Ebay scammers selling fake portable HDDs - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2015, 08:41:22 am
content: I know this is common with SD cards and USB memory.Has anyone bought a portable drive and found nuts and bolts or a lower spec HDD inside yet?

author: samnmax
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2015, 03:43:08 pm
content: My uncle bought a "Samsung 2TB" USB hard drive for ~35€ on Aliexpress. Obviously it gave errors when filling it up. I told him he had been scammed and opened it to reveal a 40GB Hitachi IDE drive inside.What's interesting is that the firmware of the hard drive was modified to make it appear 2TB in size, and the model string was modified to "WD 2TB". I played for a bit trying to see if it was functional with partitions under 40GB but it was not working correctly, so I scrapped it.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2015, 04:22:39 pm
content: Quote from: samnmax on November 27, 2015, 03:43:08 pmYou had a real IDE drive in there? Wow...

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2015, 10:59:18 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on November 27, 2015, 04:22:39 pmA friend unknowingly bought one of these once... the USB inside didn't even work!

author: SLJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 27, 2015, 11:14:34 pm
content: A couple years ago I bought a 64 GB thumb drive. When I go it it was full at 1 GB even though it showed it was a 64 GB. Called the manufacturer, found out it was a fake, got my money back from PayPal.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2015, 04:16:52 am
content: Who actually buys storage devices from questionable sources anyways? They're so cheap nowadays that there's not much to save there.

author: iampoor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2015, 11:04:58 am
content: Quote from: Shock on November 27, 2015, 08:41:22 amConsidering how trigger happy Ebay is with refunding buyers, it seems like a difficult scam to pull off?Unless they are expecting people to not put much data on it initially!?

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2015, 11:33:18 am
content: Quote from: iampoor on November 28, 2015, 11:04:58 amPossibly.A friend bought a 64MB micro SD card for her camera and took a whole pile of wedding photos. Nothing stored past 12.8 GB except the filenames and dummy files that where full of zeros. Used FakeFlashTest to see what was going on. Works well.http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/-fake-usb-flash-memory-drives

author: wiss
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2015, 02:16:42 pm
content: Quote from: iampoor on November 28, 2015, 11:04:58 amI just got semi-ripped of in a simular way, bought 10 34063's on ebay, the first one seemed to work perfectly ok, gave positive feedback, used it in a project, turns out it fails with in-out short at 30 V, not 40 V capable... toasted one arduino nano, luckily not anything else...

author: canibalimao
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 28, 2015, 09:50:36 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on November 27, 2015, 04:22:39 pmOMG it's impossible not laught with thisThe engineering behind this is incredible. I've saw many people reporting fake USB drives, but I have never seen nothing like this. This is hilarious!!

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2015, 05:12:21 am
content: Quote from: Circlotron on November 28, 2015, 11:33:18 amHow did you manage to put 12.8GB on a 64MB card?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2015, 07:50:42 am
content: I bought this from Ebay a while ago (mSata to PATA converter):Does that also count?

author: AmmoJammo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2015, 08:53:36 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on November 29, 2015, 07:50:42 amI don't understand?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2015, 02:48:26 pm
content: Quote from: AmmoJammo on November 29, 2015, 08:53:36 amIt is a fake HDD case to use an SSD card like it is a 2.5" IDE hard drive with a 44pin connection.

author: AmmoJammo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2015, 07:48:44 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on November 29, 2015, 02:48:26 pmIts an MSata to IDE adapter, what were you expecting?I still don't understand if you're complaining about it, or think its "fake"?

author: lkydoris
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 09:10:55 am
content: It is very common to get fake usb or micro sd cards there, price is equal to the quality. i believe you are attracted by his offer, but being distracted by his quality.

author: JoeN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 09:28:27 am
content: I don't know much about memory cards but for hard drives that I buy I always put them through a SMART extended test at least twice. It takes hours but it should reveal any serious problems and certainly reveal if the drive was somehow one of the bad fakes above.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 10:07:06 am
content: That first hard drive was on hackaday I believe, sold across the border at mexico or something, the guy reprogrammed it to show 1tb or something along those lines.

author: sony mavica
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 10:17:04 am
content: i got a 60gb ssd from aliexpress once for 31usd free shipping and it turned out to be a real 60gb ssd

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 02:34:16 pm
content: Is this fake enough for everyone to understand the problem ?

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 03:42:34 pm
content: Quote from: station240 on February 25, 2016, 02:34:16 pmAs it has a MAC id it must be a wireless adapter. Looks exactly like that so where is the problem?

author: ElectricGuy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 03:52:25 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on February 25, 2016, 03:42:34 pmThat piece of cable is the Antenna!

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 04:08:55 pm
content: "Its an MSata to IDE adapter, what were you expecting?"He didn't understand the difference between an adapter and a drive?

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 04:20:58 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on February 25, 2016, 03:42:34 pmYes it's part of the joke, a random casing as well.It was sold as a 64GB usb stick, at the time when such things were rare and expensive.

author: Kilrah
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 04:25:36 pm
content: Quote from: station240 on February 25, 2016, 02:34:16 pmWow, that beats records!

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 04:41:45 pm
content: Quote from: sony mavica on February 25, 2016, 10:17:04 amThat's because they actually make those that cheap and have for some time....

author: JimRemington
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 05:26:43 pm
content: Check out the antenna on this bluetooth module (adjust for best reception).

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 08:06:07 pm
content: You wanted wireless bluetooth you got it!

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 25, 2016, 11:20:57 pm
content: Quote from: station240 on February 25, 2016, 02:34:16 pmLOL, why would you even block out the info on that?

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2016, 05:35:14 am
content: I've never seen such a variety of SSD (Some Sorta Drive). Oh, the creativity!