I got scammed by a couple of fake cards. Here's how to protect yourself.

#ValiDrive
To put it bluntly, it would be foolish to buy media or a drive and NOT test it with this free tool. It's fast, simple, and does not even need to be installed.
ValiDrive - www.grc.com/va...
Lexar SD Reader - amzn.to/3QatoCO
Sata SD Cable (Good) - amzn.to/3QBJV43
Sata Dock (Better) - amzn.to/3QAzgGV
M.2 Dock - amzn.to/3Mq3b1Z
The drives I tend to buy
Quality 32GB SD Cards - amzn.to/3SgTo20
Quality 128GB SD Card - amzn.to/40ehYCK
Samsung EVO SSD - amzn.to/3Qz8cYE
Samsung EVO NVMe - amzn.to/45UWA6y

[@JohnJones-oy3md]

A problem ordering things like this from Amazon is their commingled inventory system, especially with third party sellers. Even if you choose a specific trusted seller, Amazon often commingles SKUs from different sellers, as they are supposed to be identical. They may also commingle their own inventory, which is why ordering 'Sold by Amazon/Shipped by Amazon' STILL isn't a guarantee of getting genuine product. Thanks for sharing this tool.

[@AnotherMaker]

Yeah. It's crazy annoying. You have to be so careful when you check out to see who it's sold by and even then, you're not guaranteed.

[@taperry326]

Steve Gibson (GRC Research) is a coding legend.

[@tripplegracing8276]

I was scammed here in SA a few years ago with a local small pc shop selling San Disk flashdrives and they all were fake not just corrupt data but it said 32gb on the stick but real size 1gb. Good video also a proof to rather try and get stuff from a reputable seller.

[@AnotherMaker]

That stinks. Were you able to return it? There's a good chance the store doesn't even know they're fake.

[@tripplegracing8276]

@@AnotherMaker Nope shop mysteriously closed down

[@MStrong95]

My question is what software exists for Mac OS?

[@AnotherMaker]

This is the first software that does exactly this for any platform. I don't know of a mac alternative.

[@sparkyprojects]

I have a stack of 2.5" spinning drives as backup, i use a SATA to USB cable, works fine It's only the 3.5" drives you can't use with that cable, you need 12V as well, you can get 5v/12v bricks with sata and molex power, just need sata data cable

[@AnotherMaker]

Yep. You're absolutely right. I hadn't tested 2.5s extensively with this cable since I have the doc, but in theory pretty much all 2.5s should work, although I'm guessing the amount of current the usb port can supply also matters.

[@tripplegracing8276]

Oh my just looked at the top of the page, I used to use spinrite!!! I have a harddisk I can tinker with 🙂

[@AnotherMaker]

Spinrite is such a fantastic tool.

[@DrexProjects]

I just got 4 sd cards from temu. Guess I better find a windows machine and test them.

[@AnotherMaker]

I'd love to hear your results.

[@DrexProjects]

@@AnotherMaker Tested all good. Didn't get scammed this time.

[@AnotherMaker]

@@DrexProjects glad to hear it. Curious what size they were

[@DrexProjects]

@@AnotherMaker 32 GB Kodak ( So it says ) and a generic 64 GB"Memory Card" in Red Package ( Card is orange with a dragon on it )

[@PF-gi9vv]

These drive can still be used. Most of the time you can create a partition with the working size using computer management in window. After that the computer will only see the working part of the SD card and work as normal.

[@AnotherMaker]

This seems very risky with all the wear leveling that goes on. At least this tool helps you figure out where the limits are.

[@PF-gi9vv]

@@AnotherMaker Correct, all drives are risky. I'm using a drive now that was a fake and I've partitioned it to the working size. I use it to watch movies from my TV and had no problem with it. But you are right, I won't copy important data to it. I wouldn't copy data to anything unless I have another copy.