Verifying SD Cards

I found an eBay vendor with a really *great* price on 64 GB microSDXC 
cards and ordered one ($11.50 shipped).  It was shipped from within the 
US so it came in a few days.  I've used H2testw to verify that it really 
is 64 GB and got this message... "Warning: Only 61052 of 61053 MByte 
tested."  A dialog pops up saying this is normal if you are using NTFS, 
but I formatted it in exFAT.  So is this a problem?

The intended use is in the rPi, so I will try firing that up later today 
and see if I can run a similar test there.  I'd like to verify the speed 
of the card.  What utility would be good for that?

If the card checks out I'm going to order several more.

-- 

Rick C

On 03/05/2016 15:54, rickman wrote:
> I found an eBay vendor with a really *great* price on 64 GB microSDXC
> cards and ordered one ($11.50 shipped).  It was shipped from within the
> US so it came in a few days.  I've used H2testw to verify that it really
> is 64 GB and got this message... "Warning: Only 61052 of 61053 MByte
> tested."  A dialog pops up saying this is normal if you are using NTFS,
> but I formatted it in exFAT.  So is this a problem?
>
> The intended use is in the rPi, so I will try firing that up later today
> and see if I can run a similar test there.  I'd like to verify the speed
> of the card.  What utility would be good for that?
>
> If the card checks out I'm going to order several more.

Not a problem.  I use h2testw for speed testing, but there are more 
comprehensive tests available too.

-- 
Cheers,
David
Web: http://www.satsignal.eu

Hi rickman,
> I found an eBay vendor with a really *great* price on 64 GB microSDXC
> cards and ordered one ($11.50 shipped).

Really good price. I got some similar few month ago in Germany. 4 of 7 
where fake-SD with 8 to 16 GB but unuseable because the flashcontroller 
disturbes the card while repartitioning (with this trick I got some 
older fakes to work at least the available flash)

> I've used H2testw to verify that it really
> is 64 GB and got this message... "Warning: Only 61052 of 61053 MByte
> tested."  A dialog pops up saying this is normal if you are using NTFS,
> but I formatted it in exFAT.  So is this a problem?

No problem here. Do you really got SDXC speed? Mine are much slower. 
Don't matter for me, but it ist fake, too.

Marte

On 5/3/2016 1:17 PM, Marte Schwarz wrote:
> Hi rickman,
>> I found an eBay vendor with a really *great* price on 64 GB microSDXC
>> cards and ordered one ($11.50 shipped).
>
> Really good price. I got some similar few month ago in Germany. 4 of 7
> where fake-SD with 8 to 16 GB but unuseable because the flashcontroller
> disturbes the card while repartitioning (with this trick I got some
> older fakes to work at least the available flash)

I was reading something about being able to reprogram them back down to 
their "real" size, but it required a special manufacturer's burner 
thing, not sure if it was hardware or software.


>> I've used H2testw to verify that it really
>> is 64 GB and got this message... "Warning: Only 61052 of 61053 MByte
>> tested."  A dialog pops up saying this is normal if you are using NTFS,
>> but I formatted it in exFAT.  So is this a problem?
>
> No problem here. Do you really got SDXC speed? Mine are much slower.
> Don't matter for me, but it ist fake, too.

I just completed the H2testw pass and here are the results.

Warning: Only 61052 of 61053 MByte tested.
Test finished without errors.
You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.
Writing speed: 20.8 MByte/s
Reading speed: 38.2 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

I really don't get the price.  It is half the price of anyone else.  It 
does not come in a retail package.  Maybe they fell off a truck?  I'm 
ready to order five more, but the guy isn't responding.

-- 

Rick C

On 5/3/2016 3:26 PM, Dr. Dynamite wrote:
> On 05/03/2016 11:34 AM, rickman wrote:
>> On 5/3/2016 1:17 PM, Marte Schwarz wrote:
>>> Hi rickman,
>>>> I found an eBay vendor with a really *great* price on 64 GB microSDXC
>>>> cards and ordered one ($11.50 shipped).
>
> ....
>> I really don't get the price.  It is half the price of anyone else.  It
>> does not come in a retail package.  Maybe they fell off a truck?  I'm
>> ready to order five more, but the guy isn't responding.
>
>
> Silicon Power Elite 64GB microSDXC Flash Memory Card with Adaptor
>
> $13.50
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820301310

I was going with the Samsung EVO plus because it rated highly in speed. 
  Any idea how fast this card is?

I haven't found software to measure card speed with other than the 
H2testw tool.  The original tests I was reading were done on the rPi 
with linux tools.  I'll try duplicating those if I can figure out how to 
make this card bootable on the Pi.

-- 

Rick C

rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> writes:
> I found an eBay vendor with a really *great* price on 64 GB microSDXC
> cards and ordered one ($11.50 shipped).  

Pretty good, but unless you need 100s of them  I'd stick with name
brand cards with known good performance for a few bucks more:

  http://www.adorama.com/ISGMBMC64DAA.html

> The intended use is in the rPi, so I will try firing that up later
> today and see if I can run a similar test there.  I'd like to verify
> the speed of the card.  What utility would be good for that?

