New utility to check for "fake" flash drives - I like this one

Remember Gibson Research? These are the folks who made SpinRite way back in the day. They have a new fake flash drive testing utility called ValiDrive.

This utility is different and worth checking out because it is insanely fast. I tested several drives, each completing the test in well under 10 seconds. It gets the speed because it doesn't test every block of the drive, it checks various spots on the drive instead.

It also provides some nice performance statistics.

Notes: First, bear in mind that it may not test every flash drive as fast as it did in my case. Their instructions describe why, but it comes down to the fact that some flash drives can be extremely slow switching between reading and writing. I also suggest reading their FAQ and instructions because there is some really good info in there.

hsehestedt said:

Remember Gibson Research

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Well, if you don't know then, you must've been living under a rock.
Been using his site and listening to his podcasts since XP.

Ran the ValiDrive and only took about a 1 second on my Patriot Supersonic Rage 250GB drive.

Flashorn said:

Well, if you don't know then, you must've been living under a rock.
Been using his site and listening to his podcasts since XP.

Ran the ValiDrive and only took about a 1 second on my Patriot Supersonic Rage 250GB drive.

View attachment 74807

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Wow, fast drive. In the meantime, I have tried a few other drives. Some of them take several minutes to complete. The performance statistics that it gives you are nice.

Here's another : Sandisk Ultras 128 Gigs



I've had Patriot drives for quite a few years but, these new ones are just amazing.
Sustained transfers of over 600 MB /s. I think I still have screens.

3.2 Gen 1 Without write cache



3.2 Gen 2 With write cache



They also make PC memory sticks but, not for notebooks which is a shame.

How does it compare to HD Tune quick scan?

And ValiDrive does the job without deleting any data on the drive so is a win-win for me.

Have any of you experienced it detecting a fake drive yet?

I haven't had a fake for a couple of years. I used FakeFlashTest to test it and to 'repair' it so it worked within its real capacity rather than its fake one.
Partial recovery of a fake-capacity USB stick - my post #8 - TenForums


All the best,
Denis

Try3 said:

Have any of you experienced it detecting a fake drive yet?

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I haven't yet.
I didn't read if it acknowledges external drives like a T7 or a Seagate or WDD.
I have one of each but, haven't tested it yet. Would just like to know before I unpack.

Great little utility! I checked a 32GB Kingston DataTraveller, and it came up all green, as expected, but the test took a bit over five minutes, maybe six. Still, ... yeah!

EDIT: Tested another 32GB Kingston Data Traveller, and it took about five SECONDS, not minutes. Still, 100%.

Wonder what the diff is caused by.

Wisewiz said:

Wonder what the diff is caused by.

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Did you save the report it generates like I did?

Wisewiz said:

Wonder what the diff is caused by.

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This is why I suggested reading the FAQ and their instructions . It has a really good explanation. The way the program works is by writing switching between read and write mode repeatedly. Some flash drives are very slow to accomplish this mode switch. There is a lot more technical explanation of this in their docs. It's worth the read. It taught me things that I never knew.

Yes, I saved the reports, and yes, now I've read the documentation. Seems the switching speeds of the three-four-year-old Kingstons are MUCH slower than the switching speeds of the this-year Kingstons. Technology moves along.

So, I tested another older Kingston 32GB, and the results were as slowly emerging as with the other older one, so I stopped the process and tried with another Kingston 32GB of the newer design, and again, it took about five seconds. I'm not about to discard the older ones, because they're completely reliable, they both have my MR bootable files on them, and all I need to do is READ from them when I'm booting from them. But I'm surprised that the newer ones are SO much faster at switching than the older ones. Wow!

Flashorn said:

I didn't read if it acknowledges external drives like a T7 or a Seagate or WDD.

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So, let me answer my question in case someone has the same.
ValiDrive did in fact recognize two of the other drives I presented to it.
These are the T7 and Seagate Portable. here's what was the results:

T7 connected to a 3.2 Gen 2:



Seagate Portable 2TB connected to a 3.2 Gen 2:



I haven't tried any of the bigger drives (4 and 8TB) but, the test is for more than just Flash Drives.

Thanks, @Flashorn. That's good to know.

Wisewiz said:

Thanks, @Flashorn. That's good to know.

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Welcome. Just in case someone needs to know.

I'll try the others when I get them out for a walk.

Just tested an external (USB 3.2 connection) Samsung 250GB SSD. Perfect! Under 5 seconds! I really like this tiny program! I only buy name brands of these things, but there is so much on the Net about phony/fake ones being sold that this tester is just assurance that 'what I bought is what I got'.

@hsehestedt: Thank you very much for bringing this utility to our attention here on elevenforum. Much appreciated.

Wisewiz said:

Just tested an external (USB 3.2 connection) Samsung 250GB SSD. Perfect! Under 5 seconds! I really like this tiny program! I only buy name brands of these things, but there is so much on the Net about phony/fake ones being sold that this tester is just assurance that 'what I bought is what I got'.

@hsehestedt: Thank you very much for bringing this utility to our attention here on elevenforum. Much appreciated.

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Only too glad to share! That's the great thing a forum like this, I get to discover new stuff from things that people post here all the time.

Right now, my favorite has got to be this post from @NavyLCDR

Thanks for the heads up, nice little app

OK, just to confirm. It will scan a 8TB external drive as well.





Didn't take more than 10 seconds.

Wow! That's so impressive for a tiny, uninstalled, free utility. Gibson Research is generous.