This is a community heads-up for anyone running Unraid on USB boot or planning to.

The market reality

Kioxia (formerly Toshiba) issued a formal End-of-Life notice in March 2026 covering all TSOP MLC NAND production.

Final orders accepted until September 15, 2026.

Final shipments by March 15, 2027.

Samsung completed final MLC shipments in June 2026.

The last major MLC producers are done.

What this means practically -- genuine industrial MLC USB drives are entering permanent scarcity.

The authorized distributor price for the Innodisk 3ME (DEUA1-64GI61BW1SC) currently sits at $120 at specialist distributors and $1,252 at DigiKey for the same drive.

That price trajectory reflects what the industrial procurement market already knows about what's coming.

The opportunity

There is currently a surplus liquidation listing on eBay for this exact drive -- 64GB Innodisk 3ME industrial MLC, purpose-built for always-on embedded applications, confirmed Toshiba MLC NAND via Flash ID decode on purchased units.

The drives originated from a LYTX commercial fleet dashcam application -- hardware specified for always-on embedded duty far more demanding than a NAS boot device will ever impose.

🚨🚨 eBay item 327273841855 🚨🚨

Current price: $3.99

Full specifications: https://www.innodisk.com/en/products/flash-storage/others-usb-usb-edc/usb-drive-3me

The listing's order history shows multiple bulk purchases up to 200 units at once.

Don't wait until a single corporate buyer wipes out a significant portion overnight.

The single digit countdown can happen faster than any forum alert can respond to.

For context on why this specific drive matters for Unraid boot duty -- 3,000 P/E cycles, 60-bit ECC, metal housing, 30μ gold contacts, industrial BOM, custom industrial firmware, -40°C to +85°C rating, S.M.A.R.T. capable*

Why this matters now specifically

After Kioxia's March 2027 final shipment deadline new production of this NAND category ends permanently.

The $3.99 price reflects surplus liquidation pricing set before the MLC EOL announcements created market awareness of the scarcity.

For full technical context see: https://forums.unraid.net/topic/196967-unraid-boot-device-guide-usb-and-internal-boot-hardware-selection-and-risk-tradeoffs/

*Drive health monitoring available via Innodisk’s proprietary iTracker utility --

vendor-specific S.M.A.R.T. like metrics such as health percentage and erase count; not standard ATA S.M.A.R.T.

Tool available from Innodisk support on request.

This post has no commercial relationship with the seller.

No affiliate links. No financial interest in purchases.

Just a community heads-up on a closing window that most people won't notice until it's gone.

Edited July 23Jul 23 by Lolight

I tried finding itracker on the innodisk website but couldn't locate any download link. Is it publicly available somewhere or does it require contacting them directly?

2 hours ago, Carraya said:

I tried finding itracker on the innodisk website but couldn't locate any download link. Is it publicly available somewhere or does it require contacting them directly?

Unfortunately iTracker isn't available as a public download -- you're correct that the product page exists but provides no download link.

The only way to obtain it is by contacting Innodisk's web request team directly through their website contact form.

In my experience they responded in 3 days.

Be prepared to provide some information about yourself -- they asked for a company name and its address before sending the file.

If providing that information isn't something you're comfortable with, feel free to send me a PM -- I'm happy to share my copy of iTracker with any forum member who needs it.

The iTracker output on purchased units from the listing confirms 99.93% health and average erase count of 2 across all 8 tested drives -- factory new condition on every unit tested. A count of 2 is factory quality control testing and firmware initialization.

Edited July 1Jul 1 by Lolight

Thank you

Thanks, just ordered 2. At that price, having some spares with confirmed MLC NAND is too good to pass up even with no immediate need right now.

I am VERY skeptical of the eBay seller. Don't buy USB sticks on ebay, please read up on "badusb" (rubber ducky) attacks.

The scenario you're describing -- a seller acquiring legitimate surplus drives and reprogramming the controllers with BadUSB firmware before resale.

The SM3261 AB firmware can be updated using Silicon Motion's MPTool utilities.

The tooling exists and 3,000 units is a scale where automated flashing rigs make it operationally feasible.

So why am I not worried about this specific listing?

Eight drives purchased from this listing were tested with Innodisk's proprietary iTracker utility -- the health monitoring tool that communicates with the SM3261 AB through Innodisk's own vendor protocol.

All eight returned consistent factory-baseline output: 99.93% health, average erase count of 2, firmware version O0917v1, controller identified as SMI3261.

A reprogrammed controller running BadUSB firmware would certainly not respond correctly to Innodisk's proprietary monitoring commands.

Getting a drive to simultaneously implement BadUSB behavior AND correctly respond to Innodisk's vendor-specific health monitoring protocol would require significantly more sophisticated firmware development than standard BadUSB attacks involve.

Eight units all returning consistent factory-correct iTracker output is proven evidence against firmware tampering.

There's also the operational context -- Unraid is Linux running headless without an active terminal session in normal operation.

BadUSB keyboard injection needs an active session to land in.

The attack surface on a headless NAS is essentially nonexistent regardless.

The concern is legitimate as a general principle.

The iTracker evidence makes it super unlikely in this specific case.

Edited July 16Jul 16 by Lolight

24 minutes ago, Lolight said:

The scenario you're describing -- a seller acquiring legitimate surplus drives and reprogramming the controllers with BadUSB firmware before resale.

