I've read the same thing about USB drives. But I will point out that the last time I bought them from Best Buy that 32GB was the smallest size I could find there and they were like $4 each or something.
Note that there is a program written for Linux for testing USB drives to make sure they are correctly marked for size: https://github.com/AltraMayor/f3 There's also a windows version of this program around named h2testw If you do find a USB drive that has been modified to report an incorrect size, many of them can be repaired with various tools (usually under Windows) You can start here to learn how to do it: https://fixfakeflash.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/about-vid-pid-repairing-counterfeit-flash-drives-steps-to-succeed/ In some cases the seller didn't even bother mucking with the USB flash drive chip, instead what they did was hack the partition table on the USB flash drive. These can be fixed under Windows by opening a command line and doing a diskpart/select disk/clean operation. That completely wipes out the partition table and MBR or GPT entries. Under Linux you can do sudo apt-get install gdisk, then use the Zap command to delete the GPT or MBR boot record. Unfortunately, some of the Linux tools out there are confused if you run across a disk (USB or otherwise) that was created GPT then had an MBR record written over it since it will have the residual GPT record on the end of the disk but as I recall gdisk is aware of this problem and will handle it. Diskpart clean definitely handles it properly, clean will wipe all ID blocks from a device. Including the C: drive it is running from if you accidently select the wrong disk. Lastly I feel compelled to remind everyone that every data media out there can suffer from bitrot and never EVER should you use data media for long term storage unless you have multiple devices. I used to think that magnetic media was safe, that you could backup to a hard drive and set it on a shelf and years later come back to it and retrieve data from it. However, I have found that this is not true, that over time the lube in mag media can dry out and the disk will not restart if powered up again. But USB media I am equally suspicious of. I have had many USB sticks fail on me and the most common reason is the durability of the mechanical construction. Anyone interested in this should THROUGHLY read the following: https://nepp.nasa.gov/Whisker/index.html This is a document put together by NASA detailing the phenomenon of tin whisker growth. For some reason nobody understands, tin used in electronics can grow thin whiskers over time. This is mainly in more humid or hot environments. I have for example repaired a number of automotive instrument panels and observed splaying out of tin from circuit board joints in whiskers. There are examples of this on that URL. Lead was added to solder because it was found it would prevent whisker growth and make the solder less brittle and stronger. But, when governments started pushing/outlawing/whatever the use of lead in electronic solder, and pushing lead-free solder, it meant that unless the solder was kept at precise temperatures during manufacture it would form brittle solder joints that could easily break under mechanical load. This is one of the primary reasons USB drives fail, because there is a stress point at the intersection of the metal USB A connector and the circuit board of the drive. Any bending there will fracture the solder connections easily, and much more so if the manufacturer was not controlling solder temperature. But, even if the part was made well with strong solder joints, whisker growth is much more pronounced with lead-free solders. Most people involved in the computer industry are software folks and not hardware, and even for the ones involved in hardware only a handful of those are ever involved in long term electronics. But if you talk to people who for example restore antique radios, or people who restore antique computers (which is a small but growing hobby) you will find that MANY modern electronic devices WILL NOT last reliably for more than around 30 years. Ted -----Original Message----- From: PLUG <plug-boun...@pdxlinux.org> On Behalf Of John Jason Jordan Sent: Sunday, May 28, 2023 1:10 PM To: plug@pdxlinux.org Subject: Re: [PLUG] "sold as 16GB" PNY flash drives store >30GB On Sun, 28 May 2023 00:37:28 -0700 Keith Lofstrom <kei...@kl-ic.com> dijo: >I bought a "PNY 16GB Attaché 3 USB 2.0 Flash Drive 10-Pack" >from Amazon for $27.98, to transfer files from some ancient CentOS >machines to replacement Debian machines. > >The four I've tested so far format to more than 30GB (!!!) of ext3 file >systems. Hard to believe, so I read/write- tested two of them with >random patterns for a few days. >No bits lost. In the past I've bought USB drives advertised as 1TB that appeared in GUI file browsers as 1TB, but which could not take more than 32GB of data. The end of the story is that they were really 32GB drives that evildoers in China had hacked to make them appear as 1TB drives. If you bring up a selection of 1TB drives on eBay you will find many at the beginning of the list priced at around $16, and I can guarantee you that every one has been similarly hacked. Then there will be a big empty space in the listings, followed by more 1TB drives at the $100+ price. And it's not just eBay; I find the same thing at Amazon and Newegg, although responsible vendors at least try to hold the bad guys at bay. And if you want to buy a 1TB SD card you'll find that the same thing is happening. And one more point - the hacked ones were originally 32GB (usually), and many were name brands like PNY, Kingston, etc; in other words, the seller bought a big batch of 32GB name brand drives, then hacked them to sell them as 1TB drives, so you can't assume that if it has a name brand on the case it is really as big as the seller claims. And one final point, in US law the principle of 'let the buyer beware' (caveat emptor) hasn't been true since I was a child; nowadays it has become discloseat vendor (apologies to ancient Romans). Unfortunately, Chinese law imposes little or no penalty for fraud, and ditto for many other countries, and even if what the seller does is really illegal, good luck finding the seller and serving them with legal process. I do not understand how the hackers accomplish their machinations, nor do I know how to undo the hack. But I do have abundant knowledge of what a dollar should buy, and I am certain as to how many of them are in my bank account. This gives me one sure way to tell if a drive is real; just go to (e.g.) pny.com and see what they charge for a drive of the size you want to buy, and if your vendor is selling a drive of that capacity for a fraction of the price, give it a pass. The above is not directly on point to Keith's plaint, but it is related and may be useful.
