Fake Memory Cards.
After seeing countless fake memory cards received for data recovery, we decided to write some software to help users determine if they have a fake memory or genuine memory card.
The problem with the fakes is that they are so good, they actually appear to have the advertised storage space and it even seems that the full amount of data can be written. The only problem, is that the data overwrites some of the existing data rendering the older data useless.
Our experiments indicate that (at least with the devices we tested) that the files and folder structures seem to be OK as they list as expected. The problem comes when the memory reaches its true physical limit. At that time, the data starts overwriting at the end of the card. As the file system information is updated, as normal there is no way of knowing, until you open a file that has been overwritten. It has gone, and unfortunately is most likely not recoverable. Of course there will be exceptions to this rule, but they will be because of a different problem.
It is very sad to have to tell a customer that their entire university work for the last year is not recoverable, or to tell someone that we can't recover the photos from their honeymoon in Barbados.
We have written software that can determine the true size of a memory card, however the test will overwrite existing data. So is best used on new memory sticks or ones where the data is not critical. Either way we recommend that the data is copied somewhere safe before running our software.
There is more information on our website about fake memory cards.
Follow the link here for information about our memory card data recovery services.
After seeing countless fake memory cards received for data recovery, we decided to write some software to help users determine if they have a fake memory or genuine memory card.
The problem with the fakes is that they are so good, they actually appear to have the advertised storage space and it even seems that the full amount of data can be written. The only problem, is that the data overwrites some of the existing data rendering the older data useless.
Our experiments indicate that (at least with the devices we tested) that the files and folder structures seem to be OK as they list as expected. The problem comes when the memory reaches its true physical limit. At that time, the data starts overwriting at the end of the card. As the file system information is updated, as normal there is no way of knowing, until you open a file that has been overwritten. It has gone, and unfortunately is most likely not recoverable. Of course there will be exceptions to this rule, but they will be because of a different problem.
It is very sad to have to tell a customer that their entire university work for the last year is not recoverable, or to tell someone that we can't recover the photos from their honeymoon in Barbados.
We have written software that can determine the true size of a memory card, however the test will overwrite existing data. So is best used on new memory sticks or ones where the data is not critical. Either way we recommend that the data is copied somewhere safe before running our software.
There is more information on our website about fake memory cards.
Follow the link here for information about our memory card data recovery services.
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