16GB USB flash drive has just become 8GB

[Karlos]

motorollin wrote:

countzero wrote:
I don't think FAT will remain valid after half the physical medium vanishes.

for how long did you use it for 16 gb ?

maybe someone stole your 16 and replaced it with a 8 gb one ?  :crazy:

I don't think so. It lives in a drawer and hasn't left the house. It's a mystery!

People say that about socks, but we all know there's a wormhole network connecting sock draws across the world with each other as well as other people's washing machines...

[motorollin]

Karlos wrote:
People say that about socks, but we all know there's a wormhole network connecting sock draws across the world with each other as well as other people's washing machines...

When I first read that I thought it said "womble network" :lol: Well, as long as they make good use of the things that they find... That makes me wonder who could have created the wormhole network for the purposes of abducting people's socks. Obviously somebody with a penchant for woolly footwear..... ;-)

[Karlos]

motorollin wrote:
Obviously somebody with a penchant for woolly footwear..... ;-)

Don't look now but I think he's around here :nervous:

[bloodline]

Karlos wrote:

motorollin wrote:
Obviously somebody with a penchant for woolly footwear..... ;-)

Don't look now but I think he's around here :nervous:

Eh? Who?

[ZeBeeDee]

@ Moto

I hate to be the bearer of bad news mate but it does look like you got stung by one of the biggest scams going around concerning flash drives.

The same thing is also very prevalent for the cheap usb mp3 players from china as well ... you have been warned!

This link explains it all

[bloodline]

@ZeeBeeDee

Great link!!

[ZeBeeDee]

bloodline wrote:
@ZeeBeeDee

Great link!!

Thanks  :-)

[Karlos]

ZeBeeDee wrote:


This link explains it all

Ouch

[ZeBeeDee]

The worst part of it all is that you don't even realize you've been scammed until you have to format the flash drive. This wipes out their doctored FAT thus revealing the true size of the unit's storage capacity.

 

[Hodgkinson]

Heh, the first MP4 player I bought (From a supermarket) was supposed to be 2GB. Suffice to say it was only 1GB (And that was just by looking at the memory info page on the device). Took it back. The next one I got reverted to Spanish every time I turned it on after the so-called recommended firmware update. Took that one back too.

I must be on my 3rd or 4th now. Sigh. (Well, they are cheap £25 models, and I hardly use it anyway, so I can't really complain...)

The worst bit is they don't actually play MP4's. The converter software supplied with them that converts videos to the format that they do play doesn't even have the ability to convert MP4's.
Apart from that, no PSU was supplied for charging, so I had to charge the thing from the PC until I got a USB charger for it, and even then I had to buy a USB hub for the charger to "fool" it into thinking it was connected to a PC and to allow it to go into standby (Otherwise the screen would be lit all the time). Grrrr. The charger PSU I got for it blew up anyway not long after purchasing it and needed to be fixed (Output rectifier short in both directions). Sigh.

Hodgkinson.

[ZeBeeDee]

You got a good one then ... I had one once stuck on Chinese

I wouldn't have minded but I couldn't figure out where on the menu the sweet and sour chicken was  :lol:

[Karlos]

Just to revive this thread...

Last week I bought myself a new USB flash drive. I was primarily interested in getting something a bit more rugged than usual so I plumped for this model, a drive touted as being water, fire, high impact and even bullet proof, not to mention high speed for a pen drive.

Been using it all week on my linux system(s) and I was was entirely satisfied. Until today. 5 minutes after plugging it into my brother's laptop (running 32-bit Vista) and it's toast. It can't be read, written or even formatted :griping:

So, it may be able to withstand all kinds of physical punishment but leave it to Windows to find some way of destroying it :-/

[Karlos]

I'm hoping that when I get back, linux will be able to sort the disk out but I suspect I'll probably end up having to take it back.

[Tension]

Heh, the first MP4 player I bought (From a supermarket) was supposed to be 2GB. Suffice to say it was only 1GB (And that was just by looking at the memory info page on the device). Took it back. The next one I got reverted to Spanish every time I turned it on after the so-called recommended firmware update. Took that one back too.

I must be on my 3rd or 4th now. Sigh. (Well, they are cheap £25 models, and I hardly use it anyway, so I can't really complain...)

The worst bit is they don't actually play MP4's. The converter software supplied with them that converts videos to the format that they do play doesn't even have the ability to convert MP4's.
Apart from that, no PSU was supplied for charging, so I had to charge the thing from the PC until I got a USB charger for it, and even then I had to buy a USB hub for the charger to "fool" it into thinking it was connected to a PC and to allow it to go into standby (Otherwise the screen would be lit all the time). Grrrr. The charger PSU I got for it blew up anyway not long after purchasing it and needed to be fixed (Output rectifier short in both directions). Sigh.

Hodgkinson.

Buy cheap, pay dear.  

[save2600]

Motorollin, I was stung too on one of those el cheapo thumbdrives. Same exact problem. Was once 16gb (but never really worked that way), then it magically turned 8gb. Figured, okay - I can still use that... but soon after she started puking up blood and I had to lay her to rest permanently. Good lesson to be learned here, eBay and el cheapie mass storage solutions from China are a terrible combination!  lol

[save2600]

Oh and yeah, Monty Python rocks!