A new report from German data recovery company CBL finds that devices using NAND chips from reputable brands are showing reduced quality, with reduced capacity and manufacturer logos removed. Additionally, some USB sticks use the old technique of securing the microSD card on the board. TechSpot reports: Most of the junk USB sticks CBL investigated were promotional items, given out for free by companies with products or at conferences. However, there were also some “branded” products that fell into the same low-quality category, but CBL wondered if they were well-known mainstream brands or some kind of brand you've probably never heard of. was not disclosed.
Technological advances are also impacting these NAND chips, but not in a good way. The chip originally used single-level cell (SLC) memory cells that each stored only one bit, resulting in lower data density but higher performance and reliability. To increase the amount of storage provided by chips, manufacturers began moving to 4 bits per cell (QLC), resulting in lower endurance and retention. Combined with questionable components, CBL warns that “the reliability of flash memory should not be overly relied upon.”
The report shows how the manufacturer names of some components found within the device were removed or obscured. One simply had text printed above the company name, and the other was completely scrubbed. There is also a photo of a microSD card found inside the USB drive with all identifying marks removed. It's always wise to be careful when choosing a storage device and be wary of offers that seem too good to be true.
