If it sounds too good to be true...
I bought two 128 Gb usb sticks from ebay for $12 each. Typical prices are $60 and over PER drive. Obviously, the drives were fake, which is a well-known phenomenon: http://www.ebay.com.au/gds/Fake-USB-DRIVES-From-China-HK-/10000000007355216/g.html
(why did I still buy them? Part greed, part curiosity)
Once I received the sticks I installed f3 on debian, and ran the f3write/f3read test.
Both drives failed:
At this point I figured I might as well pop the drive open as it wasn't glued (just remove the clip and insert a screw driver gently in the hole at the back).
I googled the stuff written on the chip, but didn't find any exact matches.
I then logged into my ebay account, and filed a return with the reason being fake/counterfeit. I was advised to wait five days for the seller to reply, which I did, after which I clicked on the button on the ebay website that asked ebay to step in to resolve the case. After a few minutes I received an email letting me know they'll initiate a refund, and after ca 30 minutes I received an email from paypal informing me of the same. No need to return the two 16 Gb sticks.
I've obviously posted a negative review of the seller which lets the reader know about the fake sized USBs.
Interesting experience.
I don't have any complaints about ebay -- things moved fast and the resolution was fair and in my favour. I reckon that the seller makes a profit from most buyers not realising that their drive isn't as big as the OS reports it to be, and don't discover it until the off-chance that they fill it with data. A that point they'll probably attribute it to the drive being broken, rather than the seller being outright fraudulent.
I bought two 128 Gb usb sticks from ebay for $12 each. Typical prices are $60 and over PER drive. Obviously, the drives were fake, which is a well-known phenomenon: http://www.ebay.com.au/gds/Fake-USB-DRIVES-From-China-HK-/10000000007355216/g.html
(why did I still buy them? Part greed, part curiosity)
Once I received the sticks I installed f3 on debian, and ran the f3write/f3read test.
Both drives failed:
SECTORS ok/corrupted/changed/overwritten
Validating file 1.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 2.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 3.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 4.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 5.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 6.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 7.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 8.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 9.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 10.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 11.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 12.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 13.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 14.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 15.h2w ... 2097152/ 0/ 0/ 0
Validating file 16.h2w ... 588128/ 1509024/ 0/ 0
Validating file 17.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0
Validating file 18.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0
Validating file 19.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0
[..]
Validating file 115.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0
Validating file 116.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0
Validating file 117.h2w ... 0/ 2097152/ 0/ 0
Validating file 118.h2w ... 45696/ 314496/ 0/ 0
Data OK: 15.30 GB (32091104 sectors)
Data LOST: 101.87 GB (213635872 sectors)
Corrupted: 101.87 GB (213635872 sectors)
Slightly changed: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
Overwritten: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
Average reading speed: 14.37 MB/s
At this point I figured I might as well pop the drive open as it wasn't glued (just remove the clip and insert a screw driver gently in the hole at the back).
 |
| IDE, 5019SN-GT, D5P590-000FZ, 1433T8H4 |
I then logged into my ebay account, and filed a return with the reason being fake/counterfeit. I was advised to wait five days for the seller to reply, which I did, after which I clicked on the button on the ebay website that asked ebay to step in to resolve the case. After a few minutes I received an email letting me know they'll initiate a refund, and after ca 30 minutes I received an email from paypal informing me of the same. No need to return the two 16 Gb sticks.
I've obviously posted a negative review of the seller which lets the reader know about the fake sized USBs.
Interesting experience.
I don't have any complaints about ebay -- things moved fast and the resolution was fair and in my favour. I reckon that the seller makes a profit from most buyers not realising that their drive isn't as big as the OS reports it to be, and don't discover it until the off-chance that they fill it with data. A that point they'll probably attribute it to the drive being broken, rather than the seller being outright fraudulent.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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