Tuesday, June 3, 2008

A quick note about USB "Flash Drives"

We are always doing our best to keep up with possible scams in our industry. We have just been advised of a new one involving Flash Drives or Thumb Drives or Memory Sticks or USB drives....

A new software has appeared in China which may be loaded onto the chip in a flash drive. When you plug in the flash drive and click "Get Info", it will indicate that the flash drive has a lot more memory than it actually does. A 64 MB chip may read 1 GB; a 128 MB chip may read 2 GB. This could lead to some really bent feelings between us and a client.

It is for this reason that we check with suppliers we TRUST before ordering any flash drives. It is one of these suppliers in Canada who brought this to our attention. This company is purchasing the software (for $80!) in order to try to find a way to defeat it. We do NOT buy direct from China; we buy through established importers who will stand behind what they offer.

This supplier also notes that this week has seen a DECREASE in pricing for the "real thing"; chips of 1,2, 4, 8, 16 GB. It seems that we have entered the "slow season" for chip manufacturers, so prices have moderated for the time being.

Once again, if you come across a deal that seems to good to be true, it probably is.

No comments: