------- Original Message ------- On Sunday, May 28th, 2023 at 12:37 AM, Keith Lofstrom <kei...@kl-ic.com> wrote:
> I bought a "PNY 16GB Attaché 3 USB 2.0 Flash Drive 10-Pack" > from Amazon for $27.98, to transfer files from some ancient > CentOS machines to replacement Debian machines. > > The four I've tested so far format to more than 30GB (!!!) > of ext3 file systems. Hard to believe, so I read/write- > tested two of them with random patterns for a few days. > No bits lost. > > I haven't "debugged" this strange miracle deeply; I don't > know whether they actually store 328(2^30) bits, or a > slightly smaller fraction of that. My guess is that the > chip inside is for a 32GB product, with some spare memory > pages beyond that, but a few too many pages were defective > to sell as a 32 GB product. So PNY formatted the "best" > pages to look like a 16GB Windows flash drive and file > system, and sold the drive as that. > > Formatting that I ignored and overwrote; I don't have any > Windows machines around. > > If any of you wants to deeply examine one of these drives, > I would be glad to give one to you, in return for data and > opinions about that data. To do the job right, you might > need a variable 5-volt"-ish" power supply and a temperature > oven; some pages may fail near spec limits. I might loan > a power supply, but my lab oven is too big to move. > > I can't guarantee that other PNY "10 packs" will behave > the same. But as a retired chip designer, schooled in > the idea that "a defect is a treasure" (hoard and test > and understand them, never sell them to lesser beings), > it is marvelous to encounter an "anti-defect". > > Keith L. > > -- > Keith Lofstrom kei...@keithl.com Maybe bring some of these to the upcoming Un-PLUG meeting so we have something to play with! Does the physical label on the drive actually say 16GB? That amazon page has a button to switch over to the 32GB version for $28.80. If they ended up sending you 32GB models then that just means the vendor lost track of their own scam. Why would you pay $27.98 for 160 GB when you can pay 28.80 for 320 GB? https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Attache-Flash-Drive-P-FD16GX10ATT03-MP/dp/B01MCY4L2R/ref=asc_df_B01MCY4L2R?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=79852149837934&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=m&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583451676482249&th=1 Click the button for the difference sizes (16/32/64). The 16GB is also labeled as on sale, probably just to get unsuspecting luddites to pay the same price for lower capacity chips. The math doesn't add up. -Ben
