Repairing Counterfeit Flash Drives
Posted by KittyFireFlash on October 25, 2008
SOSFakeFlash has been asked by many victims of fake flash drive purchases – how to restore to the original true capacity? Electrostorm has provided excellent information to the tools you would need to deprogramme FrankenFlash.
See Repairing Counterfeit Fake MP Players For MP Players.
Mentioned previously (see: Did You Manage to Reprogramme a Fake Flash Drive Bought on eBay?), to repair a drive you need to know about the controller and the flash chips. To do this you need software that will provide this information. Once you have it, you need to find the right software to reflash the chip and perform the low level formatting of the drive. We are providing the links and steps submitted by Electrostorm. Understand that this could repair a fake – but not in all cases. You could lose the drive in attempting to repair – especially if you chose the wrong tool. Not all drives can be rescued and returned to their real capacity – but many have been.
electrostorm Says:
October 25, 2008 at 4:31
To restore most fake capacity USB flash memory devices.
Step 1:
Download chipgenius, this program will automatically detect an inserted flash drive and read out the 4 digit VID code and 4 digit PID code.
http://www.mydigit.cn/mytool/ChipGenius.rar
If you don’t have a software that can unzip the “rar” format, please get the software 7-zip from:
Step 2:
Go to the iFlash website and search for a matching VID and PID, download the corresponding software from the site.
http://www.flashboot.ru/index.php?name=iflash
Translated to English (recommended)
In most cases I have been able to use the software provided to reflash the controller chip and do a low level format and restore correct capacity.
Once you have repaired the drive using the steps and software above – you need to format the drive in your operating system. After operating system formatting you should once again test the capacity of the drive to ensure that you have truly succeeded. Use the tool H2testw 1.4 once more again. If you are able to write, read and verify without errors – you now have a flash drive you can store data on. It may be a lot smaller but the capacity will be real.
If you chose to try and repair your drive using the information presented here, please return and leave your feedback indicating your success or failure in returning a drive back to it’s original capacity.
Update 20091023: Please consult the new FAQ at FixFakeFlash Inspectortech for important information on repairing fake flash memory items before you attempt to repair.
SOSFakeFlash 
laleh said
I have a Fake Microvalut sony USB Flashmemory 1000G
the characteristics are:
Device Name: ?[K:]?Generic USB Hub(USB2.0 Flash Disk USB Device)
PnP Device ID: VID = 8087 PID = 0020
Serial Number: 5&&1BF6062B&&0&&1
Revision: 2.60
Device Type: Standard USB device –
Product Vendor: USB2.0
Product Model: Flash Disk
How can I format and reuse this USB
thanks
matt said
I run the program and it brings up the window with a list of the devices to choose from and then gives me an error.Error:run time error-5, call or argument. WTF?
InspectorTech said
@Matt,
What program did you run? It sound like you are using a low level reformatting software.
Please visit FixFakeFlash to learn more.
You need to make sure you are using the right program. Restoring fake memory requires learning and research to succeed. There is no magic bullet.
anoop said
i am buy a fake usb drive information related to it as
Device Name: +[I:]+USB Mass Storage Device(CCore Flash Disk USB Device)
PnP Device ID: VID = DC08 PID = EF0B
Serial Number: 714D6C6471D4
Revision: 2.40
Device Type: Standard USB device – USB2.0 High-Speed
Chip Vendor: (No match record)
Chip Part-Number: (No match record)
Product Vendor: CCore
Product Model: Flash Disk
Tools on Web: (N/A)
i am find a tool to fix it problem but never found plese help me what i do next ………….. thanks in advance
InspectorTech said
Anoop,
Please go to http://fixfakeflash.wordpress.com
CCore is not easy to repair. You will have to read the articles at this site. Advise you carefully open it if you can. Decode the usb controller chip and usb flash drive storage chip.
Chip Genius reports the VID and PID encoded on the flash memory chips. The VID and PID is not always correct. People who reprogramme the controller chips frequently encode incorrect VID and PID. They are lazy. Also it is massive reprogamming. Often they do not reset the id’s for VID and PID for the new batch of fakes. This can fool ChipGenius in to reporting incorrect information. It can also fool people into searching for the WRONG low level reformatting software.