The SM3261 AB firmware can be updated using Silicon Motion's MPTool utilities.

The tooling exists and 3,000 units is a scale where automated flashing rigs make it operationally feasible.

So why am I not worried about this specific listing?

Eight drives purchased from this listing were tested with Innodisk's proprietary iTracker utility -- the health monitoring tool that communicates with the SM3261 AB through Innodisk's own vendor protocol.

All eight returned consistent factory-baseline output: 99.93% health, average erase count of 2, firmware version O0917v1, controller identified as SMI3261.

A reprogrammed controller running BadUSB firmware would certainly not respond correctly to Innodisk's proprietary monitoring commands.

Getting a drive to simultaneously implement BadUSB behavior AND correctly respond to Innodisk's vendor-specific health monitoring protocol would require significantly more sophisticated firmware development than standard BadUSB attacks involve.

Eight units all returning consistent factory-correct iTracker output is proven evidence against firmware tampering.

There's also the operational context -- Unraid is Linux running headless without an active terminal session in normal operation.

BadUSB keyboard injection needs an active session to land in.

The attack surface on a headless NAS is essentially nonexistent regardless.

The concern is legitimate as a general principle.

The iTracker evidence makes it super unlikely in this specific case.

1. I'd like to see some evidence.

2. You still have to plug it into your PC to create a bootable unRAID USB.

3. I do appreciate the write-up though and you are not wrong, but many do not have the tools nor competency here to acquire the same analysis results.

4. What is this iTracker tool? I have never heard of it.

5. $3.99 per drive is way too cheap, I cannot see why somebody would sell this at this price.

Edited July 16Jul 16 by ezhik

Fair points all around -- let me address each one.

Your second point is the most valid one.

The vulnerability window is when you plug the drive into your Windows PC to run the Flash Creator -- that's when a BadUSB attack would execute, not on the Unraid server itself. That's a legitimate concern worth taking seriously.

The reason I'm not worried about this specific listing is the iTracker testing.

Eight drives from this listing were tested with Innodisk's proprietary monitoring tool which communicates through Innodisk's own vendor protocol.

All eight returned factory-correct output.

A controller running BadUSB firmware alongside Innodisk's proprietary monitoring protocol simultaneously would require reverse engineering that vendor interface entirely -- an enormous (!!!) engineering effort when anonymous $2 drives require none of that.

iTracker is Innodisk's proprietary health monitoring utility -- not publicly downloadable, requires contacting Innodisk support directly with the drive's part number. https://www.innodisk.com/en/technology/itracker

Happy to share my copy with you or anyone who wants to verify their own drives. Send me a PM.

On the price -- this is surplus liquidation from LYTX, a commercial fleet dashcam company that transitioned to a different drive format.

The same drive costs $120 or more at industrial distributors right now.

Surplus liquidation pricing reflects what LYTX needed to clear inventory, not what the drives are worth.

Also, how do you know this is surplus? The eBay auction has no mention of surplus.

Fair question.

The surplus origin isn't stated in the listing but it's inferable from several details.

The drives carry LYTX DriveCam DVR-S70 custom branding -- LYTX is a commercial fleet dashcam company.

Innodisk produces custom branded drives for OEM customers as a standard service.

The drives arrive in individual anti-static bags which is Innodisk's factory new packaging.

The iTracker output across tested units shows an erase count of 2 -- consistent with factory bench testing, not field deployment.

The most likely scenario:

LYTX transitioned to a different drive format for their DriveCam systems.

The remaining inventory of custom branded Innodisk units had no further use to them and entered the secondary market through this eBay seller.

The seller's other listings confirm the pattern -- they specialize in surplus industrial and laboratory equipment including Watlow process controllers, Laurel panel meters, and LabJack data acquisition hardware.

This is an industrial surplus liquidation seller, not a consumer electronics reseller.

None of this is stated explicitly in the listing -- it's assembled from the available evidence.

But the combination of OEM branding, specific factory packaging, factory-baseline iTracker readings, and the seller's overall inventory profile makes the surplus origin the most coherent explanation by a significant margin.

Update on the Innodisk 3ME USB flash drive on ebay.

After appearing to sell out earlier yesterday the drive has been relisted.

The seller has confirmed approximately 200 units remaining.

At the current depletion pace -- accelerated by recent bulk orders -- this is the genuine final window.

The last bulk order placed on July 22nd was for 171 unit.

eBay item 327273841855 -- $3.99 per unit.

For anyone who saw this thread and didn't act yet -- this is the last realistic opportunity.

Edited July 23Jul 23 by Lolight

45 minutes ago, Lolight said:

For anyone who saw this thread and didn't act yet -- this is the last realistic opportunity.

Thanks, I already got 2 and immediately formatted them to erase whatever was on them from LYTX. At $4, it was kind of hard to pass them up even with no immediate need. They appear to be solid units and will hopefully be good Unraid flash drive replacements if/when my current flash drives fail. All of them have been running multiple years without issue; perhaps that is just a sign they are due to fail soon. I am stubbornly resisting using an internal boot option.

Not stubborn -- just prudent.

I've bought way more of these than I need at the moment, but at the price it's a no brainer.

I will say, seller typically auto accepts offers of $3.

Good call on stocking up -- and thanks for confirming the $3 offer floor.

That's useful for anyone still on the fence.

At $3 per unit for industrial MLC there's essentially no reason to hesitate regardless of how many systems you currently run.