Cheap 32GB SDHC?

[- Theo -]

Wow, hold your horses. I'm just stating what my experience has been, and as far as I know, I'm entitled to my opinion. Saying "it's simply not true" when I only described what happened to me is kind of insulting. I even stated I may have been lucky, but so far all the fakes I bought of eBay have been working fine, albeit slower than official ones specially in write speed.


And that's not just after "putting a couple of files on it", I have been using these cards for years (and still use some of them, in my PSP, camera and various other stuff) and have filled them and emptied them hundreds of times. I don't know about recent ones (32 or 64GB), as the last one I bought this way was last year, a 8GB pro duo memory-stick, which is still to that day my main flash support in my PSP.


I'm not saying all of them work, I trust your experience and you're not the only one I've seen who was waging a similar war against fakes (I spent quite some time on some other forums, like maxconsole.net or older ones). I respect your fight and have nothing against it, I'm just saying that for me, it worked. And even if next time I get a non-working one, the money I saved overall would have been worth it.

 

[Prometheus]

Wow, hold your horses. I'm just stating what my experience has been, and as far as I know, I'm entitled to my opinion. Saying "it's simply not true" when I only described what happened to me is kind of insulting. I even stated I may have been lucky, but so far all the fakes I bought of eBay have been working fine, albeit slower than official ones specially in write speed.

It was not my intent at all to be insulting, and I'm sorry that you took it that way. I hope that there are no hard feelings.


I only wanted to make it clear that as far as I know, it has not been the case that you can find genuine-capacity fakes (there's an odd term :lol: ) on eBay in quite some time. In fact, I've only ever heard two people speak of them in my entire time with an interest (for want of a better term) in that field.


You're certainly entitled to your opinion, and I never said you weren't. It just sounded an awful lot like you were recommending purchasing fakes, which in my view is simply not a good idea at all.

And that's not just after "putting a couple of files on it", I have been using these cards for years (and still use some of them, in my PSP, camera and various other stuff) and have filled them and emptied them hundreds of times. I don't know about recent ones (32 or 64GB), as the last one I bought this way was last year, a 8GB pro duo memory-stick, which is still to that day my main flash support in my PSP.

When I said about putting a couple of files on it, I was referring to the feedbacks of a great many people who use this as a method of "testing" instead of using H2testw, not yourself.


8GB, you say? Now that makes a bit more sense. As I mentioned earlier, I've twice heard of real-capacity but still-fake flash media from the time of 8GB-or-so devices. Indeed, at one time, 8GB was the maximum of real capacity that false-capacity fakes would have, although since the recession hit flash manufacture, that's dropped to a maximum of 4GB (although more common of late is 128MB to 256MB of actual capacity).


There are also claims out there, to this day unverified, that some sellers nowadays occasionally ship a real one (usually regarding USB flash-drives) out in with the myriads of fakes, but I have my doubts about that, as this has floated around for ages upon ages...

I'm not saying all of them work, I trust your experience and you're not the only one I've seen who was waging a similar war against fakes (I spent quite some time on some other forums, like maxconsole.net or older ones). I respect your fight and have nothing against it, I'm just saying that for me, it worked. And even if next time I get a non-working one, the money I saved overall would have been worth it.

Well, I'm glad that for you it worked out.


That said, I'm afraid that I must admit that I don't quite see the logic behind it being ok to get a fake-capacity flash device as long as money's been saved, personally - after all, to get the bad device, money will have to be thrown away...

 

[- Theo -]

It was not my intent at all to be insulting, and I'm sorry that you took it that way. I hope that there are no hard feelings.

Of course not, as I said I respect your fight, and the dedication you obviously put to it.


And I know we are civilised people here on Pandora boards, not aggressive jerks like on iOS forums

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, and I never said you weren't. It just sounded an awful lot like you were recommending purchasing fakes, which in my view is simply not a good idea at all.

Oh well I would never recommend that, they are fakes after all, so it IS a scam if you believe you are buying genuine items. I'm just saying that with the difference in price, sometimes a little risk is worth it, and I was merely explaining my reasoning at the time, not saying you guys should do the same.

8GB, you say? Now that makes a bit more sense. As I mentioned earlier, I've twice heard of real-capacity but still-fake flash media from the time of 8GB-or-so devices. Indeed, at one time, 8GB was the maximum of real capacity that false-capacity fakes would have, although since the recession hit flash manufacture, that's dropped to a maximum of 4GB (although more common of late is 128MB to 256MB of actual capacity).

Actually that does seem to make sense. All the fake cards I bought were mostly during the 1GB / 2GB / 4GB era, and once a 8GB. They all worked (at least they have the advertised capacity, including the 8GB), but maybe now fake creators have become much more aggressive in their process.

There are also claims out there, to this day unverified, that some sellers nowadays occasionally ship a real one (usually regarding USB flash-drives) out in with the myriads of fakes, but I have my doubts about that, as this has floated around for ages upon ages...

I would have been extremely lucky then No, I think the previous point more likely explains our difference of opinions. That will certainly make me think a lot more when (if) I decide to buy a fake 16 or 32GB now... (That, plus the fact I have now a better job, so enough money to not be bothered buying full price for a quality brand ).

