16GB Flash Drives -- true or false?

[mrblack]

Hi all,

I see all those 16 gigabytes usb flash drives on eBay, for example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/REAL-16GB-USB-2...ryZ99247QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-16GB-USB-2-...ryZ99247QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Those actually go out for 40-50$, orders of magnitude cheaper than if
you were getting a brand name 16gb at bestbuy for example.

Just wondering if they can be real at that price, or there's a catch
to it (16 gigabits instead of gigabytes? very very low transfer
speeds? not working at all?) Looking at the buyer's comment seems to
indicate they're all satisfied.

What's you guys opinion on that?
Cheers.

 

[Joel]

What's you guys opinion on that?

Well, if you don't believe the seller then I dunno how you can believe us
who sell no flash drive <bg>

 

[GT]

Hi all,

I see all those 16 gigabytes usb flash drives on eBay, for example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/REAL-16GB-USB-2...ryZ99247QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-16GB-USB-2-...ryZ99247QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Those actually go out for 40-50$, orders of magnitude cheaper than if
you were getting a brand name 16gb at bestbuy for example.

Just wondering if they can be real at that price, or there's a catch
to it (16 gigabits instead of gigabytes? very very low transfer
speeds? not working at all?) Looking at the buyer's comment seems to
indicate they're all satisfied.

What's you guys opinion on that?

My opinion is, "trust your instinct". If it spells fishy, leave it alone! On
the other hand at those prices you could just take a gamble - even if it is
16 Gb (2GB) instead of GB, does it really matter for that price?

 

[Paul]

Hi all,

I see all those 16 gigabytes usb flash drives on eBay, for example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/REAL-16GB-USB-2...ryZ99247QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-16GB-USB-2-...ryZ99247QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Those actually go out for 40-50$, orders of magnitude cheaper than if
you were getting a brand name 16gb at bestbuy for example.

Just wondering if they can be real at that price, or there's a catch
to it (16 gigabits instead of gigabytes? very very low transfer
speeds? not working at all?) Looking at the buyer's comment seems to
indicate they're all satisfied.

What's you guys opinion on that?
Cheers.

As long as there are fake USB flash devices on Ebay, I won't be
buying any to find out. Too bad for the legitimate sellers, if there
are any legitimate sellers to be found.

If a price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Notice the
cheapest here is $130, and the reviews on the SuperTalent one aren't
very good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...E&N=2003240522 1309425474&bop=And&Order=PRICE

Sample reviews:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820609222

Paul

 

[Bert]

Just wondering if they can be real at that price, or there's a catch
to it (16 gigabits instead of gigabytes? very very low transfer
speeds? not working at all?) Looking at the buyer's comment seems to
indicate they're all satisfied.

What's you guys opinion on that?

[Q]
More than 95% of all 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB USB Flash Drives listed on eBay
are counterfeit items and have fake & overstated capacities. All 32GB USB Flash
Drives are mostly FAKE.
[\Q]


http://reviews.ebay.com/BEWARE-of-F...ash-Drives-on-eBay_W0QQugidZ10000000001236200



Bert

 

[Grinder]

Just wondering if they can be real at that price, or there's a catch
to it (16 gigabits instead of gigabytes? very very low transfer
speeds? not working at all?) Looking at the buyer's comment seems to
indicate they're all satisfied.

What's you guys opinion on that?

[Q]
More than 95% of all 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB USB Flash Drives listed on eBay
are counterfeit items and have fake & overstated capacities. All 32GB USB Flash
Drives are mostly FAKE.
[\Q]


http://reviews.ebay.com/BEWARE-of-F...ash-Drives-on-eBay_W0QQugidZ10000000001236200

Using a link provided in the page above, the seller the OP mentioned
does not look very good:

http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=pikespeaktraders&Dirn=Received+by

 

[Joel]

Just wondering if they can be real at that price, or there's a catch
to it (16 gigabits instead of gigabytes? very very low transfer
speeds? not working at all?) Looking at the buyer's comment seems to
indicate they're all satisfied.

What's you guys opinion on that?

[Q]
More than 95% of all 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB USB Flash Drives listed on eBay
are counterfeit items and have fake & overstated capacities. All 32GB USB Flash
Drives are mostly FAKE.
[\Q]

This should be put in FOX Noise <bg>

 

[kony]

Hi all,

I see all those 16 gigabytes usb flash drives on eBay, for example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/REAL-16GB-USB-2...ryZ99247QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-16GB-USB-2-...ryZ99247QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Those actually go out for 40-50$, orders of magnitude cheaper than if
you were getting a brand name 16gb at bestbuy for example.

Just wondering if they can be real at that price, or there's a catch
to it (16 gigabits instead of gigabytes? very very low transfer
speeds? not working at all?) Looking at the buyer's comment seems to
indicate they're all satisfied.

What's you guys opinion on that?
Cheers.

It's probably using MLC flash and very slow. It may also
have specs claiming the 16GB is only reached using some kind
of compression which assumes all files will reduce by 50% or
more in size, while many already compressed formats
obviously wouldn't.

On the other hand I suppose they could've jacked a truck
somewhere and they're hot, or they're defective in some way
and these factors account for the incredibly low price.

 

[Steven Spits]

Hi mrblack,

Read this before you buy:

http://www.mashada.com/blogs/Kikuyumoja_s_realm/2007/03/10/fake_usb_sticks

Don't know if it's true...

Steven

 

[Steven Spits]

And also:

http://reviews.ebay.com/BEWARE-of-F...ash-Drives-on-eBay_W0QQugidZ10000000001236200

Steven

 

[sandy58]

And also:

http://reviews.ebay.com/BEWARE-of-FAKE-1GB-2GB-4GB-8GB-USB-Flash-Driv...

