How to check a flash drive for memory capacity. How to set the real volume for a Chinese flash drive or memory card? How to check the authenticity of a Chinese flash drive? How to check if a memory card is fake or not

Recently, cases of fraud from Chinese sellers with micro SDHC flash memory cards have become more frequent. The trick is that under the guise of a high-capacity memory card, cheap cards with a smaller capacity with a re-flashed controller are sold. Our article is about how to recognize a fake and whether it is possible to use the real capacity of such memory cards.

By ordering a product from a foreign online store, you can save a lot by purchasing it without customs duties and store markups. The cost of memory cards in many of them is quite tempting, and, succumbing to the seller’s rating and the number of positive reviews, it is difficult to resist buying a high-capacity card for little money. So, it was decided to buy a card on the popular AliExpress site SDHC 32GB Class 10!

Counterfeit memory cards (micro) SDHC

As a rule, the package arrives quite quickly, and the happy buyer inserts the memory card into the card reader on a computer or other device. Outwardly, everything is smooth: the computer detects the card, its size corresponds to the 32 GB marking, the flash drive is formatted, data is written and read onto it without problems (although the read/write speed is not too high, but you can turn a blind eye to this). A happy buyer confirms receipt of the goods, leaves positive feedback to the seller and rejoices at a successful purchase. Problems come a little later and, as a rule, unexpectedly...

The buyer of such an SD card begins to actively use it for its intended purpose and one day suddenly realizes that some of the recorded files are unreadable. Agree, it’s a shame to return from their vacation to find that most of the photographs taken are unreadable. The fact is that Chinese craftsmen are reflashing the SDHC card controller so that it creates the appearance of a larger volume. When writing data to such a flash drive after exhausting the physically available space, it may simply not be written anywhere (/dev/null) or overwrite the old data. Those. Some files are irretrievably lost.

How to test a purchased SD card

The value of data on a flash drive is usually much higher than the price of the media itself, therefore, in order not to encounter problems at the most inopportune moment (videos / photos taken during a trip cannot be read, important documents cannot be opened, etc.), it is advisable to test the flash drive in advance for fakes.

For testing we need a utility H2testw. The program is free, does not require installation, you can download it from the website of the German developers.

The default interface language is German, for convenience it is better to switch to English (English)

We insert the card under test into the computer, press Select target(select the drive letter corresponding to the memory card), and then run a full test of the memory card by pressing the button Write + Verify .

The testing process can take up to several hours. If everything is fine with the flash drive, the test results will contain the following inscription: “ Test finished without errors».

If the map size does not correspond to the declared size (it is too high), the log window will be highlighted in red, and the report will contain approximately the following lines:
Warning: Only 31905 of 31995 MByte tested
The media is likely to be defective.
3.5 GByte OK (7474008 sectors)
27.5 GByte DATA LOST (57867432 sectors)

Those. of the declared 32 GB, only 3.5 are actually available (the actual capacity of this flash drive is only about 4 GB).

Below in the log there is text:
Writing speed: 8.20 MByte/s
Reading speed: 9.40 MByte/s
This means that the speed characteristics of the memory card are also overestimated, which corresponds to class 4, but not class 10, as indicated on the card itself.

How to return a fake card to its real size

So, having tested the card, we were convinced that its size is too high, and it cannot be used in this form. You can, of course, use the card to store unimportant data, for example in an mp3 player. Or you will have to constantly ensure that the size of the data on the flash drive does not exceed 4 GB. Is it possible to fix such a memory card by returning its real capacity?

Yes, but using the OS itself you won’t be able to reformat it to fit the actual volume. You can use Acronis Disk Director or a simple Chinese utility MyDiskFix.exe. Both tools allow you to restore the real size of “fake” Chinese flash drives with an inflated amount of memory, but the MyDiskFix utility is a little easier to use (besides, it does not require installation). The utility does not modify the flash drive controller, but can correctly format the actual working capacity. Its main drawback is the Chinese interface language.

In the event that , or is write-protected (error), use the recommendations from the linked articles. You need to read these articles after you have returned the flash drive to its real size. Low-level formatting of a flash drive with incorrect dimensions in a re-flashed controller can completely destroy the device.