That said, I'm afraid that I must admit that I don't quite see the logic behind it being ok to get a fake-capacity flash device as long as money's been saved, personally - after all, to get the bad device, money will have to be thrown away...

Agreed, I would have been extremely pissed off if I had got a "real fake" memory card (i.e. a 256MB instead of a 8GB for example). Once again, that never happened to me, they all had the advertised size.


So it seems we almost agree then, and it seems my opinion is probably too old to be still relevant.

 

[rabidpoobear]

You can get 32gb class 10's from Microcenter for $55, cheaper if you go class 6 or 4. The class 10 16 gig is $26, the others are even cheaper.


I think now is the time to buy your flash.


[edit] here's the $55 class 10 32gb: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0349730

 

[Thorium]

I got a 32GB card from amazon 2 weeks ago, class 10 for 45 EUR. It's directly from amazon, not from the marketplace. And speeds are as


descriped in the listing. They claimed the card does writespeeds up


to 20mb/s and my messuring shows that it does write 19 mb/s and read 20 mb/s. The card is almost full now and no data is lost so far. I guess its a good product for a good


price.

 

[Prometheus]

Of course not, as I said I respect your fight, and the dedication you obviously put to it.


And I know we are civilised people here on Pandora boards, not aggressive jerks like on iOS forums

I'm glad of that. Thankyou. (And it certainly is nice that this place is so mature, and not aggressive. )

I think now is the time to buy your flash.

It is! Prices seem to have fallen a bit lately, which is quite a contrast to the rest of the year, when they've been rising most of the time. 32GB cards have finally reached fairly reasonable prices, although on occasion they leap up quite high again.

 

[- Theo -]

I think now is the time to buy your flash.

I'm waiting for the last moment to buy mine. Heck, by the time I finally receive my Pandora, I will be probably be able to find a 2TB card for £20

 

[neko]

There's an analysis of some full-capacity fakes here: http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?page_id=1022


They are no-name cards with false packaging, and in one case, a used card sold as new. Interestingly the flash chips all come from major manufacturers, as there aren't very many places that make flash memory. The cheap cards use different controllers and probably use lower-grade chips.

 

[ToastBucket]

Slightly off-topic, but I tried using a USB HDD with my Pandora and it didn't work. The screen just dimmed. Before, however, I tried it and it worked (that was with it plugged in) Does a USB HDD require too much power for the Pandora to handle?

 

[Prometheus]

^ Some do, some don't.


I had some downright terrifying results with a 2.5" LaCie drive that I tried - it caused the display to warp and fluctuate, much like a CRT that's being introduced to a strong magnet, and the drive was still unable to get enough power to spin up.


On the other hand, I have a Western Digital 2.5" drive which works just fine with my Pandora (I've only tried this when the Pandora was not plugged in).

 

[WizardStan]

Generally, yes. Most USB HDs that are powered by the USB port operate out of spec (using more than the 500amps USB is supposed to have) because they need it, and because they can since most PCs don't have a problem providing more power. The Pandora is limited. There are USB powered hard drives that do fall within the USB spec, so you'll have to find one of those, or just keep the external hard drive plugged in.


edit: h34r:

 

[ToastBucket]

Ok cool. Thanks. Just for the record This is the USB HDD I have.

It's a WD My Passport (the model that's right before the current model out there)


I have been thinking of getting a USB flash drive as well as SD cards because the largest one I own is 2GB and I'm currently using it to boot ChromeOS. Is This possibly a fake?

 

[DaMummy]

if its on ebay, its probably a fake, not possibly, probably, dont even let a high or normal price tag fool you

 

[Prometheus]

^ DaMummy took the words right out of my mouth. Due to the fake flash media plague there, eBay is not even worth considering for such products. (There were once a few known sellers of genuine flash media there, but since it's near-impossible to compete with the too-good-to-be-true prices of the fakes, I understand that many, if not all, of them ended up leaving.)

 

[DaMummy]

when are you going to add info about fake capacity batteries that are sold on chinese net-stores onto your sig? thats the other one that bothers me, when people thing they can get 18000mah batteries for >$20, case in point - http://www.dealextreme.com/forums/Forums.dx/Forum.8163~threadid.93730

 

[Prometheus]

^ It isn't a field I know much about, I'm afraid, although I do recall someone else (I'm really sorry, but who it was escapes me at this moment in time) on the other forum posting a teardown of one of those devices. I should probably alter the bit about dodgy power supplies to include it, at some point.

 

[Morn]

To my knowledge, there is no such thing as a fake that is true-capacity but simply slower and poorer-built than the real thing, because there isn't any profit in that.

I'm not sure if I understand correctly. Does it mean that companies selling various SD "classes" at various prices are just artificially dividing market because production costs for all of them are virtually equal?

 

[Prometheus]

^ I'm referring only to fake cards, there, not what genuine manufacturers do. The reason I mention "profit" with regard to the fake cards is that because often, to put it very basically, apparently the main components are fished out of a trash bin.