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  1. Member Seeker47's Avatar
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    https://www.ebay.com/itm/512GB-USB-3-0-Metal-Flash-Drive-Memory-Storage-Stick-Pen-Keyc...IAAOSwyhVdw8oi

    This one looks just like a 256 GB. Samsung model that I think had a 2 year warranty, which seems to be pretty rugged and reliable -- I've bought a few of them over time. They were usually seen at a price in the $45 to $57 range, when on sale.

    & many others seen here

    https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311.R2.TR2.TRC0.A0.H...0&_sacat=58058

    A few years back, someone I know was experimenting with importing some 1 TB. and even 2 TB. flash drives, when they had first appeared. At the time, he said that their quality and reliability very much remained an open question. I've not heard much more on the subject since then, and such models don't seem to be sold by major retailers in the U.S. Possibly something to do with the fact that major branded models in the 512 GB capacity have been sold here at prices in the $250 to $375 (?) range, so doubling that capacity or more might take it out of a viable consumer products category. Even the eBay prices on major-brand 512's exceed $100. (That said, I seem to recall that Costco had Sandisk 512 GB flashdrives at a very reasonable price, a year or two ago though only briefly. And I also recall hearing -- some years ago -- that there were only 3 or 4 actual manufacturers -- of the guts of these things -- in the world ?)

    But those prices from the links above are just crazy / unbelievable. And I definitely follow the principles of Caveat Emptor, You Generally Get What You Pay For (except when the fix is in, when there are forced supply limitations, or in the case of ridiculous markup as with many designer-brand goods), and another that is Don't Buy Much of Chinese Manufacture, since so much of it has proven to be very sketchy in one way or another. Buying "from China" tagged items on eBay has also turned out to be a dubious choice, based on what I've seen.
    Last edited by Seeker47; 3rd Feb 2020 at 12:04.
    When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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  2. I found a USB flash drive in our company parking lot. Careful inspection, using a "dirty" non-network computer, showed that the drive claimed terabyte capacity. Actual capacity was 8 GB. It held some interesting malware that tried to autorun, without success.
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  3. Those $5 drives are certainly fakes -- much smaller drives formatted to look like 1TB. The sellers know that nobody is going to bother asking for a refund -- returning the drive to China will cost you more than you paid for the drive.
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    ++1

    100% fake. The firmware is hacked to report a much larger size (common with SD cards too), but when you hit actual capacity of the drive, best case is it will just stop. Worse case, it will overwrite what's already there and if it's a video file, all is lost. Watch this video from Linus Tech Tips for what happens and how it's done.
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  5. Member Seeker47's Avatar
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    That explains it.

    Then I guess the best hope is that Costco gets those 512 Sandisk ones again, at some point. Sorry I did not buy a couple when they were available. (Sandisk had its own fiasco some time ago with that proprietary "U3" business, but I gather they abandoned that.)

    It usually only makes sense to buy from U.S. sellers anyway . . . although I did have a good experience buying some Wacom items direct from Japan. Unexpectedly quick, and with better customer service than is often found at home.
    When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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  6. I use these adapters with micro SDXC cards: https://www.amazon.com/5Gbps-Super-Speed-Reader-Adapter/dp/B016W4M5BE/

    There are even smaller ones where the micro SD card fits inside the USB connector. The trouble with those is that so little sticks out that they can be hard to remove.
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  7. Keep in mind the physical lock on sd cards vs none on microsd cards.

    If you're archiving photos, documents, etc, sd is better.
    Unlock to write, then lock the card so it can't be erased.
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    In regards to the "guts" of flash drive, it's true that there are only handful of manufacturers of NVRAM, but that's just the tip of the flash drive iceberg. Everything from the board the RAM is mounted to, circuitry, to the enclosure (cheap plastic vs heat dissipating metal) makes a huge difference.

    If size isn't a major issue, I'd go with an SSD and a good quality third party USB enclosure. Just be sure to never disconnect from the drive end and always from the plug end to reduce wear and electrical shock to the port on the drive. While there may high end/high cost flash drives and SD cards that beat SSD transfer speeds, SSDs are still more reliable than flash drives and SD cards.
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  9. Member
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    Originally Posted by babygdav View Post
    Keep in mind the physical lock on sd cards vs none on microsd cards.

    If you're archiving photos, documents, etc, sd is better.
    Unlock to write, then lock the card so it can't be erased.
    Another never have I ever, had enough real life experience. I've accidentally flipped the lock on regular SD cards dozens of times on the dozens of cards I've owned when inserting and removing.
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  10. Member p_l's Avatar
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    https://www.ebay.com/itm/153740550140

    OK, I volunteer to be a guinea pig. I ordered one of these, even though I've been scammed in the past by lower than advertised SD card capacity. We'll see. I guess I'm $5 worth of curious.


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    Note that some of these drives are marketed as "earthquake proof", which is always a comfort.
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  12. Love the quote on one advert from that outlet:
    32G-2TB, the actual capacity is 32G, the actual capacity of 32G is about 29.5G, and only about 29.5GB can be stored, but it can display 2TB on the computer, and the detection is also 2TB.
    This is in the small print for a drive advertised as 2 Terabyte!

    Brian.
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  13. Member Seeker47's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by betwixt View Post
    Love the quote on one advert from that outlet:
    32G-2TB, the actual capacity is 32G, the actual capacity of 32G is about 29.5G, and only about 29.5GB can be stored, but it can display 2TB on the computer, and the detection is also 2TB.
    This is in the small print for a drive advertised as 2 Terabyte!

    Brian.
    What should we call that ? 'Honesty in Deception ?'

    Meanwhile, I just saw this

    https://www.frys.com/product/9977046

    -- a brand I'd not previously heard of, though the sale price is more appropriate -- in the midst of Fry's apparent transitioning away from its former brick & mortar presence towards becoming an online-only entity. (See my other thread on that.)
    When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form.
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