16 gb Memory pen drive suddenly stopped working

Mr_Toad

MoneySavingUser wrote: »

This is an important question - there have been reports of fake memory devices on ebay that state more than they can actually hold

i.e. 16GB when true space is only 2GB - and once you hit 2GB either you lose stuff or they pack up

Bang on the money!

I have friends who were caught out by this scam. When I wanted memory cards for my camera I was so tempted by the prices on eBay but in light of what had happened to friends I never bought any memory from eBay.

The scam is done by hacking the file allocation table on the stick so it reports back as 16GB, or whatever size they tell it, when plugged in.

It works fine until you fill it up then your data overwrites heir code and the whole thing stops working.

Of course it's not just eBay, these fakes show up at computer fairs, markets and in the small ads.

MoneySavingUser

masonn wrote: »

Of course it's not just eBay, these fakes show up at computer fairs, markets and in the small ads.

I ordered some from amazon - but a marketplace seller rather than amazon themselves - I hope they are ok (SD Cards)

Mr_Toad

MoneySavingUser wrote: »

I ordered some from amazon - but a marketplace seller rather than amazon themselves - I hope they are ok (SD Cards)

I'm sure you'll be fine, Amazon marketplace sellers tend to reputable. Amazon come down hard on any that bring them into disrepute.

I've only ever bought one USB stick and that was a Lacie one in the shape of a key for my keyring, I got that from Amazon.

Being in the IT industry all my other USB memory sticks have been freebies but they tend to be smaller sizes hence buying one.