You can also select a custom amount of data to write which is useful if you suspect your drive might be a specific capacity. If the read data isn’t the same as what was written, there’s a possible issue. H2testw works by writing large 1GB files to the free space and then reading them back. It isn’t a fully destructive test because it only checks the free space on the drive, but the best way is to use H2testw on a cleanly formatted device, that way it will be checked completely. The method used in H2testw is very slow but is still one of the most thorough and reliable ways to scan the drive for a fake capacity. However, it could be a price worth paying. A scan with H2testw can run into several hours or even days on newer large capacity drives, especially if they also have slow write speeds. The problem is it was developed back in 2008 when flash based media was smaller in size. Here we have listed 5 for you to try that are designed to check for fake size drives.įor several years H2testw has been known as the go-to tool for checking memory based flash drives to see if they are the correct capacity. Software developers are also aware of this and some have written tools to help you identify if a drive is smaller than you expect and is therefore likely to be counterfeit. The drive may even be reported as the right size in windows. Making sure the serial or code number on the stick is legitimate is one way, another is making sure the drive is the size advertised because most fake drives have a lower real capacity than listed by using smaller and much cheaper memory chips. This is why it’s a good idea to check any flash device you purchase is the product you paid for. You may think this problem only affects places like eBay but even Amazon and other legitimate retailers have been caught out too. Counterfeit USB flash drives seem to be the most common though, there’s so many different types, capacities and speeds that it’s easy to hide them among all the real products.

Devices such as USB flash drives, SD/CF cards and even SSD drives have been affected by this problem. In recent years one area has become more prone to this than any other, and that is flash memory storage. There are plenty of fake and counterfeit products around and the world of computers is not exempt.

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