spandit Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 I treated myself to a new 'phone just after Christmas (Samsung Galaxy A3) as fed up with my old iPhone. An advantage of Android is the ability to expand the storage by adding memory cards and this handset can handle up to 128Gb so I duly ordered a suitable card. Had awful problems trying to upload data onto it - kept disappearing and when I went on an expensive deer stalk, the guide took pictures of my with my first ever deer - the camera being set up to record images directly onto the card. Anyway, the photos didn't come out so I have no photographic record of the kill (which I'm not too worried about as I think they're a little macabre anyway) but subsequent investigation showed the card to be a fake although before I could subject it to a barrage of tests, it failed completely and I got my money back from the seller (who I subsequently reported for selling counterfeit goods). With that prevalent in my mind, I downloaded an app onto my 'phone that tests SD cards and once I finally dug out the 32Gb card I'd bought some time ago, I thought I'd use that as the little 4Gb card I had lying around was already full up. Put it into the 'phone and ran the app which immediately said "CARD INVALID". Putting it into my laptop showed it had a capacity of over 32Gb, which should have set alarm bells ringing already. I've downloaded a test suite (called F3) which is currently running and might take some time but I don't hold my hopes up high. The seller of the 32Gb card hasn't been trading for some time and it was in January 2015 that I bought the card - seems obvious now that it was incredibly cheap but it's £10 that he (or she) has got away with unlawfully. Won't lose any sleep over it but just really galling to have been duped more than once. Even now, 2 years down the line, they're about £14 from Argos (although on eBay they're about £4 - won't be buying any more from there, I fear) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1440 Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 (edited) After a similar experiances I now only buy cards made by scandisc. The price difference is usually not thar much to other brands but they do work. Buy from a recognised high street retailer do you lnow it's genuine. Edited January 21, 2017 by Paul1440 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted January 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Do you mean Sandisk? Plenty of fake Sandisk cards around too. The 128Gb one I bought was branded Samsung but was black on the edges instead of white. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaymo Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 You do get what's u pays Have found that scrimping on tools,paints,memory/PC components and reloading gear to name but a few is a huge false economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted January 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 I didn't know fakes were around until I had troubles with the latest one. That's what made me test the 32Gb one I already had. Thought by buying a brand name I'd be OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy. Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 (edited) I go through a lot of Micro SD cards and decided to test some of the ones I had bought off eBay and Amazon. Every single one was fake and the read/write speeds were nowhere near what they should have been. The easiest way to spot a fake without opening the pack is to look at the back of the packaging. Genuine ones have pin sharp text, which is correctly aligned. Fakes have a low quality, aliased text. They just can't recreate the print quality with anti-aliasing. ALL the big brands get fakes made of them, so for anyone buying big brand names and feeling safe, you're much more likely to be buying a fake. Buy from Jessops, MobyMemory etc - reputable retailers. If it's really cheap, it's going to be fake. These are the best examples I could find to show the difference between a genuine and fake. I threw away all my SD card packaging. Edited January 21, 2017 by Billy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 I only ever buy from a direct seller but even they can be suspect mymemory are good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 I've bought memory cards and batteries online from high street retailers. In some cases, both discs and batteries (Duracell) were fake. I've also bought from Amazon, and some of the items proved to be fake. At least Amazon will refund your money should the items prove to be fake or won't work correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klatuveradanikto Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Bought a SDHC 8 GB card today from Maplin and a micro 16GB SD card last week again from Maplin. No problems as other contributors have said you get what you pay for ,it's a false economy to go cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buze Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 I always buy my cards, batteries and so on from 7dayshop.com -- they sell real brands, at sometime bonkers prices. I bough absolutely amazing amount of stuff from them over the last 20 years and I never had to return anything. Even their own 'branded' stuff is worth it; damn I got some fantastic 10x50 binos that I bought for *seventeen pounds* years ago that rival the fancy Nikon ones of my friend. Been kicking myself ever since not to have bought more than 2 of them :-) Not affiliated, apart from being a happy customer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglebert Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 I didn't know fakes were around until I had troubles with the latest one. That's what made me test the 32Gb one I already had. Thought by buying a brand name I'd be OK. Damn right you should be OK, whoever fakes the brand names? