Hi, how can i tell if a USB is showing the correct data storage...? i.e some ppl sell 8GB (or more) usb sticks on ebay but they have infact been re-programmed to show that they are 8GB but really they are just 2GB os something very low...

i have a few usb pens which i thought were 16GB and one is 8GB but i cant write data onto them i get different error messages all the time and the usb sticks can only hold a few Gigs worth of data...

I know there is a program or something out there that can check this...i have googled but so far have come up with nothing...

Can any1 help?

Well i have done a bit more research into this and found a program (zip file attached) that can test your USB pen capacity...

H2testw 1.4 – Gold Standard In Detecting USB Counterfeit Drives

H2testw 1.4 has proven itself to be the best of breed for detecting counterfeit Flash drives. It is extremely easy to use and proves detailed information. Created by Harald Bögeholz, the interface is in German but has the option to run in English. It is free and standalone. Nothing is installed into the operating system. Designed for Windows it can run under Linux if Wine is installed. It will not run under Macs. If your computer can not run the software – ask a colleague or friend who has a windows based computer to help you test.

We give H2testw 1.4 the highest rating and recommend it for testing counterfeit USB Flash Drives for the following reasons:

1. Easy to Use
2. While in German an English Execution is possible
3. Stand alone executable file – no installation required to run it
4. You do not need administrator privileges on a computer to run it
5. Tested to work on 1.1 and 2.0 USB drives
6. Tested to work on 1.1 and 2.0 USB Ports
7. Tested to work to analyze drives advertised as 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and yes …64 GB capacity.
8. Reports seen capacity – what the operating system sees size to be.
9. Will write 1 GB files up to the reported size – requiring no work on your part except patience if it is a large drive and a slow computer
10. Will read all the files it wrote and verify them
11. Will produce a report. a) short if all is well b) detailed if there issues found.
12. The program is offered free

Test results for a 64GB USB drive purchased on eBay, using H2testw 1.4

Sample Output For A Fake 64 GB Drive

The media is likely to be defective.
3.8 GByte OK (8084847 sectors)
58.6 GByte DATA LOST (122921617 sectors)
Details:710.5 KByte overwritten (1421 sectors)
7.6 MByte slightly changed (< 8 bit/sector, 15630 sectors)
58.6 byte corrupted (122904566 sectors)
710.5 KByte aliased memory (1421 sectors)
First error at offset: 0×000000003cef8470
Expected: 0xeb7ac43a237c5170
Found: 0xeb7a843a237c5170
H2testw version 1.3
Writing speed: 9.24 MByte/s
Reading speed: 10.8 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

This is 4GB USB flash drive not a 64GB USB flash drive. It is of poor quality. As 4GB drive it should be about 3.9 GB not 3.8 GB formatted. This indicates in low level formatting a lot of bad sectors had to be locked out. Usually flash chips like these are rejected for major brands and should be destroyed. Unfortunately instead of the furnace flames these chips are leaving the back door of factories to be resold. These chips are a favorite for counterfeiters to reprogramme. Low cost, big profit.

The results from H2testw have been verified on drives detected as fakes. How?

1.Drives were dissembled
2.Controller chips identified
3.Flash chip identified

More information on the following link


I'm sure we've all got at least one fake drive

Cool
I have 8 GB i will test that !
Thanks for sharing this with us.

Hi javed u remember whene u gave me ur 8gb usb then i told u this usb is fake u said its not. check with this software u will see. good find mate keep it up

I'm looking for my 16GB USB stick i got from eBay which i am going to test once i find it, im 99% sure it's fake!