250217 Michael wrote:

It is worth mentioning the sys-block/f3 package (Fight Flash Fraud),
which is in Portage and can test a USB flash disk to discover if it is fake. Besides the slower f3write and f3read, the f3probe command
will only take a few minutes and confirm the available space.

Thanks ! -- 'f3write' + 'f3read' refused, as they expect a directory ; 'f3probe' need it to be compiled with 'USE="extra"', but does work :

root:705 ~> f3probe /dev/sdb
F3 probe 8.0
Copyright (C) 2010 Digirati Internet LTDA.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.

WARNING: Probing normally takes from a few seconds to 15 minutes, but
it can take longer. Please be patient.

Probe finished, recovering blocks... Done

Good news: The device `/dev/sdb' is the real thing

Device geometry:
*Usable* size: 231.05 GB (484540416 blocks)
Announced size: 231.05 GB (484540416 blocks)
Module: 256.00 GB (2^38 Bytes)
Approximate cache size: 0.00 Byte (0 blocks), need-reset=no
Physical block size: 512.00 Byte (2^9 Bytes)

Probe time: 5'29"
root:706 ~> f3probe /dev/sdb
F3 probe 8.0
Copyright (C) 2010 Digirati Internet LTDA.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.

WARNING: Probing normally takes from a few seconds to 15 minutes, but
it can take longer. Please be patient.

Probe finished, recovering blocks... Done

Good news: The device `/dev/sdb' is the real thing

Device geometry:
*Usable* size: 231.05 GB (484540416 blocks)
Announced size: 231.05 GB (484540416 blocks)
Module: 256.00 GB (2^38 Bytes)
Approximate cache size: 0.00 Byte (0 blocks), need-reset=no
Physical block size: 512.00 Byte (2^9 Bytes)

Probe time: 18'47"

-- end of output --

That's both sticks : NB the 2nd took 3 times as long.

So both sticks are genuine, as I would expect from that store.

I plan to try 'gparted' next, instead of 'fdisk'
& will send the results when I get them.

BTW yes, we do have consumer protection laws in Ontario.
I once was able to exchange a defective dictionary at a bookstore :
one of the signatures (bindings) was missing & another was repeated,
so it was clearly unfit for its purpose & someone somewhere shd have checked.

Also, the sticks didn't feel warm after their exercises ;
'glance' is in Gentoo & might help show the details :
I'll have a look at it.

Thanks for all the interest : there's more yet (smile) !

--
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb
ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT `-O----------O---' purslowatcadotinterdotnet

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250218 Grant Edwards wrote:

On 2025-02-18, Philip Webb <[email protected]> wrote:

So both sticks are genuine, as I would expect from that store.

Have you tried just doing mkfs.ext4 [options] /dev/sdb?
You only want one filesystem, right? Why bother with a partition table
if you don't want to partition the device?

It had an M$ partition when I bought it. I replaced that with 4 partitions because using a 2/3.2 port took > 10 h to write a 256 GB filesystem & fail, whereas it took only 2 h 45 m to write a 64 GB partition & fail.

FYI I bought 4 Kingston 128 GB sticks in 2023 & had no problem with them. At that time, the store didn't offer 256 GB sticks.

--
========================,,============================================
SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb
ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT `-O----------O---' purslowatcadotinterdotnet

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Am Tue, Feb 18, 2025 at 12:53:42AM -0500 schrieb Philip Webb:

250218 Grant Edwards wrote:

On 2025-02-18, Philip Webb <[email protected]> wrote:

So both sticks are genuine, as I would expect from that store.

Have you tried just doing mkfs.ext4 [options] /dev/sdb?
You only want one filesystem, right? Why bother with a partition table
if you don't want to partition the device?

It had an M$ partition when I bought it. I replaced that with 4 partitions because using a 2/3.2 port took > 10 h to write a 256 GB filesystem & fail,
whereas it took only 2 h 45 m to write a 64 GB partition & fail.

FYI I bought 4 Kingston 128 GB sticks in 2023 & had no problem with them. At that time, the store didn't offer 256 GB sticks.

BTW, in case you come into this position again that you need mobile storage.
I recommend an external USB case with an NVMe SSD inside. This may not be as compact and not as cheap, but they are much much much faster and prolly longer-lasting than any USB “stick”, b/c their flash controllers are more sophisticated and the parts of higher fidelity. A not-too-cheap NVMe will do fine, as long as it’s TLC, not QLC flash. And when used behind USB, an on-board DRAM cache is beneficial if you deal with many small files.

