SanDisk microSDHC 4GB Card

Any attempt to look for some advice to buy a genuine Sandisk microSD (any strength - in my case a 32GB card for my Samsung GALAXY tab) is met by a plethora of internet-based opinions and information as regards the masses of fake cards flooding the markets these days....most originating from some wheelie bin outside a Chinese factory.

Human that I am, I looked around for a week and realised that dependable sellers (Amazon, Play.com, PC world etc) were all selling a Sandisk 32GB card for £ 70-85 while the shady ones (Amazon marketplace, eBay etc) were dishing them out at £25-40! Hence, I decided to try my luck (and money) and bought one card from eBay after an extensive search. It cost me £35.00 + £1.98 and the seller was a `power seller' with 100% feedback. Nothing could go wrong......or I assumed huh...?

As explained below, it was a fake and after a bit of wrangling (and legal threats!), I got my money refunded. Wisdom dawned upon me and I then bought a genuine one from Amazon UK for £69.99 which was delivered free inside 24 hours! Being at the receiving end of a con, and in the absence of any constructive advice available, I have made the following tips to help the next customer - hope this helps:

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GENUINE AND FAKE Sandisk 32 GB micro SD: (see my self-explanatory photographs for each point)

1. Package: The genuine pack is sealed and cannot be split open. The fake is just pasted at the edges and my fake item was all loose inside. Again, as far as I am aware, Sandisk does not provide any SD adaptors (Kingston does) but nearly all eBay items have a `free adaptor' inside the same pack.

2. Check the barcode: If you have a iPhone with a barcode facility (like a Amazon/eBay app), check the barcode on the reverse of the pack. My fake eBay item barcode read 4GB instead of 32 GB.

3. Check the external details: Sandisk, currently only makes Class 2 for its 32 GB micro SD cards and I confirmed this from Sandisk helpline in the US. eBay sellers are selling fakes as `Class 6 - 10' !!!

4. Check the inner details: Once you open the pack, check the card. All genuine cards should have a serial number and a manufacturing country's identity. Fake ones neither have any such details and the external details are painted in a hazy style (see photo).

5. The Catch: When you put in a fake micro SD card for the first time, you will be surprised to find that it reads the correct GB in the properties. Apparently the goons have made a software which enables the card's storage properties to give out a false capacity. One way to check this is to copy at least 60% date of the `claimed' capacity and check the card in 2-3 days time. There will be lost data in all fake ones.

6. Finally the functionality: Download a simple programme called H2testw (ver 1.4) from the internet. It is German software and the most recommended to test all your portable media including micro SD cards. My fake one showed only 3.96 GB capacity instead of 32GB as claimed.

7. Where to buy: spend the extra bit of money and buy from genuine big dealers. Amazon is always one of my foremost places but keep away from Amazon Marketplace since the same firms also sell in eBay i.e they are mostly shady and refunds will need a lot of wrangling. Of course, you might occasionally be lucky (as yours truly had hoped!), but one would probably need to be as dumb as me to follow my steps (till I became wiser!.

Hope these steps help the next prospective buyer. Feel free to correct me if you do not agree!

Amazon didn't have any in stock so I bought from a reseller. Card arrived in just the plastic case inside a padded envelope with no trace of the red manufacturers packaging displayed in the product page on Amazon. Suspicious, I tried it anyway.

Card is simple to install, just slots in. My device (a Samsung Galaxy wifi meda player) recognised it automatically and offered to format it, which took a minute or so. After that I connected my device up to my PC (running Windows XP) and it appeared as a drive letter. I could make folders and copy and paste my music collection onto the card. When finished I disconnect my media player, it thinks for a minute then I can see my music listed ready to play. Simple. Sadly it worked OK for about a day then lost its content. Repeated tests over the next week (reformatting the SD card via the menu in my media player, recopying my music), revealed that the card was unreliable and not fit for purpose.

Contacted marketplace supplier who asked me some questions then sent me out a free replacement, told me not to send the original back. I was chuffed with the customer service at the time. He explained lack of packaging was due to a bulk order he had made. Hmm. He suggested my device was not compatible with 32Gb card, but in fact it is, as per the Samsung website.

The replacement 32Gb Sandisk card came already formatted and I think it was second hand. After a few hours it too lost its content. I insalled Astro on my device to check the card. Filesnames in the music folder had turned to question marks according to Astro filemanager. Again, no packaging was supplied with this card other than plastic case but the card itself looked the same as the real thing pictured on Amazon.

By this time Amazon had the card in stock for a similar price, so I ordered one sold by them. It arrived with the correct packaging as displayed in the advert. Card worked first time and has worked flawlessly for weeks now. Excellent performance.

Verdict: If you receive a working card then 5 stars, no question. If you buy the card and it turns up without packaging and loses your stuff every couple of days or so then zero stars. I have given this product three stars to be fair.I think that either the first two cards I received were genuine and there is a reliability problem, or if they were not the real thing (is lack of packaging a clue?) then it would be unfair to give a one star review despite that being accurate for the useless first two cards I received and all the time , effort and money it took to persevere in the hope they would work. I have no way of checking authenticity - a visual inspection of the cards themselves shows they look the same to my untrained eye.

I would not recommend the first two unpackaged cards to anyone and I have doubts about their authenticity, but the genuine article supplied directly by Amazon in manufacturers packaging I recommend without hesitation as a great, affordable memory card.

Bought to replace the standard 4gb card in a HTC Desire.
Simply copied the contents of the old card to my PC, swapped the cards over and then copied the contents back. Hey Presto - it all works a treat. No need for formatting (in fact the 'format' option was greyed-out, so I presume it was pre-formatted).