Testing for Counterfit Flash Drives

[emw129]

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@billko wrote:

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@ATE-EGNE wrote:

You say that there is a program out there that will verify the drive but destroys it? You're also buying a large quantity and reselling? Unless you're supplying for military specs, use the baker's dozen method. (buy N, destroy 1) I wouldn't think it's likely that a manufacturer would only make some drives counterfeit.  

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?  Any legit manufacturer would make NO counterfeit drives...

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That is the crux of the problem, who are the Legit manufacturers?  Many of the counterfeiters use Brand names on their thumb drives to gain your trust.  So in the end, only a test of the Thumb drive can solve this problem.  So the importance of a quick test for true memory sizes...  And not necessary a detailed memory test where every single memory location is tested.  On a mulit-giga byte and multi-tera byte thumb drives this could take for ever.

[thoult]

Ignoring the questions of why and whether it's worth it, it is possible to read and write specific addresses for an SD card through SPI. You'll find it's commonly done in embedded systems where they don't have the luxury of using higher level abstraction.

You can find a fair bit of information through Google on it. I'm just glad I have the abstraction layers not to have to worry about it!

[Blokk]

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@emw129 wrote:

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@billko wrote:

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@ATE-EGNE wrote:

You say that there is a program out there that will verify the drive but destroys it? You're also buying a large quantity and reselling? Unless you're supplying for military specs, use the baker's dozen method. (buy N, destroy 1) I wouldn't think it's likely that a manufacturer would only make some drives counterfeit.  

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?  Any legit manufacturer would make NO counterfeit drives...

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That is the crux of the problem, who are the Legit manufacturers?  Many of the counterfeiters use Brand names on their thumb drives to gain your trust.  So in the end, only a test of the Thumb drive can solve this problem.  So the importance of a quick test for true memory sizes...  And not necessary a detailed memory test where every single memory location is tested.  On a mulit-giga byte and multi-tera byte thumb drives this could take for ever.

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If price is low: not legit. Price as real brand product: legit 🙂

[emw129]

Microcenter makes the cheapest Thumb Drives of all, and yet all of their Thumb Drives I've tested show to be the reported size.  So I don't think the price is necessarily a quick give away.  What I've found is that the most expensive large Capacity Thumb drives are the true counterfeits.  The 1TB and 2TB thumb drives that are actually 8GB.  These counterfeiters seem to be pretty greedy when it comes to making a buck.

[Hooovahh]

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@emw129 wrote:

Microcenter makes the cheapest Thumb Drives of all, and yet all of their Thumb Drives I've tested show to be the reported size.  So I don't think the price is necessarily a quick give away.  What I've found is that the most expensive large Capacity Thumb drives are the true counterfeits.  The 1TB and 2TB thumb drives that are actually 8GB.  These counterfeiters seem to be pretty greedy when it comes to making a buck.

Okay I find this hard to believe.  You are telling me that Mircocenter makes 1TB and 2TB thumb drives that are cheaper than your counterfeit ones?

Quick Google Search time.  I found most 1TB thumb drives to cost around $900, here is one, here is another.  Now the cheapest I found was a 1TB for $26 on amazon.  Seems an order of magnitude off.

If you are worried about wasting money, buy it from a place that will give you some buyer protection.  Or buy it with a credit card and do a charge back if it is fraudulent. 

[Bob_Schor]

The Amazon comments on the $26 1TB drive largely say it is a phony, a counterfeit, etc.

BS

[Blokk]

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@Bob_Schor wrote:

The Amazon comments on the $26 1TB drive largely say it is a phony, a counterfeit, etc.

BS

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And using USB 2.0 interface for a 1TB drive also sounds funny. How long we have 3.0 available in the market...?

[rolfk]

That is not only hilarious but a clear give-away. USB 2.0 on a TB drive would take weeks to access a significant amount of the drive.

[Hooovahh]

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@Bob_Schor wrote:

The Amazon comments on the $26 1TB drive largely say it is a phony, a counterfeit, etc.

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Right but regardless of the vendor (and the reviews) a 1TB drive costing less than say $800 is likely a counterfeit.

[rolfk]

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@Hooovahh wrote:

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@Bob_Schor wrote:

The Amazon comments on the $26 1TB drive largely say it is a phony, a counterfeit, etc.

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Right but regardless of the vendor (and the reviews) a 1TB drive costing less than say $800 is likely a counterfeit.

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But it's X-mas time and one can always hope for a magical wonder! 

The thumb of rule for all these things really is:

If it sounds to nice to be true, it really always is!