Fake Memory Sticks – How Much Memory Have You Really Got In Yours

Pen Drive storage devices have proved themselves to be a very practical and robust mobile storage method, far surpassing anything that has gone before. For the most part these devices are very reliable as they rely on solid state technology and therefore have no moving parts, which is a big bonus.

Recently though the reliability of these devices has come under a lot of scrutiny as the failure rate of what is normally very reliable technology has escalated to previously unseen levels. Data recovery companies around the world are fielding increasing number s of enquiries and have geared their operations to cope. So what is the problem here?

USB storage devices are also dropping in cost all of the time. They are growing in popularity at such a rate that the number of devices shipped in 2007 was double that shipped in 2006. By the end of 2008, annual sales are estimated to be in the region of 300 million shipped units.

With such large numbers of devices actually being shipped and purchased by the consumers and increase in the number of failures is in reality inevitable, however the actual level of failure is a cause of concern and is reported to be running far higher than is acceptable.

Given the previous reliability of USB storage media why then is there an increase in the ratio of failures? Investigations tend to have a common theme and a common result. In a majority of reported cases the actual flash memory in the device has not failed at all and is in perfect working order.

Consumer demand for cheaper goods and services invariably leads to driving manufacturing abroad and in this case to the far east where a lot of the premature failed devices seem to originate. The biggest culprits seem to be the generic unbranded memory sticks found cheap on auction sites. Notably though there is also a huge increase in the number of fake devices finding there way to the market as reported by a leading UK data recovery company in this article:

Nand Flash Identity Fraud

These fake devices often take advantage of the consumer by reporting much higher storage capacity than is actually available which is very misleading right from the off. Another problem here as well is the cost , yes they are cheaper but what are you actually getting for your money? The manufacturing process can only go so far and that only leaves one option, cheaper and substandard components!

In order to avoid this problem I recommend only purchasing brand named devices from reputable suppliers. Remember, as with anything, if the price or claims seem too good to be true, they normally are.

You can find more great advice on data recovery here or for general computing advice visit the computer repair website.