For years, the rise of electronic commerce through the Internet has made it possible for us to buy any device or computer material anywhere in the world. However, this also brings with it problems with counterfeit USB memories or pen drives, especially from purchases made in China at low cost. That is why it is convenient to take precautions and help us with certain programs that will allow us to detect fake USB devices.
Surely on more than one occasion, attracted by its low price, we have bought devices such as pendrives, USB sticks, external hard drives or other external storage devices. And it is more than likely that, on which at first glance we will not know how to differentiate whether it is a product that meets the specifications indicated or they are not giving a hoax.
Most used counterfeiting methods in USB sticks
When it comes to knowing if a pendrive or external hard drive is a fake it is quite complicated, especially at first glance, since the counterfeit and the original product are usually completely identical on the outside. Only the absence of the CE logo can make us suspect of its legality. Well, all original products must have this distinctive, which sometimes we can also find copied. Likewise, the price is a very clear indicator, since nobody offers four pesetas hard, so if the offer is too aggressive, it is most likely that we are facing a fake.
When purchasing our hard drive or USB memory, we can find different sections that are often falsified, such as:
- Brand and logo : it is quite common for them to try to sell us at a low price, devices of popular brands such as Kingston or SanDisk in a counterfeit way, making us believe that we are buying a legal and recognized brand device at a ridiculous price.
- Storage capacity : another hoax that we find on a regular basis, are large pen drives or hard drives at ridiculously cheap prices. However, when push comes to shove, its capacity is actually much lower than what is offered. For example, we buy a 512 GB pendrive, when its capacity does not really exceed 4 GB.
- Speed: another feature with which we can be deceived is with the speed of the purchased device. In this case, we may find devices that claim to have a high transfer rate. It is likely that they will assure us that it is compatible with USB 3.0, when we really see that they are slower than the bad horse, offering compatibility with USB 2.0 or even USB 1.1.
Programs that detect fake hard drives and USB sticks
To help us know if we have purchased a counterfeit USB memory or external hard drive, we can use simple and reliable third-party programs to help us carry out the appropriate checks.
Check Flash, perform all kinds of tests on your pendrive
This free application will allow us to carry out the appropriate checks that will allow us to know if our pendrive or hard drive that we have bought is false or does not comply with the advertised specifications one hundred percent. Except for surface tests, this software allows us to check the storage drive read and write speed, edit partition information, as well as save and restore full drive and partition images.
It will also allow us to save and restore MBR, perform a complete or partial cleaning and run a scan to clean the entire unit or certain partitions. The process speed is the highest that a given device can provide. It is important to be careful when using it as it can perform a complete wipe of the device.
We can download Check Flash for free from its website .
BurnInTest, check the storage capacity of a USB memory
This application has been developed to check if our USB memory has the storage capacity it claims to have. For this, it is able to test the capacity of the storage unit and recover data without damaging it. It can be used to read, write and verify large amounts of data to and from the unit, being able to detect large capacities and low quality units during the process.
The program can also perform tests on large fake SD cards, Compact Flash cards and other similar memory devices. With the free trial version of this program we can perform runs of up to 15 minutes, so it will not be enough if we have very large storage devices. His license is priced at $ 95.
We can download the trial version of BurnInTest from its website .
H2testw, performs tests on the entire memory space of a pendrive or only on a part
It is a tool that is characterized by being free, portable and has a simple and easy-to-use interface. This allows us to be used by any user who needs to know how a product compares with others or the number of errors that can be detected on our device. The application will allow us to execute all kinds of tests in the entire memory space or only in a defined space. The results obtained will help us to know if the purchased product meets the conditions that it promised.
Although the program is especially aimed at USB devices, we can also use it to scan hard drives (both internal and external). It is also compatible with network volumes or memory cards. That is why it is a very versatile application, when it comes to the number of storage devices in which it can search for errors. Its main drawback is that it is an application that performs its work slowly, when it comes to analyzing the different devices.
We can download H2testw for free from here.
ChipGenius, check the veracity of a USB memory
We now have a very simple application that will allow us to help us find out information about our devices. It is capable of verifying the veracity of a USB memory, pendrive, hard disk or any storage unit connected to our PC. Although it can be used in any situation, it is particularly useful when our USB device is not visible in Windows Explorer, but only in the Control Panel.
This application is capable of detecting and listing all the USB devices connected to the PC, showing its interface and all the information about its hardware. We can also know the version of the supported USB protocol, the Flash identification code, the serial number and the identification data of the device. It also shows us the model, manufacturer and supplier of the device. In addition, we can know the chip supplier and the flash identification code.
If we want to try ChipGenius, we must know that it is a portable and free application that we can download from this link .
RMPrepUSB, allows you to check the real size of our pendrive
This time we are talking about a tool that has been specially developed to create bootable USB memories. But this is not all since within its characteristics is the possibility of checking the real size of our pendrive or storage unit, being able to know if it corresponds to the characteristics offered by the product.
The main drawback of this application is that, in order to carry out its work, it must delete any data that we have stored in the unit. Therefore, it is not recommended to use it before saving or making a copy of the files that we may have stored.
If we want to use RMPrepUSB to check the veracity of the capacity of our device, we can download it for free from the developer’s website .
Fake Flash Test, easily check if our USB drive is fake or original
It is an application specially designed to help us detect fake flash drives, which tend to corrupt our data once we fill the included memory. We can easily determine if the USB drive is genuine or fake just by selecting it from the list and testing it. Its operation is very fast, although its checking capacity is subject to its capacity. The higher the capacity, the greater the time that the application requires for its verification.
Unlike other similar tools, Fake Flash Text does not take care of verifying every inch and byte of the USB stick. The application is designed to search for missing memory parts, so the test is performed more quickly. In addition, it includes a feature that helps us avoid formatting. Although, we must bear in mind that if we have a false memory, its tests may cause data loss and may damage the files.
It is possible to download Fake Flash Test for free from this link .
MediaTester, verify the storage of any pendrive
This software will allow us to test any USB storage medium, and verify that its storage is correct according to what was announced. This tool is capable of efficiently detecting fake or faulty media by allowing quick reads as data is written. In this way, if we have any questions we have about our storage device, we can verify it before risking losing our data.
MediaTester is a free and open source utility in the public domain and without restrictions. We can download it directly from its repository on GitHub.
USB Memory Stick Test, tests any pendrive for faults and defects
It is a small open source application designed to help us test any removable storage medium, such as a pendrive, for faults and defects. A very valid form that helps us to verify the veracity of our USB memory or external hard drive. The application allows us to search for any defect in our storage devices, but it also has the ability to write test data to disk and verify that it works correctly.
This application has some limitations, as it is somewhat old software that has not received updates for a long time. Also, the current version can only test on the unused space of our storage device. In case we want to test the entire disk, it will be necessary to erase it completely beforehand.
We can download USB Memory Stick test from this link.