64 GB flash drives

[Ickie]

I bought 7 of these 64 GB drives to do backups on, ......
today I got a heads up from another guy who bought some of these drives too.
....................................
Dear friend,
The 64GB usb drive you bought is surely a fake item. Currently USB 2.0 standard do not support the 64GB capacity, it can only support up to 32GB. This is the market knowledge.
The usb drive you bought from him is the counterfeit Flash drives. Even though you check the flash drive and you computer shows it is 64 GB capacity, it's actually fake capacity by programming.
I suggest you google and download a software "H2testw 1.4" to test the capacity and speed of your usb drive.
Regards,
Edwin
.................................

I downloaded the program and found this to be true. it took just over 12 hours to do just 1 drive.
as you see below after 11.6 gigs, a total loss of data happens
results
The media is likely to be defective.
11.6 GByte OK (24502272 sectors)
50.8 GByte DATA LOST (106536960 sectors)
Details:50.8 GByte overwritten (106536960 sectors)
0 KByte slightly changed (< 8 bit/sector, 0 sectors)
0 KByte corrupted (0 sectors)
228 MByte aliased memory (466944 sectors)
First error at offset: 0x00000002dd800000
Expected: 0x00000002dd800000
Found: 0x0000000f9cc00000
H2testw version 1.3
Writing speed: 3.83 MByte/s
Reading speed: 2.26 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

73042 73043

I did a second drive and as soon as it hit 31.3 gigs it blew up, it kept saying format drive and when i tried to do so it wouldn't let me, no matter how I tried to do it.

[yank51]

Thanks for the "heads-up" Ickie...!!!

[Ickie]

Here is an EBay bulletin
http://reviews.ebay.com/Testing-Flashdrive-mp4-mp3-Storage-Memory-Capacity?ugid=10000000005929899

[hey_moe]

Sorry to hear something like this Ron. It always seems when you are trying to do a good thing, some how ya end up getting screwed. I have got screwed three times from Ebay in the past and refuse to buy from them again. Ebay is screwing it's own name by letting scam artist take it over. When you contacted them about their scam, what was their response?

[Ickie]

I was assured I was going to get my money back, but they did not take down these thiefs from their website and still have them selling the same items I was sold, I even told them shame on you, meaning they are to blame for not protecting me. By putting this info public it lets others know they have been screwed by ebay for not shutting the door on these hong kong /china thiefs. There are people out there who really don't know they were screwed thinking the cost of shipping back to china would cost more than they paid for the item. Bull crap it isn't costing me anything to get my money back and I get to keep these pieces of crap for what ever they are worth.
I did tell ebay on the phone ( 866-540-3229 ) that I would be willing to send them all of these 7 - 64 gb, usb flash drives so they could also check these drives to verfi for them selves my results using the same program they recommend using "h2testw_1.4"

here is another drive as you see it crapped out too @ 15.6 GB's.

73088

[java2srv]

... USB 2.0 standard do not support the 64GB capacity, it can only support up to 32GB. This is the market knowledge.


I am missing something, why is the USB bus speed related to the capacity of the storage device? I have 500GB and 1TB external drives on USB 2.0 interfaces and they work fine.. I don't think it matters if it's a traditional drive or flash media -- I have a 120GB SSDD in an external enclosure and it is mostly used also on USB 2.0 interface.

:kilroy:

[Moparmike]

I agree with java2srv. As far as I know, USB2.0 doesn't have a physical size limitation for memory storage devices (it's just a communication protocol).
We're using a couple fairly new 64Gb SanDisk Cruzers at work for an off-network project. They're Enterprise models with the SecureAccess software built in...SA is a joke though but that's another story.
I know they have a 128Gb model out as well, but we don't have any of those.

The defective memory devices ARE most likely counterfeit though.
Cheap counterfeit flash memory coming out of China & Hong Kong has been around a while. I know there have been warnings on what to look for when buying SD or other style storage cards for quite a few years now...I don't remember ever seeing any warnings about USB pen drives though but it makes sense.
The counterfeit memory is usually bad batches of genuine manufacturer chips that get stolen or sold out of the trash bin by employees.


They ain't cheap, but by them in the US (or whatever country you're from). The consumer protection level is better and easier to handle.
Buying anything out of Hong Kong....don't expect much of any resolution.