Steven

Steven, I have lost track here but started off with your link & ended
up here
http://www.mashada.com/blogs/Kikuyumoja_s_realm/2007/03/10/fake_usb_sticks
This is one terrific site. From "bent" data sticks to home-made
helicopters, hang-gliders etc. Great, man. Absolutely ace that way
these guys make stuff from throw-aways.

 

[RIAA]

Hi all,

I see all those 16 gigabytes usb flash drives on eBay, for example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/REAL-16GB-USB-2...ryZ99247QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-16GB-USB-2-...ryZ99247QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Those actually go out for 40-50$, orders of magnitude cheaper than if
you were getting a brand name 16gb at bestbuy for example.

Just wondering if they can be real at that price, or there's a catch
to it (16 gigabits instead of gigabytes? very very low transfer
speeds? not working at all?) Looking at the buyer's comment seems to
indicate they're all satisfied.

What's you guys opinion on that?
Cheers.

Considering that here are usually 8 bits in a byte, I would hazard a guess
that a 16 gigabit device is actually a 2 gigabyte unit.

 

[mrblack]

Well yes you guys are all right, and I too have many doubts about
either

1. The real capacity of those drives (gigabits vs gigabytes, aka a non-
negligible factor of 8!)
2. The speed of those drives (ie, very slow MLC flash)

And I do realize the real 16gb brand ones go for upwards of 140-150$.
I've looked at the links you guys pointed me too; I had already seen a
few of them / similar ones.

What baffles me though are the eBay feedbacks left by buyers who
bought those flash drives. Take as a random example this "winermean"
guy on ebay-. Look at these sample feedbacks:

"Good Flash Drive, Fast Shipping."
"A-1 seller. Flash drive as described and fast shipping. Highly
recommended!"

And these have the same picture as the fake ones described in one of
the links you guys submitted:
http://reviews.ebay.com/BEWARE-of-F...ash-Drives-on-eBay_W0QQugidZ10000000001236200.

Sure, none of the feedbacks purposedly say "Item is really 16gb; I've
tested every byte of it", but I mean come on, personally that's the
first thing I'd do upon receiving the item, so if it were a fake there
would have to be at least someone reporting it.

I'm not an eBay expert, but is it that easy to fake buyer feedbacks?
Guess I'm just not that used to seeing such blatent ebay scams ...

 

[Grinder]

Well yes you guys are all right, and I too have many doubts about
either

1. The real capacity of those drives (gigabits vs gigabytes, aka a non-
negligible factor of 8!)
2. The speed of those drives (ie, very slow MLC flash)

And I do realize the real 16gb brand ones go for upwards of 140-150$.
I've looked at the links you guys pointed me too; I had already seen a
few of them / similar ones.

What baffles me though are the eBay feedbacks left by buyers who
bought those flash drives. Take as a random example this "winermean"
guy on ebay-. Look at these sample feedbacks:

"Good Flash Drive, Fast Shipping."
"A-1 seller. Flash drive as described and fast shipping. Highly
recommended!"

And these have the same picture as the fake ones described in one of
the links you guys submitted:
http://reviews.ebay.com/BEWARE-of-F...ash-Drives-on-eBay_W0QQugidZ10000000001236200.

Sure, none of the feedbacks purposedly say "Item is really 16gb; I've
tested every byte of it", but I mean come on, personally that's the
first thing I'd do upon receiving the item, so if it were a fake there
would have to be at least someone reporting it.

I'm not an eBay expert, but is it that easy to fake buyer feedbacks?
Yes.

Guess I'm just not that used to seeing such blatent ebay scams ...

http://googtube.blogspot.com/2006/06/amir-ebay-and-broken-laptop.html

 

[Joel]

I'm not an eBay expert, but is it that easy to fake buyer feedbacks?
Guess I'm just not that used to seeing such blatent ebay scams ...

eBay or Usenet is pretty much similar, or I can just give you whatever
information to make you HAPPY. So, if you don't know much about eBay then I
would suggest to spend sometime to learn more about eBay, and if you don't
trust eBay then try to stay away from eBay.

Also, eBay is not always the cheapest place or often you should be able to
get a similar price or even cheaper from many online companies. So you need
to learn how to use GOOGLE for price and information.

 

[~misfit~]

Somewhere on teh interweb Joel typed:

eBay or Usenet is pretty much similar, or I can just give you whatever
information to make you HAPPY. So, if you don't know much about eBay
then I would suggest to spend sometime to learn more about eBay, and
if you don't trust eBay then try to stay away from eBay.

Also, eBay is not always the cheapest place or often you should be
able to get a similar price or even cheaper from many online
companies. So you need to learn how to use GOOGLE for price and
information.

Don't you mean FROOGLE?

 

[Joel]

Somewhere on teh interweb Joel typed:

Don't you mean FROOGLE?

Oops! it was typo (sorry), you are right I meant "FROOGLE" <bg>

 

[kony]

Oops! it was typo (sorry), you are right I meant "FROOGLE" <bg>

Unfortunately Google renamed Froogle to Google-> Products,

http://www.google.com/prdhp

 

[Joel]

Unfortunately Google renamed Froogle to Google-> Products,

http://www.google.com/prdhp

It's nice to know, thanks.

 

[~misfit~]

Somewhere on teh interweb kony typed:

Unfortunately Google renamed Froogle to Google-> Products,

http://www.google.com/prdhp

That's right, I remember reading about that now. Apparently the pun on the
word "Frugal" was missed by most Americans as, although it's frequently used
in England (as well as Aus and NZ), Americans don't seem to use it and it
was causing some confusion in the US.

Oh well, at least typing www.froogle.com into the browser still takes you to
Google/Products.