How to test fake MicroSD cards for real capacity

fake microsd cards
Some no name MicroSD cards with higher capacity

The market is now flooded with low priced fake MicroSD cards advertised for larger capacity, you can choose from 32GB up to 512GB or 1TB Class10 as sellers stated. Anyway most of the times all no name MicroSD cards larger than 32GB or max 64GB often are just not with real capacity as the seller claimed on their website. You might be tempted with the lower prices, for example $14 for 256GB MicroSD card, $21 for 1TB or as low as $4 for 64GB MicroSD with high speed (as many others for example on AliExpress), but the truth is completely different story, not only the capacity but the speed of the storage cards is not real, so not get crazy about “What a deal I got” LOL.

This is a good guide how to test a high capacity cheap MicroSD card for example to be used with car dash cameras / video recorders as you will need the real storage capacity for that kind of devices to be able to record normally all the time and not causes interruptions, device hang on, etc. Even more, a not good working storage card can lead to data loss, damaged files, not readable files, glitches and many more software problems – nothing you want, especially in a cameras, smartphones and data backup usage. Some of the real junk ones even became unusable after a format, as they going in to “Read Only” state and lock up itself, or the device cannot even found it.

Bear in mind, that there’s also a lot of fake MicroSD cards selling for cheap branded as well known brands such as SanDisk, Kingston, Samsung, Toshiba, Kodak etc. and they are just counterfeit and nothing to do in specs and performance to the original ones.

512GB fake MicroSD card
512GB fake MicroSD card

And now on the test itself – there is a free powerful tool that you can use to check the real storage capacity of any MircoSD card or USB flash drive and the actual read/write speed.

H2testw is a powerful free tool from Harald Boegeholz which can check your mass media devices for its actual real size. The invention of this tool came about because of the sale of counterfeit SD cards / MicroSD and USB sticks which were not the actual claimed size. With H2testw, you can write and read how much data the storage device is actually capable of holding.

H2testw is available for free download from the authors website here.

Fake 1TB MicroSD card

This is an example of fake 1TB MicroSD card not passing the capacity test, real capacity is 13.2GB


128GB fake MicroSD card

128GB fake MicroSD card not passing the test, the real capacity shown was 29.4GB (or in the real world a 32GB card)

Fake MicroSD card with 1TB capacity claimed from the seller
Fake no name MicroSD cards with 1TB capacity claimed from the seller

Anyway, there is a real chance that a low priced MicroSD card can have the actual capacity or speed stated (depends on the brand, seller), if you find some working low priced ones, please get it shared in the comments – so the users know what to buy on a budget.

Bottom line:

If you’re on a budget it is better to buy a no name / Chinese brand (like MicroData, Vicuna R, KRY) compared to lower priced known brand stamped MicroSD card, the chance you got a good working one is much more. If you want a brand name, just pay the price – don’t waste your money on a fake branded ones / replicas. The suggested capacity to buy for a no name is no more than 64GB MicroSD card (most of them 64GB are real capacity), anything higher you risk it, put it on test first. Also, if you purchase on places like AliExpress, read the customer reviews before you buy, check the photos, comments and all the info from the buyers to choose the one you need.

This post will be updated with known good working Chinese MicroSD cards in the future, models, brands and specs will be added.

 

 

 

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