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utility to check new USB drives (capacity and speed)

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chasg

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Hi All,

I have a bunch of USB keys on order, to deliver edited photos for clients. I'm looking for a utility that'll check actual capacity and read/write speed (I've heard many stories of fake USB keys just writing over themselves, to fake their capacities).

I have both AmorphousDiskMark (osx port of CrystalDiskMark on PC) and Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, but they don't test actual capacity, just speed. Lots of utilities on PC, but definitely not the same array of options on OSX.

Can anyone recommend an OSX utility that will help me determine if my new USB keys are the actual size they say they are, at the actual speed?

Many thanks in advance,

Chas
 
Use Blackmagic Disk Speed Test for performance. And for capacity on OSX, open "About This Mac" under the Apple icon in the upper left and look at the "Storage" tab. I will tell you the capacity and how much is available.
 
Hi kimlschumann, thanks for the answer.

Forgive me for saying, but you may not know that it's quite common for fake USB drives to report to OSX that they are of a particular size, but not actually be that size (and when you use the Finder to write files to them, they just overwrite existing data, making you think they are of a particular size, when they are much smaller).

I know of several utilities on Windows that will circumvent the fakery, and check actual size of USB drives (and, incidentally, camera memory cards). I'm hoping to find such a utility for OSX.

Speed I can check with Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, as you (and I :-) mentioned. Capacity is the hard to test issue.
kimlschumann said:
Use Blackmagic Disk Speed Test for performance. And for capacity on OSX, open "About This Mac" under the Apple icon in the upper left and look at the "Storage" tab. I will tell you the capacity and how much is available.
Click to expand...
 
chasg said:
Hi kimlschumann, thanks for the answer.

Forgive me for saying, but you may not know that it's quite common for fake USB drives to report to OSX that they are of a particular size, but not actually be that size (and when you use the Finder to write files to them, they just overwrite existing data, making you think they are of a particular size, when they are much smaller).

I know of several utilities on Windows that will circumvent the fakery, and check actual size of USB drives (and, incidentally, camera memory cards). I'm hoping to find such a utility for OSX.

Speed I can check with Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, as you (and I :-) mentioned. Capacity is the hard to test issue.
kimlschumann said:
Use Blackmagic Disk Speed Test for performance. And for capacity on OSX, open "About This Mac" under the Apple icon in the upper left and look at the "Storage" tab. I will tell you the capacity and how much is available.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
What about reformatting the drive?
 
chasg said:
Hi David,

From what I've read, it's a modification of the internal hardware, so formatting won't make a difference, the fake ones still report their original (fake) size.
dspoel said:
What about reformatting the drive?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
You can make a folder full of files that is just smaller than the capacity of the drive and see if you can successfully copy the folder. Time consuming yes but if the drive has a fake capacity is will choke when it hits its actual capacity.
 
A good idea, and I intend to do just that (I have a rendered timelapse file that is just about the right size).

But, to really make sure that the drive is the actual size it states it is, I'll have to copy the file on to the drive, and then copy it off the drive and see if the hash matches.

This is because it's my understanding that the fake drives don't actually choke, rather they just start over-writing existing data (e.g. when byte 100 of 100 fills up, then it writes again to byte 1, without reporting that it's full). That's why copying off the drive and checking that file would be necessary.

Of course, an app that does all this checking automatically would be a lot better, thus my original question :-)
Jeff Wahaus said:
chasg said:
Hi David,

From what I've read, it's a modification of the internal hardware, so formatting won't make a difference, the fake ones still report their original (fake) size.
dspoel said:
What about reformatting the drive?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
You can make a folder full of files that is just smaller than the capacity of the drive and see if you can successfully copy the folder. Time consuming yes but if the drive has a fake capacity is will choke when it hits its actual capacity.
Click to expand...
 
for that amount of effort, either buy the name brand sticks from a reputable B&M or get a really cheap throwaway pc to run those utilities.
 
I appreciate the suggestion, but I check all media that I buy (cards, drives and usb sticks), but usually only speed (well, for HDs, I also check the entire surface), and I feel that it's well worth the effort. I have had one USB stick (manufactured by a reputable name and bought from a reputable source, or so I thought) turn out to be a fake, so now I'm looking for an osx app to do the size checking for me, as I'll have lots to check, and it'd be good to automate the process. I would hope that an app would be cheaper than the cheapest PC, but, given the lack of apps of this type for osx, I may do just that.
lcubed11 said:
for that amount of effort, either buy the name brand sticks from a reputable B&M or get a really cheap throwaway pc to run those utilities.
Click to expand...
 
chasg said:
A good idea, and I intend to do just that (I have a rendered timelapse file that is just about the right size).

But, to really make sure that the drive is the actual size it states it is, I'll have to copy the file on to the drive, and then copy it off the drive and see if the hash matches.

This is because it's my understanding that the fake drives don't actually choke, rather they just start over-writing existing data (e.g. when byte 100 of 100 fills up, then it writes again to byte 1, without reporting that it's full). That's why copying off the drive and checking that file would be necessary.

Of course, an app that does all this checking automatically would be a lot better, thus my original question :-)
Click to expand...
In that case it is easy. You copy the file to the drive and back. Then you have two files A and B. Then in the terminal you go to the directory where your files are, e.g. the Desktop and type

% diff A B

If you get an empty prompt back, there is no difference, otherwise it will write

Binary file A and B differ

chasg said:
Jeff Wahaus said:
chasg said:
Hi David,

From what I've read, it's a modification of the internal hardware, so formatting won't make a difference, the fake ones still report their original (fake) size.
dspoel said:
What about reformatting the drive?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
You can make a folder full of files that is just smaller than the capacity of the drive and see if you can successfully copy the folder. Time consuming yes but if the drive has a fake capacity is will choke when it hits its actual capacity.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
chasg said:
I appreciate the suggestion, but I check all media that I buy (cards, drives and usb sticks), but usually only speed (well, for HDs, I also check the entire surface), and I feel that it's well worth the effort. I have had one USB stick (manufactured by a reputable name and bought from a reputable source, or so I thought) turn out to be a fake, so now I'm looking for an osx app to do the size checking for me, as I'll have lots to check, and it'd be good to automate the process. I would hope that an app would be cheaper than the cheapest PC, but, given the lack of apps of this type for osx, I may do just that.
lcubed11 said:
for that amount of effort, either buy the name brand sticks from a reputable B&M or get a really cheap throwaway pc to run those utilities.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
The /Applications/Utilities/Terminal app will do it for free, as I described above.
 
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chasg said:
I have had one USB stick (manufactured by a reputable name and bought from a reputable source, or so I thought) turn out to be a fake, so now I'm looking for an osx app to do the size checking for me, as I'll have lots to check, and it'd be good to automate the process. lcubed11 wrote:
Click to expand...
this 'fake' usb was a reputable brand purchased from in person from a reputable B&M?

how did they respond when you returned the 'fake'?

(i wouldn't count amazon as a 'reputable' source since there are so many third party vendors that muddle the waters)
 
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OP, admire your patience with all the non-answers ;-)

Here is F3 (which others have suggested) as an app that will run on MacOS. It is a bit slow, and I don't have a known fake card to positively know that it verifies the card is fake:

https://github.com/vrunkel/F3XSwift/releases/tag/v1.0.3
 
Last edited:
Ha ha ha, so you noticed that? I've been debating on how to reply to those (I feel it's courteous to reply to any response). Ah well.

F3 looks like the only OSX option, which is, frankly, quite strange, considering how many apps on PC would do the job (I've just remembered bootcamp, which I've never looked in to, I wonder how much effort that would be). Thanks for the pointer, I appreciate it.

I only have ten 32GB USB keys, one 128GB key, and one 512GB key to test, so I may just take them to a friend's and get them to run tests on his PC. It's a faff (he's not close), but what I thought was a casual inquiry here has turned into a whole "thing".

I miss the macnn forums.
wilberforce_1 said:
OP, admire your patience with all the non-answers ;-)

Here is F3 (which others have suggested) as an app that will run on MacOS. It is a bit slow, and I don't have a known fake card to positively know that it verifies the card is fake:

https://github.com/vrunkel/F3XSwift/releases/tag/v1.0.3
Click to expand...
 
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