A good metal case with 10 Gbps USB is around 20 bucks, and the older Kioxia Exceria G2 with 500 GB and DRAM can be had for 35 € on the Old Continent’s market. No idea about Canadian prices though.

--
Grüße | Greetings | Salut | Qapla’
Please do not share anything from, with or about me on any social network.

Latin: the late revenge of the Romans to all Germans.

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On Tuesday 18 February 2025 03:46:26 Greenwich Mean Time Philip Webb wrote:

250217 Michael wrote:

It is worth mentioning the sys-block/f3 package (Fight Flash Fraud),
which is in Portage and can test a USB flash disk to discover if it is fake. Besides the slower f3write and f3read, the f3probe command
will only take a few minutes and confirm the available space.

Thanks ! -- 'f3write' + 'f3read' refused, as they expect a directory ;

The man page explains how to run these commands. You need to provide the mountpoint directory for the device after you mount it, e.g.:

$ f3write /run/media/<username>/XXXX-XXXX

then,

$ f3read /run/media/<username>/XXXX-XXXX

You'd probably want to create one big partition for the whole device, or no partition at all, i.e. run something like this:

# mkfs.fat -F 32 -n New-USB1 /dev/sdb

The f3write/f3read commands will check the large files written by f3 can be accessed and read without any problem and flag up any sectors which contain corrupted data.

'f3probe' need it to be compiled with 'USE="extra"', but does work :

root:705 ~> f3probe /dev/sdb

The f3probe command needs to be run as root, after you unmount the device.
From your prompt I expect you did this, but it is also advisable to run it destructively - any data on the sticks will be overwritten:

f3probe --destructive --time-ops /dev/sdb

F3 probe 8.0
Copyright (C) 2010 Digirati Internet LTDA.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.

WARNING: Probing normally takes from a few seconds to 15 minutes, but
it can take longer. Please be patient.

Probe finished, recovering blocks... Done

Good news: The device `/dev/sdb' is the real thing

Device geometry:
*Usable* size: 231.05 GB (484540416 blocks)
Announced size: 231.05 GB (484540416 blocks)
Module: 256.00 GB (2^38 Bytes)
Approximate cache size: 0.00 Byte (0 blocks), need-reset=no
Physical block size: 512.00 Byte (2^9 Bytes)

Probe time: 5'29"
root:706 ~> f3probe /dev/sdb
F3 probe 8.0
Copyright (C) 2010 Digirati Internet LTDA.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.

WARNING: Probing normally takes from a few seconds to 15 minutes, but
it can take longer. Please be patient.

Probe finished, recovering blocks... Done

Good news: The device `/dev/sdb' is the real thing

Device geometry:
*Usable* size: 231.05 GB (484540416 blocks)
Announced size: 231.05 GB (484540416 blocks)
Module: 256.00 GB (2^38 Bytes)
Approximate cache size: 0.00 Byte (0 blocks), need-reset=no
Physical block size: 512.00 Byte (2^9 Bytes)

Probe time: 18'47"

-- end of output --

That's both sticks : NB the 2nd took 3 times as long.

This is good news, it confirms neither of them are counterfeit units.

However, the 2nd stick appears to be defective. It takes almost 3.5 times as long than the first stick and from what we know for no good reason. This indicates the second stick has bad flash cells, a bad flash controller, or both.

I don't know if checking for bad blocks when you format these drives may help at all. You'd expect the flash controller to manage defective NAND cells transparently to the OS by abstracting the hardware to a logical layer. However, if the controller is not sophisticated as would be the case in a more expensive SSD drive and keeps trying repeatedly to write into bad cells, it might help to ask the filesystem to manage the bad blocks and see what you
get.

Personally, I wouldn't bother and return the bad stick as defective, asking
for it to be replaced.

So both sticks are genuine, as I would expect from that store.

In my experience stores are box shifters. Goods In - Goods Out. They try to buy from importers/wholesalers with whom they have some relationship based on price-reliability-convenience and who they hope also apply similar criteria in their relationships up the supply chain. Any link in this chain can go wrong and you end up with bad goods. I don't expect them to perform QA/QC beyond looking at the shipping labels and customs declarations. The manufacturers
may perform some actual quality checks on a sampling basis after the
prototypes have been put together and the brand reps may audit the odd production run. I would think the rigour of such checks is proportional to
the value of the assembled items.

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