See here:
http://www.midwesternmac.com/blogs/jeff-geerling/raspberry-pi-microsd-card

On Tue, 3 May 2016 10:54:56 -0400, rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> wrote:

>I found an eBay vendor with a really *great* price on 64 GB microSDXC 
>cards and ordered one ($11.50 shipped).  It was shipped from within the 
>US so it came in a few days.  I've used H2testw to verify that it really 
>is 64 GB and got this message... "Warning: Only 61052 of 61053 MByte 
>tested."  A dialog pops up saying this is normal if you are using NTFS, 
>but I formatted it in exFAT.  So is this a problem?
>
>The intended use is in the rPi, so I will try firing that up later today 
>and see if I can run a similar test there.  I'd like to verify the speed 
>of the card.  What utility would be good for that?
>
>If the card checks out I'm going to order several more.

Does the Pi have a version of 'Bonnie' to run?  Ive used that for RAI
testing in the past.

Cheers

On 5/3/2016 4:42 PM, Paul Rubin wrote:
> rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> writes:
>> I found an eBay vendor with a really *great* price on 64 GB microSDXC
>> cards and ordered one ($11.50 shipped).
>
> Pretty good, but unless you need 100s of them  I'd stick with name
> brand cards with known good performance for a few bucks more:
>
>    http://www.adorama.com/ISGMBMC64DAA.html

So you think it is better to pay $18.99 for a Samsung EVO+ 64 GB rather 
than paying $11.50 for a Samsung EVO+ 64 GB?


>> The intended use is in the rPi, so I will try firing that up later
>> today and see if I can run a similar test there.  I'd like to verify
>> the speed of the card.  What utility would be good for that?
>
> See here:
> http://www.midwesternmac.com/blogs/jeff-geerling/raspberry-pi-microsd-card

That was the article I read that shows the EVO+ to be near the top of 
the heap.

Funny though, he got 18.45 MB/s and 14.0 MB/s for read and write 
respectively on a 32 GB card while my 64 GB card shows 38.2 and 20.8 in 
comparison using a PC.  That's why I want to run tests on a Pi, so see 
if that is the difference or if the 64 GB card is faster than the 32 
which I doubt.  But who knows, maybe the 64 GB card has two chips that 
run in parallel.

I found a 128 GB card for just $8 with free shipping, but this one *has* 
to be fake.  I've got to buy it to see.  The really funny part is the 
guy is limiting you to just buying one every 10 days.  What's *that* 
about?  I'm thinking he doesn't want the nearly certain blowback from 
one guy buying a bunch of cards and them being crap.  He'd rather sell 
one each to a bunch of people most of who may not notice they were 
conned until after his check has cleared.  I won't be one of those, lol.

In researching how to test for fake cards, one page had a quote from a 
vendor that he had plenty of happy customers, regardless of the fact his 
cards were fake and ripping off so many including the brands he was 
copying.

-- 

Rick C

rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> writes:
> So you think it is better to pay $18.99 for a Samsung EVO+ 64 GB
> rather than paying $11.50 for a Samsung EVO+ 64 GB?

The $11.50 card you got is an EVO+?  Hmm, you didn't mention that
earlier.  It's interesting and I wonder if it's real.  There could be
another level of fakery: you could conceivably have gotten an actual
64GB card that was not an EVO+.  I don't know what's happening with the
EVO+ cards though: prices are all over the place.

> Funny though, he got 18.45 MB/s and 14.0 MB/s for read and write
> respectively on a 32 GB card while my 64 GB card shows 38.2 and 20.8
> in comparison using a PC.  That's why I want to run tests on a Pi,

Yep, or alternatively test a 32GB card on your PC.  Comparative tests
are way more believable if they're on the same hardware.

> I found a 128 GB card for just $8 with free shipping, but this one
> *has* to be fake.  I've got to buy it to see.  

I wouldn't.  I already know what to expect ;-)

On 5/3/2016 11:43 PM, Paul Rubin wrote:
> rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> writes:
>> So you think it is better to pay $18.99 for a Samsung EVO+ 64 GB
>> rather than paying $11.50 for a Samsung EVO+ 64 GB?
>
> The $11.50 card you got is an EVO+?  Hmm, you didn't mention that
> earlier.  It's interesting and I wonder if it's real.  There could be
> another level of fakery: you could conceivably have gotten an actual
> 64GB card that was not an EVO+.  I don't know what's happening with the
> EVO+ cards though: prices are all over the place.

Yes, I saw Best Buy have the best price of $9.99 or so on a 32 GB EVO+. 
  I figured rather than order it on Friday and get it later next week, 
I'd go to the store when it was convenient on Monday.  By Monday it was 
$14.99, the staff told me it had been on sale.  I found the web site 
prices (including Best Buy selling on eBay) to also be $14.99, lol.  But 
it was *still* on sale with a "regular" price of $25 or so.


>> Funny though, he got 18.45 MB/s and 14.0 MB/s for read and write
>> respectively on a 32 GB card while my 64 GB card shows 38.2 and 20.8
>> in comparison using a PC.  That's why I want to run tests on a Pi,
>
> Yep, or alternatively test a 32GB card on your PC.  Comparative tests
> are way more believable if they're on the same hardware.

I don't care so much about the speed on the PC since it will be used on 
the Pi.  Many things affect the speeds, so testing on the PC is not 
really important to me.


>> I found a 128 GB card for just $8 with free shipping, but this one
>> *has* to be fake.  I've got to buy it to see.
>
> I wouldn't.  I already know what to expect ;-)

If it is fake, I'll just complain and they will refund my money or I'll 
refute the charge on the credit card.  Partly I want a chance to examine 
a fake card.  Maybe I shouldn't ask for my money back since I'll be 
getting what I expect, lol.

-- 

Rick C