[SOLVED] Can't force fake 2 TB pendrive to reveal its total capacity

Perene

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Oct 12, 2014
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I was given a fake 2 TB pendrive (with the "Samsung" label in it) and while Windows 10 64-bit says it has 1.9 TB free and it's using exFAT, I did some research and noticed some programs can reveal the actual smaller size and perhaps this is fixed by you readjusting the partition size to fit what is real and not false information.

The problem is that I have no idea which programs can do each task. Here's a summary of what I need:

1) To know the actual true size of this flash drive. With 100% certainty.

2) To adjust this pendrive to only use what it can hold. I also want to know if it's true these fake pendrives ALWAYS corrupt the files (or some of them) you put there, even if you only use less than what they can hold. I read one guy saying it corrupt ALL the files.

Here's what I tried so far:


***
Fix An Incorrect Size USB Drive Using Command Prompt

The wrong USB drive size issue can be fixed using Command Prompt as well. There’s a command that allows you to remove all the partitions, format your drive, and then re-create partitions on the drive.

Open the Start Menu, search for Command Prompt, right-click on it when you see it in the results, and select Run as administrator.

(It says for me to use DISKPART):

The problem is that if I do this command:

format fs=fat32 quick

The pendrive does not accept it, and worse: it becomes invisible to Windows, but visible to these software that can detect it. In other words it rejects a FAT32 format and forces you to always use exFAT in this final step.

***

Another program in which it happens the same thing:

BOOTICE

- Resolve The USB Drive Wrong Capacity Issue With Bootice (read the HelpDesk link)

****
Then I tried H2TESTW:

Problem is that "VERIFY" option is greyed out (not available), only write + verify. If we try this one it will (if I am not mistaken) take more than 2 days to complete this task. I have no idea if it will take 1, 2 hours (so much less) once it reaches, say, 32 GB.

Another program that I was told to use was AIDA64:

https://www.aida64.co.uk/pendrive

If I put the biggest block size it will end the checking after a while. In the first attempt it said for RANDOM WRITE + VERIFY with a blocking size of 2 MB (insted of 64 KB):

DATA INTEGRITY ERROR AT 140 GB. TEST STOPPED.

Then I tried with the same 2 MB. Again the same config, but look at the new result (after a few seconds):

DATA INTEGRITY ERROR AT 1352 GB. TEST STOPPED.

Now let's look what happen if we use a 8 MB block size:

DATA INTEGRITY ERROR AT 205 GB. TEST STOPPED.

Suffice to say this test isn't saying anything.

AIDA64's website tells us:

The method Linear test + Verify is the most thorough, but it also takes a long time. To speed up the process, select Random Write + Verify, which will try to write data to random memory cells. This way we will see in a few seconds if there are issues with our device. If we type a block size bigger than the default value in Options / Block size, we can further boost the speed.

****
How much time? 55 hours again?

So I repeat these two questions:

1) What's the quickest and most accurate way of knowing the true size of this fake 2 TB pendrive (and what software);

2) How can I adjust this thing to only use the max size it can hold?

If I can't solve 1) and 2) I am going to throw this thing away or give to someone else.
 
Solution
start with chipgenius https://www.usbdev.ru/files/chipgenius/
that will tell you some usefull info which u need
like VID, PID, vendor, if it has controller or not and sometimes it will tell you real pendrive size
here u can check your pendrive based on your PID and VID https://flashboot.ru/iflash/
if its there listed, click it and see if it has link to utils (as some controllers needs factory tools from vendors)
if nothing listed
use h2testw https://h2testw.en.lo4d.com/windows
if you already know capacity, just test that capacity, if its uknown well just run it on endless verify
it will be very slow if u have slow pendrive btw
once done, it will tell you how much MB/GB is OK alongside with sector count
then get...
start with chipgenius https://www.usbdev.ru/files/chipgenius/
that will tell you some usefull info which u need
like VID, PID, vendor, if it has controller or not and sometimes it will tell you real pendrive size
here u can check your pendrive based on your PID and VID https://flashboot.ru/iflash/
if its there listed, click it and see if it has link to utils (as some controllers needs factory tools from vendors)
if nothing listed
use h2testw https://h2testw.en.lo4d.com/windows
if you already know capacity, just test that capacity, if its uknown well just run it on endless verify
it will be very slow if u have slow pendrive btw
once done, it will tell you how much MB/GB is OK alongside with sector count
then get mydiskfix https://www.usbdev.ru/files/mydiskfix/
4.MyDiskFix.jpg

