Hi there,
I purchased from an ebay person in the UK a 32GB micro sdhc card for my Samsung Galaxy S. After taking a few photos or a video, the content becomes corrupt. I have tried to format the media in the phone, on my laptop, etc. and after about 500mb the same behaviour occurs.
Is there a way I can validate what I’ve purchased as being authentic? Any special tips I should be checking ?
Thanks in advance
bad me. i didn’t see another posting indicating i should try this program:
H2TestW will test if the card is any good. It does not actually verify that it is a counterfeit. It only provides a good test to see if the card is working properly. You would still need to collect all the nearly microscopic letters and numbers on the card and call SanDIsk support to see if they can decode those numbers and match it up to being a valid SanDIsk product. As good as SanDisk may be, even a faulty genuine card would fail using H2TestW.
Having said all that, you really need to consider the source of where you are getting the card. If it is from eBay and the price is incredible it is most likely a counterfeit. I have bought 4 cards from various online sellers (eBay and Amazon Marketplace Sellers) and ALL were counterfeit. Fortunately, I was able to prove my case and got full refunds for all of them.
I have also been vigilant on checking out eBay auctions and getting the auctions closed when the user states something in the auction that indicates the card is counterfeit. For example, Kingston does not make a Class 6 32GB Micro SD card. If you see an auction for a Kingston Class 6 32GB Micro SD card, it is a counterfeit.
What I have seen in regards to these counterfeits is they appear to work initially. Thus people are willing to post positive feedback for the seller before the trouble begins. Sadly once the trouble begins, the buyer has already lost many pictures and files they thought were being captured and saved.
If you are still inclined to buy a Micro SD card off eBay or Amazon Marketplace, be sure to test it as soon as you get it with H2TestW and call the supposed maker of the card with the numbers. It has to pass both tests before you can feel safe that it is valid.
Amazon and Amazon Marketplace are different. A card bought from Amazon directly is probably going to be a good card. Amazon also allows individuals to sell items through Amazon and they are called Amazon Marketplace Sellers. Buying anything from a marketplace seller is very similar to buying that item off eBay.
Hi
I have just experienced a similar problem with a 32GB Class 6 Memory Card purchased from Hong Kong on eBay.
I took a lot of photos using my Canon DSLR Camera and everything was going fine until I tried to transfer them from the Camera to the PC… Only a handful of photos transfered over and the rest become corrupt. I thought that this was strange and so investigated further. I used the software program H2testw to run a test on the card and here is the report:
The media is likely to be defective.
1.9 GByte OK (4011870 sectors)
29.3 GByte DATA LOST (61481122 sectors)
Details:29.3 GByte overwritten (61480240 sectors)
0 KByte slightly changed (< 8 bit/sector, 0 sectors)
441 KByte corrupted (882 sectors)
64 MByte aliased memory (131072 sectors)
First error at offset: 0x000000002fa2a028
Expected: 0x49aaf752dcfd71f1
Found: 0x49aaf752dcfd31f1
H2testw version 1.3
Writing speed: 3.23 MByte/s
Reading speed: 4.20 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4
So it looked like there was a problem with the card as it was only reading 1.9 Gb and the speeds were low for a class 6. This was more like a 2GB class 4 card with a Kingston label.
I sent the details off with photos to Kingston Technical Help for verification and they confirmed that:
"Based on the information provided, I regret to confirm that the part is not a genuine Kingston product. We do advise you to contact the seller for a refund. In addition, you should advise eBay as soon as possible. "
What is really annoying is that I spent 90mins taking photos of my child playing in a football match at the weekend and not only have nothing to show for it, but have no chance of that opportunity again.
Lesson learnt… we all look for a bargain… but you get what you pay for…
If you have to buy on ebay… ask the seller if its genuine… and check the previous feeback… avoid new sellers… FAKE sellers come and go, but genuine sellers stay around.
I hope my experience can help others if nothing else
HI,
Most of microSD 16GB and 32Gb on eBay from HK are 99% fakes.
There´s a simple way to identify the fake without using the H2tes2 software or similar.
Just look to the front of the card,down the 32GB numer must appear the serial number printed , the microSD 32GB counterfeits does not have this serial number.
Here a photo , look to the serial number, if your card does not have any is a fake , in such case please send an email to brandprotection@sandisk.com with all the ebay seller info, nick or id, item number, links…etc…
SanDisk is a member of the VeRO sysmtem on eBay so they can remove the listings asap.
Watch this video, go to minute 2:55 and will see what I´m saying.
memoryval
This is REALLY disconcerting.
ALL the pictures on Amazon (UK) showing Sandisk memory (MicroSD especicially) DO NOT have a serial number on the face below the Sandisk name.
So what do we do??? Are they all counterfeit without even Amazon realising?
Look for yourself
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/browse.html?ie=UTF8&marketplaceID=A1F83G8C2ARO7P&me=A1ZS7B80M11W6T
the images uses there are stock images and are not identical to the actual product.
Hello OutaDaDark ,
Don´t panic! The pictures you were referring are only commercial and marketing photos of SanDisk products, in this kind of pictures you will not see the serial number printed and the “made in china” phrase, because each card has a different number.
Those pictures are taken by Amazon from the SanDisk website here. As you will see these are high quality photos but not real. The only way to check if the card is genuine is once you have received it and look for the s/n in the front, the s/n can be checked from SanDisk website and they can tell you if is genuine or not.
Here is the real picture (look at the s/n printed and the “made in china” ,genuine cards must have both ) :
In Amazon there are a lot of sellers (we do sell on Amazon ;-) offering the same item in the same listing at different prices. I´ve seen that some sellers are selling the microSD 32GB card from 28 GBP that is really rare because the price for DISTRIBUTORS of that card is around 27GBP + VAT.
