64GiB flash stick 'NOT' found utility for it (its 4GB)

[linxuser]

I found the 64GiB KingstonDataTraveler 150 to not be what it looks to be. (counterfeit) Has only 8GiB. Somehow its reporting to OS's as 64GiB. I've formatted it to 1-8GiB/fat32 partition and the rest to unformatted/unknown partition.

http://flashdrivefacts.wordpress.com...feit-products/

[Qqmike]

Re: I think I should remove all the posts about 64GiB flash stick(should I?)

Hate to say it, but that confirms my very first suspicions about that stick, doesn't it?
Too bad, for all the work you got in it. You'll find a "normal" stick fairly straightforward after this experience (e.g., quicker to zero-out, formatting behavior, fdisk -lu reports as well as TestDisk, etc.). Of course, the casper-rw bug still persists, but that's a separate subject.

[dibl]

Re: I think I should remove all the posts about 64GiB flash stick(should I?)

Bummer!

Out of curiosity, how did you discover that it is a fake?

After I saw your post, I went to the Kingston site:

http://www.kingston.com/flash/DataTr...s_consumer.asp

That's amazing -- I did not know they had them up to 128GB now. Lordy, I was just looking at a 14GB hard drive that I pulled out of an oldish PC, and wondering whether I should hang on to it. I think I have my answer .....

[linxuser]

Re: I think I should remove all the posts about 64GiB flash stick(should I?)

#I made a batch file to test the 8GB fat32 partition I made on the bogus flash stick. It'll take a while to
#run. In winDoze command prompt, I unzipped h2test16.zip to c:\h2test16, cd c:\h2test16, edit test.bat,
#entered:

rem 1st line writes the string 5393735 to all available space hopefully exiting upon running out of space
rem 2nd line verifies the files it created 1.h2t, 2.h2t, 3.h2t ...etc. each 2GB files
c:\h2test16\h2test 5393735
c:\h2test16\h2test 5393735 -r

#then exit writing batch file, alt+f, x, Yes(or enter)
#then changed to flash stick (in my case g:\) 'g:'
#executed the batch file: 'c:\h2test16\test

#if the results of this batch run are favorable I'll reboot into kubuntu -> Gparted -> delete the unknown
#partition, resize the fat32 one to 9GB, make new unformatted partition with the rest of the flashstick
#and rerun the test.bat in winDoze. If it comes up dirty, I'll know for sure. This h2test (German) is the
#only free test I found out there to date.

[linxuser]

Re: I think I should remove all the posts about 64GiB flash stick(should I?)

Well, the h2test results with 8GB showed errors. One of the folders I made before and copied 1.4 GB to became inaccessable. Next try is with 4GB. It just gets better.

[linxuser]

Re: 64GiB flash stick 'NOT' found utility for it (its 8GB)

Finally, I managed to find the right utility to correct the bogus programed flash to report correct capacity. It required opening up flash and with a magnifying glass recording the little numbers on the chip. Searching for em and trying 2 utilities, 2nd one looks to be right one. Its a slow 8GB flash. Utility is currently checking for bad blocks or memory (whatever) Its flashing and progress bar on utility is slowly progressing. I won't put the bogus 64GB casing back on. Just glad I can salvage the true capacity. What a strange trip its been.

[linxuser]

Re: 64GiB flash stick 'NOT' found utility for it (its 8GB)

Check this out. fdisk -l /dev/sdb output on the newly restored to real capacity flash stick (except for the size), is the same thing that confused me in my 1st posting about it:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...3856#msg183856


Current fdisk output:

:/# fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 8452 MB, 8452571136 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 8061 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2c6b7369

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 ? 945327 1849555 925929529+ 68 Unknown
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 ? 649505 912677 269488144 79 Unknown
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb3 ? 263179 945973 699181456 53 OnTrack DM6 Aux3
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb4 ? 680971 680981 10668+ 49 Unknown
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order
:/#

Pretty obvious the utility that fixed it is the utility that made it bogus.

