Fake SD and CF memory cards

[deanbed]

I brought a fake Sandisk card on Ebay and although it worked the warranty is not valid also the quality is inferior due to the read speeds being slower than advertised.

I paid for a Sandisk 4GB extreme III at speeds of 20mb per second and got a 4GB at about 5mb per second, so no point in me paying for a high speed if it will not do the job which I needed to speed up my RAW file shots.

I can't vouch whether the supplier knew it was fake, but it is the suppliers responsibility under law to check he is not supplying counterfeit goods.

I recieved a full refund and apology aftertelling him of this and he his still trading today, selling the same cards!

Thanks to interested-observer who has posted the site where I discovered what to look for.

[gerrydee]

Bought a SanDisk 2 gb on ebay. No serial on the back, only a shiny round sticker saying UIRD on it in tiny print. Won't format in camera or computer. Windows says it's 1.8 gb but ig bums out after about 512 mb. Not even heavy enough for a paperweight, so total loss.
Real Sandisks have a serial number on the back. These fakes come out of the reject bins.
Got scammed is all...:sad:

[deanbed]

Sorry to hear about the card but going on ebay for tthings like this is such a risky business now that I have stopped using it.

I now go to picstop for all my memory cards, not only are they cheap but they are licenced to have the genuine product.

I also orderd at 4.00pm and it arrived the next day at 11:00am normal postage cost.

[romphotog]

I got a HASA 12GB SD. Yes, 12GB!

However, it only stores 2GB. LOL!
Must be a fake or a typo.

[deanbed]

Never realized SD went as high as 12GB yet.

Its a right pisser when you realize, but the good news is that prices have dropped dramatically at good retailers, so these dodgy sites who sell cheap fakes may soon be priced out of existence.

[palopsy]

In response to the SD memory card capacity
I have been looking at high speed (SDHC) cards for my K10D
I shoot a lot at local cross country horse jumping events and need the fast write speed while shooting bursts of 3 in raw or the next competitor is on me and I am not ready.
Apparently the highest capacity available to SHDC cards is 32 gb although I don't expect anyone is manufacturing anything this large at the moment. This is reported to be the largest capacity that these type cards can currently handle.

Thanks as well to the fake card information as I am probably going to purchase 3 x 4gb sdhc cards in the next couple of days. If anyone knows of the fastest card on the market please let me know. Sandisk is reported to be good but not the fastest!

good luck with other buyers and fingers crossed nobody gets burnt

[ShutterBugSmitty]

Great article. It got me thinking about my 1GB Extreme III I got off ebay. I did like the article said and compared my card to the pic on San Disk's site and sure enough there was one identifiable difference, the lack of the little notch at the bottom of the card. This card came in what looks like the retail box with a little cd, manual and the San Disk zippered card pouch. I'm gonna contact San Disk with the serial number and see what they say. I guess that's what I get for being a penny pincher.

[deanbed]

I have found a site which tests the speeds of memory cards which may help you.

Sorry to disagree but I have found that Sandisk are not only the best and most reliable but also the fastest (unless of course its a fake) thats why the professionals use them, also do you need to use the higest 10mp setting on your K10 if you could go down to say even 7 mp would speed things up.

According to this site the Sandisk 2GB Extreme III comes out top on most cameras, proving even different size Gb of the same brand can improve speed.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/mul...e.asp?cid=6007

Hope it helps

[ShutterBugSmitty]

Well, here is the long short of my story from SanDisk TS....

"Dear Robert,

Thank you for contacting SanDisk Technical Support.

From the information you have given us it would appear that your card was not manufactured by SanDisk. We encourage you to take it back to the original place of purchase for a full refund.

To eliminate issues like this in the future we recommend purchasing our products from one of our certified retailers that can be found on our website www.SanDisk.com


Best Regards,
Seth B
SanDisk Technical Support"

My card hasn't quit working yet, but it still kind of sucks knowing you didn't get what you paid for. I guess I thought that since the card was sold in (what appears to be) a retail box that it was legit. If anyone out there is thinking of going this route for memory, be very carefull. The fakes are very deceptive to the untrained eye. The seller I bought it from is 'action169' in case anyone is wondering. I guess I'm off to buy new memory.

[penolta]

If anyone out there is thinking of going this route for memory, be very carefull. The fakes are very deceptive to the untrained eye.

Truer words were never spoken. I knew enough to stay away from the cards on ebay thatare sold from the sellers in China, but bought some time ago two 512MB Sandisk Ultra II SD cards from a US seller with excellent feedback ratings. I used one without incident in a Pentas K100D and held the other in reserve. When I got a new K10D I found that neither card would work in it, bringing up a "card error" message on the lcd display. I blamed the camera and/orthe Ultra II 512 even though Ultra II 1GB and other cards of different makes and capacities worked. Then I found this thread and followed up on the links and the Sandisk web site, and sure enough the 512 cards were fake - no notch, and not even a serial number; also although the labels looked genuine,I noticed that thelegitimate cards Ipurchased have only the word "ULTRA" showing as irridescent at some angles, whereas the fakes have the name and other areas as well similarly reflective. the 512s do read the proper capacity in the K100D, and since they work in it without incident I will probably continue to use them there, but not with any great feeling of confidence. And I will be more careful in the future. Caveat emptor!.