After reformatting, it is advisable to test the memory card again using the H2testw utility. If there are no errors, the (micro) SD card should be determined in the system with a real size and will become suitable for use (but how durable and reliable it will be is a matter of luck).

How to distinguish a fake (micro) SD from a real one and get your money back

Even for an experienced buyer, it is quite difficult to distinguish a real micro SDHC memory card from counterfeit ones. You can come across fake Chinese memory cards on almost all sites, including Aliexpress.com, DHgate.com and Ebay.com. The first sign of a fake card is a low price (does the miser pay twice?). Secondly, you should pay attention to the appearance of the product: the manufacturing company, capacity characteristics and memory class must be indicated (without errors!). Well, focus on the seller’s rating (not the most indicative criterion).

When you receive a flash drive, you need to check it with the H2testw utility; if a fake is detected, immediately file a complaint (dispute) with the seller and ask for a refund (as a rule, the card itself does not need to be returned).

Good afternoon

If you purchased a flash drive or SD card on AliExpress or another Chinese site and when checked by the program it turned out that it does not correspond to the real size, in most cases you can restore its real size and use it.

I say “in most cases” because there are two things to consider:

• In rare cases, flash drives and memory cards stop working when you try to fix the size and it is no longer possible to repair them.
• Counterfeit flash drives and memory cards are usually very slow and cannot be used for all devices. For example, if you insert such a memory card into a phone, it will slow down. If you use a camera, it will save each photo for 2-3 minutes. But such a flash drive with a corrected size is perfect for use cases where speed is not very important. For example, for listening to music in the car.

Restoring the actual size of a flash drive

1. Test your flash drive or memory card using the program, if you have not done this earlier or have already closed the testing window. Please note that testing a large flash drive can take a very long time; for example, it took me about two days:

2. Now we need the suspicious-looking Chinese program MyDiskFix. I tried to find an alternative to it, but there are no other convenient methods for Windows (only for Linux, but only a few know how to use it). I checked the program with all possible antiviruses before uploading it to our server, feel free to download:

(checked for viruses)

4. A program window with unreadable inscriptions will open in front of you. Don’t be alarmed, I have described in detail all the necessary steps:

So, follow these steps:

(1) - If more than one flash drive or memory card is inserted into your computer, then you need to select the one you need. If there is only one, it will be displayed automatically.

(2) - Select the item indicated by the arrow (2), this is low-level formatting.

(3) - In this field you must write the real number of sectors, which was determined by the h2testw program:

(4) - Click the indicated button to start formatting. After this, a warning window will appear, click “Yes” in it. If an error pops up, it means you haven’t closed h2testw, close it and press the button again.

5. The formatting process may take a long time, depending on the volume 1-10 hours:

6. After finishing the resizing process, format the flash drive again using standard Windows tools, then run h2testw again to make sure that the recovery was successful.

How to teach a Chinese fraudster a lesson

Here our possibilities are limited, since he is in another country. The only thing you can do is win the dispute, return the money and write a bad review. To win the argument, check out my article:. Do not change the reason for the dispute, no matter how much the seller asks you to do so. You will win the dispute anyway, but the scammer will have problems with this reason for the dispute.

If you have any questions or need clarification, please ask a question or leave a comment.

Finally, on my twentieth order from Aliexpress, I received a product that I am not happy with! After all, this is a great reason to try to start a dispute and get your money back for the product. Plus, you can improve your skill in another area of ​​knowledge: restoring the actual size of a flash drive.

So, a couple of months ago I ordered a flash drive Sunstri 32 gigabytes. Paid $7.31 for this. In principle, I won’t say that this is a super low or some incredible price. Simple 32 gigabyte flash drives cost just 7-10 dollars, depending on the company. The other day a flash drive arrived in the mail.

I come home and plug it into my computer. What I see? Its size is 33.33 gigabytes...

Any person who rummages through computers will understand that there is a flash drive with a fake size. Yes, this data was enough for me to understand such an obvious fact! A 16 GB flash drive should show as 14.8 GB, a 32 GB flash drive should show approximately 29.5 GB...

All that's left to do is check the flash drive and find out its real size. Before all actions, be sure to format the flash drive in NTFS, or in ExFAT (an advanced version of NTFS).