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted January 22, 2017 Report Share Posted January 22, 2017 Having read through and looked at the print quality and packaging, there seems to be a fair amount of difference between the packaging supplied by reputable vendors. I have a card that I used in my sat nav and it seems to have been filled up and jammed by RAW files and nothing seems to be able to get into the card and clear it. I have tried it in several computers and it either isn't recognised as a drive or if it is it can't be formatted. I have downloaded a couple of programs to try to deal with it but nothing will format the card or read it as deleteable. Anyone got any ideas other than to dispatch it to the bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clakk Posted January 22, 2017 Report Share Posted January 22, 2017 Got my memory cards from Tesco,s for about 5 years now as i too got the E bay dodgy carps twice and touch wood no more issues .Theyre all sandisk cards and if anything did happen its no quibbles with them just exchanges on electricals. Sounds like your card Fortune is a bin candidate as once they clam up/lock out thats your lot. My first "Garmin"update did the same after about 2 months the card just locked up and stayed locked so i bit the bullet and paid a lorra lorra dosh for the genuine Garmin but its free updates for life and still with us 4 years later.atb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted January 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2017 Damn right you should be OK, whoever fakes the brand names? Seems obvious now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted January 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2017 Well, with some Linux utilities (F3 - see http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/)I've managed to diagnose my fake 32Gb card and have found out that it does have a capacity of 8Gb which is better than nothing. I doubt it's very quick but at least I don't need to scrap it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grrclark Posted January 22, 2017 Report Share Posted January 22, 2017 I always buy my cards, batteries and so on from 7dayshop.com -- they sell real brands, at sometime bonkers prices. I bough absolutely amazing amount of stuff from them over the last 20 years and I never had to return anything. Even their own 'branded' stuff is worth it; damn I got some fantastic 10x50 binos that I bought for *seventeen pounds* years ago that rival the fancy Nikon ones of my friend. Been kicking myself ever since not to have bought more than 2 of them :-) Not affiliated, apart from being a happy customer. I have used those guys for years as well and agree with you. The only thing i had an issue with was thunderbolt charging cables for the iPhone, I knew they were not genuine parts so no deception, but after 6 months they all failed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiggum Posted January 22, 2017 Report Share Posted January 22, 2017 I've just picked up a 64gb Samsung professional micro sd from maplins for £29.99 instead of £60+ as they price matched it from phones 4 u Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted January 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2017 Bought a Sandisk 64Gb card from Argos this morning. Phone app says it's OK and the files are copying way, way quicker than before. At last! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted January 23, 2017 Report Share Posted January 23, 2017 (edited) This happened to me a few years ago when I bought a disk to download films onto my satnav. It only had about a quarter of the memory it should have had. Edited January 23, 2017 by Vince Green Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rst1990 Posted January 23, 2017 Report Share Posted January 23, 2017 If you use a fake sd card be prepared to lose everything you save on it. I had all of my photos wiped clean on a fake sd card. I will only buy from reputable dealers from now on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted January 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2017 If you use a fake sd card be prepared to lose everything you save on it. I had all of my photos wiped clean on a fake sd card. I will only buy from reputable dealers from now on. I quite agree. I wasn't deliberately buying a fake - just naive. Fortunately, apart from a picture of me posing with my first deer, I haven't lost anything of importance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted January 23, 2017 Report Share Posted January 23, 2017 The card I had the problem with wasn't bought from a particularly dodgy site and it wasn't that cheap either. From memory it was an ebay powerseller and the price was "good" but not enough to make me suspicious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingo15 Posted January 25, 2017 Report Share Posted January 25, 2017 Tesco or argos normally have them on offer. My dad is obsessed with eBay or amazon. Thinks he is getting a bargain. Not always the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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