At Worst Buy, the going rate for 64Gb pen drives is around $90 right now. They've got a PNY on sale this week for $40 though.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/PNY+-+Attach%26%23233%3B+64GB+USB+2.0+Flash+Drive+-+Black/Clear/3550656.p?id=1218412702060&skuId=3550656
PNY isn't my favorite brand and I have had failures with em, but that was quite a few years back when 2Gb was a large stick. My preference is still SanDisk.

[Ickie]

this was in the email sent to me, ""USB 2.0 standard do not support the 64GB capacity, it can only support up to 32GB. This is the market knowledge.""
I have seen 64 gig drives which were usb 3.0 though.

I seen some video's yesterday showing these fakes taken apart and the chips were really smaller chips with resisters on them to fool the buyer's maching into thinking it was indeed a 64 gb.
like the above tests tell me 1 was a 12 gig chip and the other was a 16 gig chip not the 64 gig chip as stated.

[java2srv]

this was in the email sent to me...

yes, i got that, just with the rest correct i wondered why they were inconsistent there



...with resisters on them to fool the buyer's maching into thinking it was indeed a 64 gb.
like the above tests tell me 1 was a 12 gig chip and the other was a 16 gig chip not the 64 gig chip as stated.

That i can totally see.



... bad batches of genuine manufacturer chips that get stolen or sold out of the trash bin by employees.

+1 on that

Additionally, since we're talking about vendors from "east Asia" -- how about bad batches of 64GB flash that didn't pass Q/A and were dumped on the salvage market. Easy for me as a "businessman" to buy these up at auction (or dumpster dive) and repackage and sell them as whatever I want.

Yes, counterfit and fakes not going away any time soon. I've even seen stories of fake KFCs and McDonalds. :isadizzy:

Have a good day Ron!
:wavey:

[Ickie]

before yesterday I was unawhere of these fakes, my point here is to let others know about this so they won't get screwed, and if they do, what to do about it.
I was asured by ebay i will get my money back.
I spent the whole day looking into these fakes and they are sold most everywhere, amazon is worse than ebay as you do not have anyplace to get your money back. Talking to the seller is like reasoning with a liar, lol.
I am afraide to buy anymore because I do not trust anyone selling these. Heck most places demand you send it back at your exspence, this is just not right.
Buyer Bewhare
I am going to setup my old USB hard drive device, to do the backups on and send this out to other SOH admins. (it is cheeper in the long run and will work everytime)

note I bought 6 from Asia and 1 from New York off ebay and they are all trash.

[glh]

Here's another one to watch out for on EBay:

About 6 months ago, I bought two SEIKO automatic watches from a firm located in India for about $70 total. Really nice looking watches. An AUTOMATIC watch, for those who don't know, is operated by the natural movement of your arm and wrist to spin an internal flywheel that winds the watch. All mechanical, no battery.

They were both (and all their watches were) advertised by the firm as working. When I got them, they would run for anywhere from a couple of seconds to a few minutes and then stop. They obviously needed servicing. Checking around, I could not find any prices less than about $100 retail to recondition the whole day/date/time mechanism for a SEIKO. They're just sitting in my watch case now.

I've gone to US sellers only on EBay for items like this -- and electronics. To me, Ebay sellers have to have AT LEAST a 50-100 sales with a 99% rating or better. Fooling around with China, India, Russia, etc. -- Well, CAVEAT EMPTOR !!

[rhumbaflappy]

You can buy new 128 GB flash drives from NewEgg... and some are USB 2.0... The USB 2.0 format does not limit the size of the drive.

Dick

[Lionheart]

Thanks Ickie for the heads up. Very good to know.


Bill

[Dev One]

Ickie,
A word of caution sending through the normal postage system HDD's as they can get damaged by rough handling if not packaged well. A couple of years ago I bought a HDD from an Amazon supplier & it was duff on arrival. I sent it back & a replacement was resent, same story. I did though get my money back, & subsequently bought a HDD from a local shop (it wasn't a matching RAID size that I wanted, but it worked).
Keith

[Ickie]

My webpage with all the info
http://ronnylarson.com/flash.html

[Ickie]

so far 1 gave me my money back, lol

[Ickie]

1 more agreed to refund my money and another offered to replace one, but i told him only a refund would do.waitting to hear back from him.
The other which i bought 4 from did not respond yet.

[Ickie]

the man i bought 4 from checked in and offered me 1/2 money back, lol, i told him he sold me by deceiving me fake counterfit items and only a full refund would be accepted.