How to check a flash drive on Windows?

On Windows everything is simple. You need to download the H2testw utility and run a full scan. In the diagram below I explained how to use the program.

Next comes the check: at the beginning of reading, then writing... For me, the described flash drive was checked for 1 hour 36 minutes. The essence of the check is that the program writes files approximately 1 gigabyte in size to the flash drive. And then tries to read these files...

At the end of the check, the program reported that the flash drive controller had been reprogrammed to a different size. It is this picture that should be attached to the dispute on Ali first of all.

Let's look at the results.

• The line “The Media is likely to be defective” means that your flash drive is actually a different size.
• 14.8 GByte - OK. This means that this is the actual size of the flash drive. In this case, this is direct evidence that the 16 GB flash drive was flashed to 32 by the Chinese from Sunstri in the hope that the user is a fool and won’t notice. Also Necessarily write down the number of sectors - this figure will come in handy. In my example it is 31160896!
• 15.9 GByte DATA LOST means that this is exactly how much they tried to fool you...

How to check a flash drive on Mac OS?

There are three ways:

• The first is to use Parallels and the installed Windows image to check as described above.
• The second is to use the Wine emulator and run H2Testw under Mac OS.
• The third way is to use the H2Testw alternative...

The first two require dancing with a tambourine, but they are, in my opinion, the best. But if you don’t have Parallels and don’t enjoy fiddling with installing Wine, then you can figure it out with the third method.

Yes, there is one alternative... This is the F3X program, which can be downloaded from the link. Then you need to unpack the archive. In the Releases folder, find the F3X_latest.Zip archive and unpack the file. F3X is a compiled program file - run it.

The program tested this flash drive 1.5 times longer than H2Testw on Windows.

At the end of the test, the program indicated that the flash drive was either not genuine or dead...

How to restore the size of a flash drive?

To do this, use the MyDiskFix utility (Windows only). The program comes from China, so you will have little letters instead of letters. Refer to my picture below:

If an error window appears, just click YES/OK/Yes. The program will do its job and assign its actual size to the flash drive controller. After this, format the flash drive using the operating system to the desired file system.

Instead of output

I was even somewhat glad that they slipped me a 16 gigabyte flash drive (but they could have had 8 or 4)... Plus, I’m going to return the money from the store for the deception (minus 1 for the store’s karma) and the time spent. I'll definitely keep you posted on what comes of it. I’m not sure that they do this with all products - otherwise they would be “eaten” and the rating would be below par, but it doesn’t have to be every time...

In the comments, you can add any valuable information to the article... It was really interesting for me to figure this out and convey this useful instruction to as many readers as possible! I hope you learned something useful too!

The People's Republic of China is famous not only for its ancient traditions, its large population and the Communist Party at its helm. China is also known for its counterfeits, and in China everything is counterfeited - from clothing to food products. There is no need to talk about computer peripherals.

Recently, cases of counterfeit SD and SDHC memory cards have become especially common. Under the guise of a large memory card ( 32 or 64 GB) unscrupulous sellers offer smaller capacity drives with a re-flashed controller. Most often, clients of foreign online stores who are tempted by the attractive price of the drive have to deal with such fakes.

As a rule, when inserted into a card reader, such a card is perfectly detected and formatted by the system. Data is also written and read on it, and its size exactly matches the markings. Everything seems to be normal, except that the read/write speed may not seem too high, but people usually turn a blind eye to this. Problems begin later, when the buyer begins to actively use the card, recording more and more files on it.

And then one day he discovers that some of the recorded data is unreadable. And this happens because this data was never written to the card at all, because its actual amount of physical memory is much less than what the system shows. The deception lies in the re-flashed device controller, which creates the appearance of a large volume. Writing files to such a card is like pouring water into a vessel with holes in its walls. No matter how much you pour, it will never be filled to the brim.

So, in order not to be left out in the cold, you need to purchase memory cards (and not only them) in computer hardware stores, and if you decide to take them from Chinese friends, test them immediately after purchase, because this is the only way to identify a fake.

The utility will help you with this. It is free, lightweight and does not require installation. And it's very easy to use. You just need to select the card to be tested in the utility window (Select target option) and press "Write + Verify".