  1. select pendrive
  2. select low-level
  3. type in sector count (u get that number from h2testw)
  4. start
 
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Solution

Perene

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Oct 12, 2014
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Something really sad happened while I was running these garbage softwares that pretend to do things properly and either take foreverlike H2TestW or stop responding after a while like FakeFlashTest from this list: https://www.iperiusbackup.net/pt-br/5-metodos-para-identificar-armazenamentos-flash-usb-falsificados

While this fake pendrive was in my motherboard I also put a perfectly valid 3 GB one I had here, which never had any issue.

Then the valid pendrive started showing problems with Windows 10 and chkdsk was called for, then some of the files got corrupted. Not all, but some were. Sadly I had deleted these most recent backups from a few TXT files, so I now have to resort to older backups. I also made the mistake of deleting these same recent backups from one iOS app (NPlayer Plus) and will check now if this program will restore them: https://www.aiseesoft.com/iphone-data-recovery/how-to-retrieve-deleted-app-data-on-iphone.html

It's funny, I was wasting time trying to find out what is the real capacity of this crap and didn't bother any file could get corrupted in it, when I had never realized it could damage other pendrives that were inserted in my machine at the same time.

I don't know if this is a direct result of its interference or my new cheap 1150 motherboard (for use with my old i7 4770) that uses the Intel H81 chip did this... which I find very unlikely, because if I put any other pendrive in these USB ports it will behave correctly.

Now look what is going on, my 3 GB perfectly OK pendrive is not even being recognized anymore by Windows. Drive is either inaccessible or only using Apple's USB-3 camera adapter my iPAD reads it. I can't get Windows to read it anymore.

Be careful with these pieces of <Mod Edit> , this is the last time I put something others give to me even for testing. And here I was thinking the worst it could happen was a corrupt file in this false pendrive, I never would have imagined it could corrupt others. These scammers will all burn in hell.

P.S. Chipgenius said this:

***
Description: [E:]USB Mass Storage Device(VendorCo ProductCode)
Device Type: Mass Storage Device

Protocal Version: USB 2.00
Current Speed: High Speed
Max Current: 100mA

USB Device ID: VID = 048D PID = 1234
Serial Number: 8037341082571455075

Device Vendor: USB
Device Name: Disk 2.0
Device Revision: 0200

Manufacturer: VendorCo
Product Model: ProductCode
Product Revision: 2.00

Controller Vendor: FirstChip
Controller Part-Number: FC1178BC
Flash ID code: AD7E285302B0 - Hynix - 1CE/Single Channel [TLC]

Tools on web: <Mod Edit - Trash software link removed>
***
But that doesn't help because this site says it could be more than one alternative: <Mod Edit - Trash software link removed>
 
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Perene

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Oct 12, 2014
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Trash device, followed by trash software.

Give It Up.
Trash software indeed... if it's going to take 2 days just to do a mere checking that explains a lot why so many people keep buying this stuff. It's clearly not that simple for the gullible to get a precise answer.

I wouldn't spend 20 hours even if this was a real 2 TB pendrive.

And now I am concerned if this was my motherboard not being able to handle 2 of them in different USB ports or the stress of checking this fake device was so much that it was capable of corrupting a perfect pendrive that never had a single issue EVER.

When I see all this stuff I am more and more convinced of NEVER relying on physical storage, or at least doing an online backup every X minutes after changing anything.

I never had the ammount of problems with online backups as much as experienced in all my life with local ones. All, real or not, cheap or expensive, can go south at any moment and without any previous warning. This unpredictability if whatever you have is going to last is too much for me, if there's one device that gets more hate than any other (and it's all warranted) it's the one used for storage.

And once something is corrupted chances are close to zero to recover. You have much better odds with retrieving deleted files.