Other software to detect fake drives: Fight Flash Fraud (f3) and h2testw

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Scott

Well-known member
Sep 18, 2020
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I stumbled across some other software which predates ValiDrive by 15 years or so; other folks seem to have seen this problem for quite a while, and created tools to root out fake drives:

1. H2TestW - a Windows only program first released in 2008 and last updated in 2013, so unknown if it still works on newer Windows versions and flash drives. Software is free but closed source, and program (and accompanying website) are in German: H2TestW v1.4 website

2. F3 - Stands for Fight Flash Fraud, a suite of tools, still actively maintained to perform various tests on flash media. Author states he was inspired by H2TestW to create a similar but open source tool set. The tool set consists of f3write and f3read, which writes and reads random data via the file system to test capacity. f3write and f3read can be compiled and run on multiple architectures (Windows/Cygwin, Linux, MacOS). Current version is 9.0 from March 2025. There are other ancillary programs that are Linux only: f3probe, f3brew, and f3fix. Websites:
And here's an informational website that's been around since at least 2011 on this issue: SOS Fake Flash
 
Yes, those were critical comparison tests that we used during
ValiDrive development, including some self-developed tests, such as
"DiskFillerAndFakeCatcher" by our own @PHolder, ValiDrive, having
the competitive imperative of being QUICK and non-destructive.

I'll add that SpinRite 6.1 Level 1,2, 3, and 4 do NOT catch my sample
fake drive, but Level 5 does, yet for others, even Level 5 does not
catch their sample fake drive - but SpinRite ( and DNSBench ) are
designed with an assumption of a trustworthy source, and are not
intended to catch fakes.

I look forward to ValiDrive 2, but I hesitate to buy any more fake
drives just to help development testing - argh - but at least fake
drives are cheap!
 
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