fake HP usb flash drives

[SalRom]

I purchased 2 HP 512GB Flash drives from EBay. They were professionally packed with HP logo on the packaging and the drives.

When I tried to copy files it looked like they copied but when I checked the folders were empty.

I tested the drive using H@testw v1.4 recomended for checking fake drives and the drives had 14.6GB of good space the rest 485.3GB was shown as corrupted.

I contacted the seller and he asked me to prove it was his drives that were bad as the drives don't have any serial numbers, another tell they are fake, it doesn't show up on the test.

EBay have agreed to resolve this so this is not about the money it's about fake drives that can fool people thinking that they are buying a reputable brand. I stay away from Chinese no name USB these drives look like the ones in the shop they even have a holograms on the packets making them look high quality.

This seller has 5 eBay stores he is selling them through some only recently set up due to bad feedback on the older stores but a lot of people are getting scammed and it look bad for HP.

I have the drives at the moment but don't know if eBay will want me to return them I have photos of the drives and packaging and all the contact details and address for the seller I want to know who to report this to at HP so they can stop this guy from ripping off more people and tarnishing HP's reputation.

[Chimney_83]

Greetings @SalRom,

I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. 

They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. 

Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. 

Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post personal information (serial numbers and case details).

Thank you for visiting the HP Support Forum.

[SalRom]

thank you. I hate seeing people cheated like this and will help as much as I can.

BTW there are no serial No. on them that was one of the things that I found strange. even when I checked the drive properties it didnt have a serial no. though clearly they say they are HP drives on the drive and packaging.

At the moment I have the drives and pacakaging but I may have to return them very soon to get a refund from ebay. 

[mdklassen]

>  I may have to return them very soon to get a refund from ebay. 

I recommend that you do so, because the eBay "Dispute Resolution" process forces the seller to sign-for the returned package, and the tracking-number through the Postal Service proves that the seller received them, and forces eBay to refund you.

Have you tried them in a different computer, just in case that it might be your computer that has a problem?

If they are "bad" in that computer, and yours, then that's more "evidence" that they are "bad".

[SalRom]

Thank you for the sugestion and information.

I did test them in different usb ports and on a second computer all recognised the drives as 512GB drives but no more than about 14GB of data could be copied on to the drives.

it looked like the files copied at a very slow rate but when the files are checked they are not in the folders. all my other drives are are working fine.

I am in the process of returning them to the seller though they have not provided a method of postage or confirmed an address yet. ebey is waiting for a reply from them and will then advise me on what to do.

I have tested the drives with 3 different programs 2 which perform writen tests each sector of the drives and show how many good sectors there are out of the drive capacity.

Both tests take almost 2 days each to complete if the full drive capacity is used and both show only between 14GB and 15 GB of avalible space with 480GB of bad sectors.

the third tests was on the chips in the drives using chipgenius which show the total capacity of the drive and all the drive information.

the drive pacakage states that it is a USB 2/3 OTG drive I asumed that it ment that the usb2 was the device connection and the usb3 was the computer conection but the speed of this drive is well below that of even a usb2 drive. 

The drives were described as HP 512GB Micro USB to USB Flash Drive OTG Memory Stick for Samsung, HTC, Tablet 

results of drives tested below

Program ChipGenius v4_00_0030

Description: [G:]USB Mass Storage Device(Generic Flash Disk)
Device Type: Mass Storage Device

Protocal Version: USB 2.00
Current Speed: High Speed
Max Current: 200mA

USB Device ID: VID = 0000 PID = 7777

Device Vendor: Generic
Device Name: Mass Storage
Device Revision: 0100

Manufacturer: Generic
Product Model: Flash Disk
Product Revision: 8.07

Controller Vendor: Alcor Micro
Controller Part-Number: Unknown(??) - 0xF500 - F/W FA00
Flash ID code: 8984643C - Intel L85C - 1CE/Single Channel [MLC-16K] -> Total Capacity = 16GB

Tools on web: http://dl.mydigit.net/special/up/alcor.html

Possible Flash Part-Number
----------------------------
[1CE]PF29F16B08LCMF1/2/3 x 1 pcs/Channel x 1 Channel
[1CE]PF2916B08LCMFS x 1 pcs/Channel x 1 Channel
[1CE]L85C x 1 pcs/Channel x 1 Channel

Flash ID mapping table
----------------------------
[Channel 0] [Channel 1]
8984643CA500 --------
F7F7F7F7F7F7 --------
F7F7F7F7F7F7 --------
F7F7F7F7F7F7 --------

Program H2testw v1.4  test results on one drive with 512GB of data on a 512GB stated drive.

Warning: Only 511982 of 511983 MByte tested.
The media is likely to be defective.
14.6 GByte OK (30685056 sectors)
485.3 GByte DATA LOST (1017854080 sectors)
Details:0 KByte overwritten (0 sectors)
0 KByte slightly changed (< 8 bit/sector, 0 sectors)
485.3 GByte corrupted (1017854080 sectors)
0 KByte aliased memory (0 sectors)
First error at offset: 0x00000003a86f0000
Expected: 0x00000003a86f0000
Found: 0x0000000000000000
H2testw version 1.3
Writing speed: 8.51 MByte/s
Reading speed: 8.92 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

H2testw v1.4  test results on the second drive with 30GB of data on a 512GB stated drive.

escription: [I:]USB Mass Storage Device(Generic Flash Disk)
Warning: Only 30000 of 511983 MByte tested.
The media is likely to be defective.
14.6 GByte OK (30685056 sectors)
14.6 GByte DATA LOST (30754944 sectors)
Details:0 KByte overwritten (0 sectors)
0 KByte slightly changed (< 8 bit/sector, 0 sectors)
14.6 GByte corrupted (30754944 sectors)
0 KByte aliased memory (0 sectors)
First error at offset: 0x00000003a86f0000
Expected: 0x00000003a86f0000
Found: 0x0000000000000000
H2testw version 1.3
Writing speed: 7.93 MByte/s
Reading speed: 12.3 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

Tested drive with 30gb of data 14.6 of data was lost proving that the capacity is only 16GB
also speed is very slow.