[DNG] [OT] Flash memory testing on Windows (was: fdisk SD card partitioning question)
As there was some discussion of fakes. At your own risk and if you have access to Windows there are some good tools to low-level verify either for a fake or bad bits on USB/SD storage: "FakeFlashTest" https://rmprepusb.com/tutorials/007-all-about-fake-sd-cards-and-usb-flash-drives/ "USB Flash Drive Tester" https://www.vconsole.com/download You might also want to try low-level formatting tools. The SD Association has a formatter for Win/Mac https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/ The download link on that page is currently broken, but this link works: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/eula_windows/SDCardFormatterv5_WinEN.zip I have old formatting tools from Lexar and HP but I can't find their official sources. Be aware that low-level tools might render your item unusable until re-formatted with other low-level tools. I recommend you do read tests before write/format efforts. Years ago I bought a 1 TB USB stick for $10 CAD. At the time this was an impossible price for impossible storage so of course it was fake, but it amused me to test for and flag bad sectors as unusable to get it working. I got over 300 GB to verify as usable which was still incredible. ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
Re: [DNG] HP Ryzen Laptop
Am 13.06.22 um 11:27 schrieb Antony Stone: Hi. I just came across a favourable review of a new HP laptop based on AMD Ryzen. I like the name they gave it :) https://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=31205 Antony. Hi, reading the name of the laptop: "Dev One", I'd expect it to have Devuan (www.dev1.org) installed rather than Ubuntu or any other distribution... Greetings Roland ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
[DNG] HP Ryzen Laptop
Hi. I just came across a favourable review of a new HP laptop based on AMD Ryzen. I like the name they gave it :) https://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=31205 Antony. -- Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. You'll feel much better about things once you do. Please reply to the list; please *don't* CC me. ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
Re: [DNG] fdisk SD card partitioning question
On Mon, Jun 13, 2022 at 09:34:32AM +0200, Andreas Messer wrote: > > However, the best way to use SD-Cards in Linux only environments is > to format them with f2fs file system. f2fs was developed by Samsung > with internal behavior of embedded MMC memory devices in mind. Which > is pretty the same like an SD-Card. With f2fs you also have > uid/gid as usual and it will help to improve the endurance and > performance of an SD-Card. Interesting. I always use f2fs on my ssds, but it does seem to have a large overhead, so although I think I once used it on an sdhc card for exactly the reasons you describe, I usually go to ext4 without a journal to get more space. sdhc flash memory is extremely expensive so there is a strong motive to maximize the available space. Aside: I have almost ceased to use USB sticks (apart from booting live images) because a cheap SSD is far faster and cheaper: I use usb-sata cables, and they only cost a £ or two. I do use f2fs also on my heritage USB sticks. ael ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
Re: [DNG] fdisk SD card partitioning question
On Mon, Jun 13, 2022 at 10:09:31AM +0100, ael via Dng wrote: > On Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 06:33:37PM -0700, Fred wrote: > > So confirmed as a fake. Maybe worth checeking with fwrite and fread for > a more thorough check. s/fwrite/f3write and s/fread/f3read: typo corrections, of course. ael ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
Re: [DNG] fdisk SD card partitioning question
On Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 06:33:37PM -0700, Fred wrote: > > The f3probe utility says: > > Good news: The device /dev/sdb is the real thing > > And then it reports the same size as fdisk, 27.48GB usable even though the > card is plainly marked 64GB. So confirmed as a fake. Maybe worth checeking with fwrite and fread for a more thorough check. ael ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
Re: [DNG] fdisk SD card partitioning question
On Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 02:14:15PM -0700, Fred wrote: > > > > > Hi, > > I recall a lot of discussion about this on either this list or the > > Debian list. If the card was an offbrand I would assume it was fraud > > and would not have even asked here. However, the card is a SanDisk. The > > packaging becomes destroyed in removing the card so I can't take it back > > to Walfart for exchange. Plenty of fake cards pretend to be SanDisk. No idea whether Walfart can be trusted to have checked their cards. > > You said above that you use a better filesystem for the sdhc cards. Have > > you done that for a card over 32GB? And how? Most of my sdhc cards are used in "other" devices, and so have to be kept in vfat. But I have other cards, usually in ext4 (without a journal to extend flash life). I can't remember now whether any are 64GB, but I have never had any problem reformatting, or finding fdisk reporting different sizes. But then I always check cards with f3 on purchase, just in case. Using fwrite and fread also gives me an idea of the speed of the card. The downside is that that test writes all (unreserved blocks) so all subsequent writes need an erase cycle, so the effective speed drops. But that is going to happen anyway with normal use. ael ___ Dng mailing list Dng@lists.dyne.org https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
Re: [DNG] fdisk SD card partitioning question
Hi Fred,
Am Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 12:35:06PM -0700 schrieb Fred:
> I tried fdisk again with the same result.
>
> root@aragog:# /sbin/fdisk /dev/sdb
> Command (m for help): n
> Partition type
>p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
>e extended (container for logical partitions)
> Select (default p): p
> Partition number (1-4, default 1): 1
> First sector (2048-57626623, default 2048):
> Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-57626623, default
> 57626623):
>
> Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 27.5 GiB.
You shouldn't do that. Although its possible to "partition" SD-Cards,
this is not recommended. This is since SD-Cards have some kind of
knowledge about "how FATFS works" to optimize the write cycles. This
won't work if the card is partitioned.
However, the best way to use SD-Cards in Linux only environments is
to format them with f2fs file system. f2fs was developed by Samsung
with internal behavior of embedded MMC memory devices in mind. Which
is pretty the same like an SD-Card. With f2fs you also have
uid/gid as usual and it will help to improve the endurance and
performance of an SD-Card.
cheers,
Andreas
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