Here is the listingof the microSD 32Gb card on AmazonUK
Where is the trick? How some sellers can offer this card at 30GBP? Easy… They sell in “bulk” format, that means the card goes without retail package and in such case you will never know 100% if your card is brand new or used or… hacked. In that case my advice is to buy from trusted sellers, and to buy only RETAIL PACKED items from SanDisk.
As far as I know SanDisk only sell in “bulk” to the mobile manufacturers (HTC, Samsung, Nokia, etc…) so they can put the cards in the same box when you buy a unlocked cellphone. Of course there are many distributors who can import these cards in bulk and sell them at very cheap price, but these are NOT OFFICIAL selling channels and are not under full control of SanDisk distribution channels.
On the other hand most of the microSD 32GB cards you can find on eBay from China are fakes, that means the card is hacked and apparently shows 32GB in Windows SO when it really has 4-8GB of real capacity.
I don´t think you will find fakes on Amazon because they have an strict policy regarding the counterfeits, but in order to avoid future complaints or problems, my advice is that sometimes is worth the money to spend a bit more and buying from a trusted seller.
For you information the part number of the microSD 32Gb card is: SDSDQM-032G-B35 these cards are found in class-2 and from July 2011 all the cards come now in class-4. (but the real thing is that both cards have the same write speed, around 5MB/s)
If you are looking for a microSD 32GB card with high speed transfer rate I will tell you that maybe by the end of September SanDisk will launch the microSD HC Ultra in 32GB , the SanDisk ultra cards can reach up to 15MB/s.
Let me know if any more help needed!
Bye!
@memoryval wrote:
Where is the trick? How some sellers can offer this card at 30GBP? Easy… They sell in " bulk" format, that means the card goes without retail package and in such case you will never know 100% if your card is brand new or used or… hacked. In that case my advice is to buy from trusted sellers, and to buy only RETAIL PACKED items from SanDisk.
As far as I know SanDisk only sell in “bulk” to the mobile manufacturers (HTC, Samsung, Nokia, etc…) so they can put the cards in the same box when you buy a unlocked cellphone. Of course there are many distributors who can import these cards in bulk and sell them at very cheap price, but these are NOT OFFICIAL selling channels and are not under full control of SanDisk distribution channels.
Another reason not to buy any memory card sold in “bulk” (not retail) packaging is that SanDisk does not warranty these cards. So while you may get a genuine card for what seems to be a good price, if that card fails you have no recourse against anyone or avenue to get it replaced. You’ll just have to buy another card. Buying 2 cards instead of one as a result is no value. 
has anyone bought from a Amazon Marketplace seller McTechy? Profile can be found
I bought a 16 GB microSD card for $11 and thought at the time that, gee, prices sure have dropped. It worked fine for the last three weeks and then, boom, now its all messed up. I’ve been using it with my Sansa Clip+. Oddly enough, it can still be read just fine with the Clip+ but cannot be recognized directly from my desktop computer or any of the two laptops I’ve tried it on. I’ve attempted using different card readers and no go. I attempted reformatting with the app SDFormatter, and it either gets stuck or won’t even see it. The application H2Testw also will not see the card.
There is a serial number of some kind, barely readable with a magnifying glass. If I photograph it and get the number on it, will SanDisk help me out? I would like to send this Amazon seller a message saying “hey you sold me a POS card” but it would carry more weight if SanDisk could confirm for me that it’s not legit…
It may be legit, but simply has failed. You can check the serial number for authenticity by calling SanDisk Tech Support, but I certainly would contact the seller and/or Amazon. I wouldn’t put the cart befroe the horse and attack them with the “POS card” attitude right off the bat though. Simply state the facts; you bought the card, it worked for 3 weeks, then stopped working. Amazon holds their “partner sellers” to their same high standards for customer service, so you can assume they will replace a defective product after such a short time.
If not though, and the card is genuine SanDisk should replace it under warranty. By the way, the link you provided doesn’t go anywhere. Hopefully, this is an error on your part and not that that seller is no longer associated with Amazon.
@ameribuco wrote:
has anyone bought from a Amazon Marketplace seller McTechy? Profile can be found
I bought a 16 GB microSD card for $11 and thought at the time that, gee, prices sure have dropped. It worked fine for the last three weeks and then, boom, now its all messed up. I’ve been using it with my Sansa Clip+. Oddly enough, it can still be read just fine with the Clip+ but cannot be recognized directly from my desktop computer or any of the two laptops I’ve tried it on. I’ve attempted using different card readers and no go. I attempted reformatting with the app SDFormatter, and it either gets stuck or won’t even see it. The application H2Testw also will not see the card.
There is a serial number of some kind, barely readable with a magnifying glass. If I photograph it and get the number on it, will SanDisk help me out? I would like to send this Amazon seller a message saying “hey you sold me a POS card” but it would carry more weight if SanDisk could confirm for me that it’s not legit…
It may be legit, but simply has failed. You can check the serial number for authenticity by calling SanDisk Tech Support, but I certainly would contact the seller and/or Amazon. I wouldn’t put the cart before the horse and attack them with the “POS card” attitude right off the bat though. Simply state the facts; you bought the card, it worked for 3 weeks, then stopped working. Amazon holds their “partner sellers” to their same high standards for customer service, so you can assume they will replace a defective product after such a short time.
If not though, and the card is genuine SanDisk should replace it under warranty. By the way, the link you provided doesn’t go anywhere. Hopefully, this is an error on your part and not that that seller is no longer associated with Amazon
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