Use the wrong software, you risk destroying the usb flash drive for good.
The only true and sure way, is to open and decode the flash memory chips.
Good luck in your repair journey Anoop! Read and research before you attempt to repair.
jimsterbaby said
hi guys great sire i keep getting failed results on all the drives i try .then i get locked out of them and cant forrmate.i didnt change any thing .all the tools i use do the same thing .i mach the tool with the chip and run the tool and it reads it .i click on it it does its thing but at the end i get failed in red can you tell what i am doing wrong.
InspectorTech said
@Jimsterbaby
1) If you are using Chip Genius to detect the VID and PID, it is possible the usb flash drives were encoded with the WRONG VID and PID. You can read:
Chip Genius – The Good And The Bad About This Software In Identify Flash Memory Chips And Repairing Fake Hacked Memory. How Useful Is Chipgenius?
to learn more.
2) If you downloaded low level software formating tools to try and repair, it is important to remember that these tools often have VID PID information recorded already which are not the same as Chipgenius reported.
3) The low level formatting software tools may have had the ECC open and this would wipe the usb flash drive controller chip.
4) You may have very defective flash memory storage chips.
If you have many usb flash drives to repair, you should consider a manual process.
Jimsterbaby, try to open one of the flash drives:
a) decode the usb flash drive controller chip – write down the information.
b) decode the usb flash drive storage chip – write down the information.
c) using the information from a) and b) search again for new software tools, try again.
There are many different software low level reformatting tools, they do not all have the same options, so the principles are more important then the interfaces.
To repair flash memory chips and restore them to their original capacity is not always easy and requires a lot of patience and hard work. Not everyone will succeed, but a lot do.
As you have many to repair, you might succeed repairing some while loosing others.
Good luck and remember one very important thing, a repaired flash memory chip should never be used to store critical data. It will never be as reliable as a flash memory chip that was not reprogrammed to lie about real capacity.
There is a lot of information on repairing flash memory at the FixFakeFlash site. It requires a commitment to reading and learning. It is a challenge, in your case as you have many to repair it is probably worth the time investment.
Eashan Maheshwari said
All Law Defying Fake Pen/Flash Drive….I Think No One Can Fix It;Can You ??? It Is A Fake Kingston 16Gb Pen Drive With Full 16Gb Capacity….But It is fake as i cannot format it even for the first time lol!!!……..Read On To Develop The Idea…Whats A Fake But Real Flash Drive is…
….Well I’ve gt A Weird Unique kind of Kingston 16gb pen drive/flash drive or what u may call that…. When I Bought It And run it for the first time;it showed 15.6 Gb Space free as expected….Suddenly Don’t Know What Struck My mind but i decided to format it (wish i could undo tht format just One time) And Got the result after some time tht “Windows Was Unable Complete The Format” And The Pen Drive Got Corrupted now displaying just 0mb as free disk…(Type Of Dead)…..
After Some Searching; I got the idea to VERIFY THE FLASH DRIVE FROM KINGSTON’S WEBSITE…SO CHECKED AND GOT THE RESULT….”The flash memory product you inquired about is not an authentic Kingston product. We suggest that you double check the information on the product label.”
So Now I Started Considering My Pen Drive As Fake And Looking For Solutions….Reached SOSFakeflash;”https://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/repairing-counterfeit-flash-drives/comment-page-2/#comments”….Then I Tried Used “h2testw_1.4″;”AlcorTools numerable versions..” ; “Iformat 2” And What not….Many more such programs..But None Of These Programs Recognized my Flash Frive…..Nothing Seemed to Work…..
Finally Got The Idea to check my VID And PID and other details through the software called “Chipgenius/Usbdeview” And Then With This Info. Try TO Search The Right Software For Re-Flashing My Flash Drive (See How Knowledge increases but still no use;lol)…..Here’s The Result I Got……Searching since 3 days; got nothing…So Tomshardware For Help….
Can Anyone Give Suggestions ??
