Mounting by UUID/label may fail for some setups (especially with specific zoned+Btrfs combinations).

A reliable method is mounting by disk ID (/dev/disk/by-id/...), usually using WWN:

1

/dev/disk/by-id/wwn-0xxxxxxxxxxxx /mnt/hc620_14T btrfs auto 0 0

Summary

Pros

• The drive looked truly new (possibly old inventory but unused).
• Price was very low for capacity.
• Suitable as secondary/backup storage in Linux.

Cons

• Not practical for normal Windows usage.
• Linux support works but feels niche and less plug-and-play.
• Host-managed behavior is not ideal for generic NAS scenarios.

References

HC620 product manual
Zoned storage intro