Question : 128GB USB Flash drives

Hi all

A colleague and I recently purchased a few 128GB USB drives via EBay. When I first connected the drive, I saw that the free space showed as 127.9GB, which made me think it was a dud, as there are always a few GB that can't be seen. I was also puzzled to see it formatted as a FAT32 drive, as I thought there was a 32GB limit to FAT32.

I left one alone and gave it to my parents, and I attempted to format the other drive as NTFS in order to store >4GB files on it (recorded TV, etc). That didn't work, so I went for exFAT. I found that data stored on there would soon disappear (the folders would show as empty, despite the free space on the drive telling me that the files should still be there). It eventually became write protected despite not having a switch for it, so I dismissed it as a dud and got my money back.

I now have 2 more Kingston 128GB drives in a different form factor. This drive shows 124Gb as being available, but is also formatted in FAT32. Can anyone let me know if I should leave things alone this time (perhaps the manufacturer has a special formatting utility different to the one in Windows), or should I invest in exFAT again? I would probably partition the device if possible to have a small FAT32 partition which had important files and the Windows XP hotfix that adds exFAT support, and then have the remainder formatted in exFAT.

Does anyone else know if Sony and Microsoft will add exFAT support to their gaming consoles? Sometimes WiFi isn't the best way to stream movies, and so copying the content to USB is better.

Thanks

Answer : 128GB USB Flash drives

There are a huge number of fake drive out there on eBay right now, they are generally smaller, faulty drives that have been reformatted to appear to have a larger capacity then they should.

Simplest explanation is here http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/</P>

It's a simple enough scam, sell them for a reasonable price and because they appear to work and will certainly store a few GB of data most customers will be really happy with the product at that price. It won't be until much later that they are losing data and by then the seller will have moved to another account. By the time negative feedback appears on an auction site the seller will have pocketed 1000's.

One of the big clues is the manufacturer's don't actually supply drives with 64 or 128GB capacity.

I've just been involved in taking down a UK seller who was pushing 128GB Corsair Mini Voyagers where the largest legitimate capacity is 32GB.  We think that by the time eBay closed the account they had made just over £1000 and are likely to turn up again with a new ID :(

It's the old story about a duck - if it waddles and quacks don't buy it!