Here Are Some Screenshots Of My Research On My Flash Drive…..
http://i1092.photobucket.com/album […] 12m32s.jpg (Some Indication It Is A Fake)
http://i1092.photobucket.com/album […] 32m44s.jpg (Some Indication It is Not… lol…)
VID = 8888 PID = 8888 As Indicated By The Following Usbdeview image….
http://i1092.photobucket.com/album […] m49s-1.jpg
http://i1092.photobucket.com/album […] 49m04s.jpg
Awaiting Help..I’m Damn Confused ; What To Do….
Eashan Maheshwari said
I Suspect Even The VID AND PID info. indicated by chipgenius is Fake !!
MrK said
Hi to all,
I also got caught with an MP3 player claiming to have 4GB, but only giving 1GB with H2TestW (and corrupting stuff when going beyond 1GB). Since it was a device for which I couldn’t find any tools, I used another approach: with Easeus Partition Master I removed the current partition and replaced it with one less than the size mentioned to be ok by H2TestW. The remainder of the memory I left unused. I had to use Easeus Partition Master instead of the Disk Management of XP because the latter didn’t really allow me to edit the partitioning. Your mileage on the latter may vary, but the bottom-line is that this did the trick and the remaining 1GB was now found to be ok by H2TestW.
Hope it helps others as well,
K
Fixing Fake SD SDHC Cards, Is It Possible? What Are The Problems And Challenges? What Software To Use To Test For Flash Memory Fake Chips. Is There A Free Download To Check Flash Drives And Memory Cards Size? « Techchips said
[…] Repairing Counterfeit Flash Drives […]
plz help thanks said
Device Name: ?[I:]?Périphérique de stockage de masse USB(USB DISK 30X USB Device)
PnP Device ID: VID = 13FE PID = 1D00
Serial Number: 5&&27D03570&&0&&7
Revision: 1.00
Device Type: Standard USB device –
Chip Vendor: phison(??)
Chip Part-Number: UP13
Product Vendor: USB
Product Model: DISK 30X
KittyFireFlash said
@plz help thanks,
You will have to take the item apart carefully, decode the usb controller chip and flash memory chip. Please do not rely on Chipgenius results.
Visit InspectorTech’s site to learn more about restoring fake flash memory.
http://fixfakeflash.wordpress.com/
Elva said
I didn’t buy mine on Ebay but it is fake I am sure.Mine came from AliExpress.It was suppose to be 512Gig for $17.I have reformated several time with varing results.Mainly bad.I have been reading several of your posts.I tried chip genius and received these results.
Device Name: +[M:]+USB Mass Storage Device(Generic Flash Disk USB Device)
PnP Device ID: VID = 0011 PID = 7788
Serial Number: 283E995E
Revision: 8.00
Device Type: Standard USB device – USB2.0 High-Speed
Chip Vendor: Alcor
Chip Part-Number: FC8308
Product Vendor: (N/A)
Product Model: U
http://bbs.mydigit.cn/read.php?tid=148892
I can’t read the web site above.When I try to translate it it says forbidden.
Any help would really be appreciated.
I promise to post any results.Good or bad.
Elvalyn said
Did everyone leave when I came on or is my browser stuck?
Scam Report eBay Fake Memory Cards, USB Flash Drives, MP Players – SOSFakeFlash Q2 2011. Did You Buy On eBay? « SOSFakeFlash said
[…] Discussion – Help […]
SOSFakeFlash Reading List For Newbies Fake Flash Memory eBay And Internet Sites. Ultimate Internet Reference On Fake Hacked Flash Memory In A Nutshell. 3 Years Of Research And Documentation. 1,000,000 Flash Memory Chips Are Digitally Altered To Lie About said
[…] Discussion – Help […]
Repairing Counterfeit Fake MP Players « SOSFakeFlash said
[…] Discussion – Help […]
Review eBay Fake USB Flash Drives – MP Players – Memory Cards – What Can You Do? « SOSFakeFlash said
[…] Discussion – Help […]
net said
ChipGenius don’t show VID PID card chip but your flash card reader or phone, notebook card reader etc..