The 1st of many links, that eventually led me to the utility that worked for me:

http://fixfakeflash.wordpress.com/20...ceed-/#more-32

[added edit] the links on my firefox tabs, some may not apply to my case, but added in case anyone is interested/needs to find more info:


http://fixfakeflash.wordpress.com/

http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/

http://fixfakeflash.wordpress.com/20...isual-example/

http://fixfakeflash.wordpress.com/ca...t-num/mw6208e/

# Note: the above link references number I found on chip inside flash stick
# the link below is where downloaded from (Ameco MW6208E 8208 1.2.0.3 20090306=[Mine])
# [Mine]= fakeflash label KingstonDataTraveler 150 / 64GB ('frankenflash') where I bought/ internet purchase from kingstonusbcf.com comes from China

[I separated the next link into 3 lines, you'd have to copy each line and paste em in a kate/notepad like program to make it back to 1 line for link, copy/paste the 1 line to your browser]
http://209.85.225.132/translate_c?hl...les%26op%3Dcat
%26id%3D14&prev=/search%3Fq%3DUdTools1_0_4_6_20081010%26hl%3Den%26c lient%3Dopera%26rls%3Den%26
hs%3DNad%26sa%3DG&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=AL kJrhjKyYZLo2uz-Z4OGoALZVTpmsYuhg

http://forum.flashboot.ru/index.php?name=Files

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbstick_e.html

[Qqmike]

Re: 64GiB flash stick 'NOT' found utility for it (its 8GB)

The 1st of many links, that eventually led me to the utility that worked for me:
http://fixfakeflash.wordpress.com/20...ceed-/#more-32

Interesting, I read that and quickly checked the supporting links.
Interesting, also, that eBay sellers is a source of fakes, a cautionary tale.

[linxuser]

Re: 64GiB flash stick 'NOT' found utility for it (its 8GB)

Still working on the 'FrankenFlash'. (I might have to chuck it.) All attempts to rewrite the controlling chip on it to 8GB have failed 'h2test'. 1 attempt to make it 4GB, passed the 'h2test'. I'm going to try once more with 8GB. If that fails I'll make it 4GB and quit.

[linxuser]

Re: 64GiB flash stick 'NOT' found utility for it (its 4GB) FINAL

Final report on this string. I tried to change controller chip on the 'FrankenFlash' to 8GB. The utility I've been using automatically reverted to 4GB upon bad memory scan. I did a fdisk -l /dev/sdb - check this out:

:/media# fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 4294 MB, 4294967296 bytes
133 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1017 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8246 * 512 = 4221952 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6f20736b

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 ? 94366 232798 570754815+ 72 Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(357, 116, 40) logical=(94365, 34, 11)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(357, 32, 45) logical=(232797, 23, 51)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 ? 20458 255242 968014120 65 Novell Netware 386
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(288, 115, 43) logical=(20457, 17, 47)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(367, 114, 50) logical=(255241, 7, 42)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb3 ? 226763 461547 968014096 79 Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(366, 32, 33) logical=(226762, 32, 30)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(357, 32, 43) logical=(461546, 21, 39)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb4 ? 349950 349956 27749+ d Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(372, 97, 50) logical=(349949, 27, 25)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(0, 10, 0) logical=(349955, 124, 33)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order
:/media#

I'd say fdisk is right, 'doesn't look like a partition table' .
So that's it. I did format using winDoze rt-click my computer -> manage -> disk management -> rt-click
-> format (chose fat32 and cluster size 1024)

Ran Norton Disk Doctor fix checked. It did scan on winDoze boot-up. Ran winDoze scandisk w/fix checked
seems to come up clean. I'll run h2test .bat file I created. I changed the .bat file as follows:

command prompt
cd c:\h2test16
edit test.bat

rem run this from the drive you want to test in windows

rem next line writes string you specify on the command line
rem as in 'c:\h2test16\test <your string(numeric?)>'
c:\h2test16\h2test %1

rem next line reads files created (1.h2t, 2.h2t, 3.h2t, etc,,,,)
rem using your string (%1) (-r=read)
c:\h2test16\h2test %1 -r

rem h2test does not give you much of progress indication except,
rem when it starts making another file, i.e. 1.h2t changes to 2.h2t.
rem Each file is up to 2GB. In read mode its the same except, it
rem will start displaying errors, if it comes across them.
rem It does not say error, just lines of memory locations.

at this point, alt+f -> x -> "save/overwrite?" Yes.

Note: The file, h2test needs to be run from the drive you want checked.
In my current case the 'FrankenFlash' is shown in winDoze as f:
The h2test.exe and test.bat are on my main hard drive (c in
h2test16 folder. (directory) So,:

C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserName\ f:
F:\ c:\h2test16\test 3759573

(the string of numbers is entered here)
(h2test can be found using google)

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