After purchasing many Sandisk cards, and having some problems, after researching up I found some main points.
1 - Sandisk are the most brand currently counterfeited, and it is getting harder to check and find real working ones.
A - The printing on the fake products has got better.
B - The packaging printing is perfect on some fakes.
C - Even the hologram on packaging is perfect on some fakes and some are using stolen ones from Sandisk.
D - Sandisk will say that do not buy micros if they come with a adapter as they are fake as they do not put adapters with micros. This is not true, Sandisk do supply them, they are made by Hama for Sandisk, and the micro cards are real.
E - Some fakes are infact real, they are real Sandisk cards which are faulty in some way, these are then stolen from the factory and then altered. So these packaging, hologram and card are in fact real but faulty. These serial numbers will come up on Sandisk warranty as destroyed at factory, and on return to Sandisk they will confiscate them and not refund a card or money as it is stolen property. You will just get a letter saying just this.
F - Fakes are either OK and working with the size purchased but made by some one else, a cheaper rebadged maker/factory.
G - Fakes are either not OK and not the real size you purchased. Thus either a real Sandisk card mainly 4Gb altered to look like your size, or worse a fake did made by some one else. This can be a size or speed issue ie. States it is a 10 but is a 4, or standard SD instead of hcsd or xcsd.
H - To make thinks worse. In 2012 Sandisk made some cards wrong and they got out of the factory by the millions in various packaging, these mainly are Ultra. The fault seen is that on phones and tablets using android or Linux the card drops out or goes corrupt error, but intact not currupt on reboot of the device. Some are getting the normal faults also and just die to early.
I - Sandisk still make Ultra II. I ordered a U2 and got a ultra so it must be a fake, no this is not true. Sandisk renamed U2 and U2 plus as just Ultra now. As technology standard has gone up, was speed 2 is standard 4 ultra and 6 ultra plus. Now ultra just means 6 to 10 and extreme is better than 10. So a ultra card with 10 u I on it that does say 7 MB/s is not fake it is within spec. If you get speed 9 or 10 or 11 MB/s then you just got a good batch. As 10 MB/s and above are labelled up as extreme if they do 9 and above. So if you really want speed 10 = u1 then buy extreme version.
So it is really hard to know if you have a fake now. Even if real the size and/or speed are under par, or worse is a factory stolen fault batch product.
What to do : -
Only buy from direct either Amazon directly or Jessops or Picstop which are main dealers.
Sandisk only will replace fake cards from Amazon direct and not fulfilled or marketplace, although within the 30 days Amazon will refund the money.
Most on EBay are fakes.
Fakes are also found secondly on Kingston and Samsung.
Most fakes are found on high capacities as this are easy pickings and low prices.
Do not buy 32 64 at cheap offers
Never buy the new 128 or higher from unknown sellers as these will be fake.
256 512 and 1TB are made to order only and in small batches. Sandisk to order only, Crosair have limited ones in stock directly at Amazon direct. Expect to pay more that £1 per GB on them any cheaper then ask why before buying them. 128Gb is around £105 and 64Gb about £50 as price is now dropping. 32Gb no less than £18 in sale and £25 normally. Extreme x600 are around 70 higher and extreme pro 150% higher. Ultra are x200. The more in size means slower speed. So a 1Tb USB key is very slow is speed 2. So if using for video watching or video taking or photo taking then you need speed not size first. Size first if you using MP3 or storage, phones and tablets need 6 and above. Normal cameras just need 4. SLR cameras need 10 extreme and above. PC / Mac / Linux PC any speed OK for storage and MP3 else above 6 if watching YouTube HD or 720HD video or speed 10 or U I for 1080p HD video.
When you receive the card do these first before using them
1 = do not open, but type the barcode in Google and check it matches to your Gb size and text under the barcode as most fakes the Barcode will come up as 4Gb.
2 = check the card with a SD checker program for check and verify. Search free program on Google.
3 still get this far and passed all, then place very large media files and play for 4 hrs, if this gives an error bad video file or SD card has been removed or SD card is corrupt or needs reformatting , but on reboot it works then you have a real but faulty batch. Refund or warranty or just buy a Samsung or Kingston. Lexars are sandisk now. sandisk own lexar.
Side note ... Sandisk cruiser USB keys are getting couterfeted so take note and do the same as above
And also nearly all cruiser nano USB let's are fake, never seen a real one, even directy from amazon. And Sandisk will confiscate them if you do a warranty claim, so check within amazon refund times to check and if not OK then make a return claim with Amazon. Amazon know all about this I have asked many time what is their counterfeit procedure as the website states they have one, but I have never seen or got an answer how do you put in a claim ony told put in a claim with legal services at amazon.
| Brand | SanDisk |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 0.79 x 1.5 x 1.09 cm; 9.07 Grams |
| Item model number | SDSDQUA-032G-U46A |
| Manufacturer | SanDisk |
| Series | SDSDQUA-032G-U46A Micro SDHC Class 10 UHS-I |
| Colour | Red/Grey |
| Form Factor | microSDHC |
| RAM Size | 32 GB |
| Voltage | 5 Volts |
| Operating System | Android 3.0 +, Ja |
| Supported Software | Ja |
| Are Batteries Included | No |
| Item Weight | 9.07 g |
| Guaranteed software updates until | unknown |