TechChips said
You are correct Net. The details are published in my article:
Repairing Counterfeit Flash Drives is about repairing usb flash drives. It is not useful for repairing memory cards. If people wish to repair memory cards they are advised to read my article, very carefully. Everything people need to know is published in it. VID and PID is useless for flash memory cards, ChipGenius is a big zero for flash memory cards.
Also the technical people in the FrankenFlash Project are extremely concerned about using ChipGenius. We still believe it to be a potential spyware software.
We strongly encourage people to read:
Chip Genius – The Good And The Bad About This Software In Identify Flash Memory Chips And Repairing Fake Hacked Memory. How Useful Is Chipgenius?
My counterpart, InspectorTech at FixFakeFlash concurs. This software, ChipGenius is of little value regarding flash memory cards. It can have value for usb flash drives and mp players but it’s use strongly discouraged. Instead we believe manual inspection is the best method. Open the item, decode the usb controller chip, decode the usb flash drive storage chip and then begin to search the internet for the correct low level software reformatting program. The Russian site continues to be the best in finding software.
Regardless of what readers may say or how they promote ChipGenius, we remain firm in our belief it should NOT be used. Perhaps our views will be unpopular. We are not the ones who will take risks in using it. Between our sites we have over 55 years of IT experience combined. Ultimately readers will make the choice. For memory cards, they will soon learn just how usleess ChipGenius really is.
Freddy said
hi
I tested a faulty 35gb sdhc card I bought a long time ago on Ebay, but I wasn’t aware a that time that fake flash existed.
I am 99 per cent sure it’s a fake but I don’t understand what software give me…
chipgenius v3 say that:
Device Name: +Périphérique de stockage de masse USB
PnP Device ID: VID = 0BDA PID = 0159
Serial Number: 20071114173400000
Revision: (Information not returned)
Device Type: Standard USB device – USB2.0 High-Speed
Chip Vendor: (No match record)
Chip Part-Number: (No match record)
Product Vendor: Périphérique
Product Model: de stockage de masse USB
Tools on Web: (N/A)
checkUdisk v5.3 says that:
Name: unknow device (USB2.0)
VID&PID: Vid_04f2&Pid_b14a
Speed: low speed
Product Revision:
Vendor Description:
Product Description:
Serial Number:
And H2testw v1.4 says that:
The media is likely to be defective.
1.4 GByte OK (3059712 sectors)
29.7 GByte DATA LOST (62443520 sectors)
Details:0 KByte overwritten (0 sectors)
0 KByte slightly changed (< 8 bit/sector, 0 sectors)
29.7 GByte corrupted (62443520 sectors)
0 KByte aliased memory (0 sectors)
First error at offset: 0x000000005c7f4200
Expected: 0x000000005c7f4200
Found: 0x0000000000000000
H2testw version 1.3
Writing speed: 4.54 MByte/s
Reading speed: 3.88 MByte/s
I dont find anything similar on flashboot.ru, to repair my sdhc card to display real size
please help
or tell me where i could find help…
thanks
Freddy said
sorry it s a 32gb sdhc
ITGuy said
In response to Freddy’s comment
Chipgenius does not report sdhc card information. The information reported corresponds to the card reader.
Based on H2testw output the original memory size is 2GB. Based on H2testw reporting 1.4GB OK, I would say the chip is a very poor quality one and not worth repairing.
More info…
Fix for USB memory stick said
[…] 1 Minute Ago Are these old Flash drives that have gone bad or did you just buy them? There is a huge counterfeit flash drive market and they scam people on eBay, NYC street corners, etc because they look and are packaged like the real thing but in actuality are small sticks (like 256K, 512K, or 1GB) that have their locations mapped so that data constantly overlays the other. It makes it seem to all write fine but if you read the data it is all gibberish. See the article HERE on how to test your flash drive. Unfortunately they often use cheap or defective chips in the first place and secondly, the write process has overwritten the same sectors thousands of times bringing the chip so much closer to it's RW fault limits that even if you reflash the memory to the correct specs it is a poor flash drive that won't last long; but you can see ideas how to try HERE. […]