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Validrive results differ each run

#1

M

marky1124

I have a pretty old 1GB USB stick. I don't suspect it of being a fake. I've run Validrive on it twice and both times it's reported about half a dozen different locations marked in red for 'no storage'. The marked locations differ between the two runs. One is potentially the same. Is this normal behaviour?


#2

Steve

Steve

marky1124 said:
I have a pretty old 1GB USB stick. I don't suspect it of being a fake. I've run Validrive on it twice and both times it's reported about half a dozen different locations marked in red for 'no storage'. The marked locations differ between the two runs. One is potentially the same. Is this normal behaviour?
Click to expand...
It definitely should not be doing that. ValiDrive would be showing "No Storage" when it wrote some random data but did not get the same data back when it read it back. So I would definitely not trust this drive with anything important. The reason you're seeing differing locations is that ValiDrive's testing sequence is truly randomized and will never be the same twice. So whatever flaky thing is going on, it might also be about the pattern of the sequence (which is also not good!)


#3

ColbyBouma

ColbyBouma

magnificent_starfish said:
Aha! I wasn't aware test locations were random (TIL test locations ValiDrive are randomized).
Click to expand...
The locations aren't random, the sequence that ValiDrive tests them in is.


#4

ColbyBouma

ColbyBouma

magnificent_starfish said:
But sequence does not explain why 'block 23' (for example) has different outcome in different runs. Or am I missing something obvious now?
Click to expand...
Correct. That part is still very strange. Actually, I think I may have encountered something similar on one of my drives. I'll do some digging.


#5

ColbyBouma

ColbyBouma

ColbyBouma said:
Correct. That part is still very strange. Actually, I think I may have encountered something similar on one of my drives. I'll do some digging.
Click to expand...
Found it! It's my Sansumg SD card. However, I found something even stranger when I did some further testing. I'm going to reopen my ticket.


ValiDrive-v1.0.0_2023-10-05_23-02-10.png


ValiDrive-v1.0.1_2023-10-30_20-21-00.png


#6

ColbyBouma

ColbyBouma

@marky1124 Please try running ValiDrive on your 1 GB stick again after rebooting your computer.


#7

ColbyBouma

ColbyBouma

magnificent_starfish said:
Did you check if ValiDrive is active in task manager after stopping it? I seen that happen.

And if so, does closing that instance eliminate the need for a reboot?
Click to expand...
I just watched Task Manager while reproducing the issue, and there was only ever 1 instance of ValiDrive running. I also verified there were 0 instances after closing it. Thanks for the suggestion though. I doubt I ever would have thought to check for that :)


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