We have noticed that a number of Cisco appliances we have recently purchased and paid (AS NEW), are being shipped as if they have been already used/refurbished. In other words, several times we have seen brand new Cisco hardware, out of the box, that has pre-existing configuration (Interfaces with Private IP addresses, static routes, etc …) and in some cases even non-system files, like ‘crashdump.txt’ or additional IOS images. Most importantly our latest purchase; 2 'new' ASAs, contain a series of files named: FSCK0000.REC, FSCK0001.REC, FSCK0002.REC, etc ... . Based on some research it seems like that these files are 'recovery files' signaling bad/failing hard disks in these appliances.
May be you purchased a truly brand new Cisco appliance where the HDD is refurbished, possibly due to: - Cisco cutting costs on parts procurement - Cisco supplier cutting costs by refurbishing HDD - Cisco contractor that does assembly making extra revenue by selling new HDDs that Cisco bought and replacing them with refurbished ones Rubens