The testing procedure is lengthy and can take several hours, so please be patient. If the drive is real, you will receive a message as a result of testing "Test finished without errors".

If the declared map size turns out to be inconsistent with the real one, the report field will be highlighted in red, and the report itself will contain approximately the same lines as shown in this screenshot.

From the log it is clearly visible that from the declared 32 GB only really available 3.5 GB, and marked as GByte DATA LOST 27.5 GB is nothing more than a dummy.

Returning the map to its real size

So, you've tested the card and found that its actual size doesn't match either the markings or what your computer says. Use this "snatch" It’s completely possible, but at the same time you will have to constantly monitor that the size of the files copied to the drive does not exceed these same 3.5 GB or how many will be there. But it would be better, of course, to restore its real size.

It will not be possible to reformat the card using the operating system, but a portable utility can easily handle this. Ironically, this utility is also Chinese, but as we have already said, it fully corresponds to its purpose, and we don’t need anything else. Its only drawback is the interface is in Chinese.

How to use MyDiskFix

Run the utility with administrator rights and in the drop-down list (1) select media. Checkbox (2) set to the second position. In the data field (3) enter the actual number of sectors (taken from the H2testw utility) and press the button marked with a number in the screenshot 4 .

The utility will warn you several times about the loss of all data on the card, to which we agree. After reformatting, the card should be determined in the operating system with its actual size. Yes, just in case, it’s worth testing the drive with the H2testw utility again to make sure that everything is normal.

That's all. Stop though. What about the fraudulent seller? Will he remain unpunished? Most likely, this will be the case, but you can spoil his mood by writing a complaint addressed to the administration of the trading platform in accordance with the current legislation on international online commerce.

Good afternoon. I have finally reached civilization and can once again please you with an interesting and, I hope, useful article.

I came across one flash drive from China and it was sold for a rather modest price, like 64 GB. But the person who bought it began to have doubts about its performance, since some of the recorded files stopped opening. Of course, he was not aware that our brothers in communism had long ago learned to flash controllers so that it would show a larger volume than it actually is and write files as if cyclically. The system is very cunning and I don’t fully know how it’s all implemented. I remember at the very beginning, when I first heard about such a Chinese trick, some people on the hub shouted that such a controller would cost much more than a flash drive. But today this occurs on every second flash drive ordered from China. But let’s move on to the tastiest part and today the article will be divided into two parts. The first is about how to recognize a fake (which will make it possible to open a dispute on Ali and get your money back), the second is how to get a flash drive into working condition with its real capacity.

We recognize a fake and determine the real capacity of a flash drive

1. To do this, we need a small utility called h2testw, download it from Yandex.Disk and unpack the archive. We launch h2testw.exe and for convenience (I don’t know German) switch to English. Click the “Select target” button.
2. We select our problematic flash drive. Be careful not to make a mistake, otherwise you will lose all the data on the flash drive.
3. Click the “Write+Verify” button.
4. The process of filling the flash card will begin, and then the program will check how much was recorded and how much is actually on the storage media. It took me a little over two hours to use a flash drive with a true capacity of 8 GB (about an hour for writing and an hour for reading).
5. Now let’s get the flash card in order so that it can be used without the risk of data loss (as far as possible with a Chinese counterfeit card:) and for this we need one value, which is in the report. So before closing the window, copy or rewrite the number of sectors for the working volume.

Fixing the display of volume for a fake flash card

I should warn you that since we work with fake flash cards, they can break at any time and you use this method at your own peril and risk. If your fake fails after this procedure, then thank the Chinese, not me :)

So, download the second utility from the link. And we launch it. This is a Chinese program and don’t be surprised by the lack of text on the buttons, the main thing is to click on the right ones, and that’s what this site exists for. By the way, I had a problem with it working until I ran it as administrator. The program cursed as if the flash drive was being used for something. Therefore, when starting, close all windows that may be using the flash drive. And if that doesn’t help, use run as administrator.

1. Launched, select the desired flash drive at the top. I don’t advise you to make mistakes, double-check. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chinese increase the volume with the same program.
2. We move the point to the bottom point, this is a low-level formatting mode - just what the doctor ordered for this Chinese fake g...