They finally got me in Hat Yai: It was too good to be true. A 32 Gb Kingston datatraveller 101 for 800 Baht. Turns out that Kingston only make these up to 16 Gb.

The package looked "really real" and the "thing" showed up as 31.9 Gb, but after filling over 4 Gb the first files just disappeared.

Be warned: "too good to be true is mosttly not true"

Sorry to hear

http://flashdrivefacts.wordpress.com/2009/...sh-drive-dt101/

did you purchase that unit from central dept store in hatyai?

Easy to check if genuine or not:

http://www.kingston.com/asia/verifyflash/

Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately for you it was not only a fake brand label but also non-working. I personally can cope with brand labels put on low quality products since this is usually easy to spot. But what you've got is obviously a product manufactured with fraud being the sole purpose (reporting as 32GB but having only a 4GB chip).

Just curious, I guess the vendor is not available any more, is it?

welo

I bought a 4GB Kingston from one of the many PC stalls in Khon Kean Kosa Mall. It didn't work so I changed it for another one. That was clearly defective as well. For 300b I gave up as I couldn't be bothered going back again.

I've steered clear of Kingston since and had no problems.

I think its unlikely its moody as I cant see anyone bothering to counterfeit small capacity flash drives but I suppose you never know.

T.I.T.

My friend was negotiating buying these wholesale from a Chinese company. They had even larger ones than 32gb but i can't remember how big they offered. As he was digging deeper and deeper, finally the rep asked what he was going to do with them. He said that he was interested in reselling them for a profit of course. She recommended that he doesn't do that, because these are better for giving as gifts (for staff parties or something). Finally she caved in and said that they are not really as large as stated and they just have new software on them so your computer thinks that they are the stated size.

Edited February 11, 201016 yr by blakegeee

My friend was negotiating buying these wholesale from a Chinese company. They had even larger ones than 32gb but i can't remember how big they offered. As he was digging deeper and deeper, finally the rep asked what he was going to do with them. He said that he was interested in reselling them for a profit of course. She recommended that he doesn't do that, because these are better for giving as gifts (for staff parties or something). Finally she caved in and said that they are not really as large as stated and they just have new software on them so your computer thinks that they are the stated size.

Correct!

Couple of years ago I bought an mp3 player from a vendor in Pattaya's TukCom. I think it was listed as 2 gigabyte. Even when connected to the PC the memory size said 2G. When I tried to upload my songs, not all of them appeared. I did some research and found that, as outlined above, they just have software which makes your computer thinks they are bigger than they actually are.

I took the mp3 player back to the shop and tried to explain to the staff the problem and was met with blank stares...

TheWalkingMan

did you purchase that unit from central dept store in hatyai?

I bought it in a obscure memory card shop on the road next to Santi Suk martket. They told me to keep the packaging for guarantee reasons.

Wont go back there until the next border run. I reformatted it with a HP utility, that brought it to 4Gb.

Sometimes you learn a lesson.

I have 2 Sony Vaio 160GB Flashdrive at my home and they never worked at all. Only on the computer from the sales man in china. What a crab. Hehehehe

At a computer show in Big C, Phuket, I purchased a "Kingston" 16GB USB drive as it was cheaper than the shops downstairs. Turned out that data could be transferred to it but then disappeared or could not open.

Hat Yai market is well known for counterfeit products as most sales are to overnight visitors who have no chance to return. OK if you know they are false and they work - you can bargain a low price. But most look real and in appearance are exact copies of real items and not sold at enough of a discount for anyone to suspect - and don't work - the switch is made after you test it out (if you do).

Easy to check if genuine or not:

http://www.kingston.com/asia/verifyflash/

I bought a Kinston USB stick from a "Long established vendor" in Pattaya Tuk Com. When i registered on-line, it came back as "Wrong serial number. Please check and input"

It still works, but not used to store anything, just useful to use as a pocket "file Transfer" device.

Slightly off topic: Did you see the program of Australian Network about Conterfieted goods. They interviewed a "Proper" Nokia dealer in Hong Kong, and he said even he does not know if his supply is genuine. Another Chinese exhibition exposé was marketing fake Red Bull, which had a Red HORSE as the logo.

You can get these faulty sticks working, but on a much smaller capacity: the real capacity. There are utilities to download on the web. They will reformat the thing to the real capacity. like here:

ftp://

ftp.hp.com/pub/products/servers/supportsoftware/cp006001-006500/cp006049.exe

Edited February 12, 201016 yr by Obiwan

Slightly off topic: Did you see the program of Australian Network about Conterfieted goods. They interviewed a "Proper" Nokia dealer in Hong Kong, and he said even he does not know if his supply is genuine.

I saw a programme where a number of senior copyright lawyers representing the like of Cisco, Sony Entertainment (Movies), Nokia, Nike, D&C etc etc. were giving a presentation about the effects of customers buying 'fake' goods and the links to organized crime. One journalist asked what each company about was doing to encourage China to clamp down on the fakes being made in their factories and shipped across the world. The panel was silent, each member studied their shoes and moved on to the next question.

They each know that they can not tackle China to stop the fakes as it is likely that the real (?) items are being made in similar factories within walking distance of those turning out the fakes.

Industrial spies working on the real production lines have access to plans and samples so the lead time from real to black market is almost in unison.

rant/

Our Western ideas about cutting manufacturing costs by shipping the work overseas is really turning out to be a bad idea - and to be totally honest apart from the instant anger I would feel if caught by such a scam - I am happy that each complaint to Kingston or Nike or Cisco might encourage them to return the production line jobs to their native countries and those citizens suffering because of the lack of work.

/rant

Sony rechargeable batteries (standard sizes like AA, etc). Don't bother even considering the good prices some vendors have. If they were inferior quality it would be one thing, but these aren't even batteries.

I tried once, and knew I been had. Tried again about a year later, same same. So much for that.

lopburi3

your are so very corrrect.

the genuine products were switched as they were pakaging for you....

i encountered these practices in several pacificrims countries.

for picking up necessary computer related products in provinces, i'd rather go to recognized dept stores, such as central dept store, even big-c would guarantee what each vendor sells to its customers.

Hat Yai market is well known for counterfeit products as most sales are to overnight visitors who have no chance to return. OK if you know they are false and they work - you can bargain a low price. But most look real and in appearance are exact copies of real items and not sold at enough of a discount for anyone to suspect - and don't work - the switch is made after you test it out (if you do).

Edited February 13, 201016 yr by nakachalet

I've come across a few China based companies selling the Kingston USB DataTraveler drives (white with colour coded stripe for capacity) that were very nicely packaged as being 32 Gig and even 64 Gig devices.

At the bottom of the web page though was a warning, clearly marked in RED ..... 'devices are actually only 4 Gig. and intended as gifts or novelty items'.

It has made me very cautious of buying a Kingston drive (or other USB drive) unless I am able to test it and return it if not genuine.

Is there any way to check sandisk flash drives authenticity?