UHAP023@alpha1.rhbnc.ac.uk schrob:

> Dear All,
> I have an 8GB USB memory stick which I believe is faulty. I know
> there are duff USB sticks out there on the market. The vendor assures
> me that all items are checked before dispatch and so I would like to
> demonstrate/verify the problem for him.
>
> The device identifies its capacity as 8GB and will format OK (under
> both WinXP PRO SP2 / FAT32 and Linux Ext2 & FAT32). The symptoms are
> if less than ~2GB is used the data remains valid. If more than ~2GB
> is used corrupt files result. Running badblocks in default write mode
> (fills the whole device & then verifies, with in turn; 0xaa, 0x55,
> 0xff, 0x00) shows no errors but in random byte mode, beyond block
> 2059776 (ie. approx. 2GB) is flagged as bad.
>
> Below is the set of tests I've used. Is there anything I've overlooked?

A year ago vendors deliberately mislabelled their devices with incorrect
capacities. Someone from heise wrote a test tool für this case:
http://www.wintotal.de/Software/?id=4379
I don't know if it tells you more than you already know (because I haven't
used it yet), but you can still have a look.
--
Gruß | Greetings | Qapla'
What do you call a dead bee? - A was.