When purchasing second-hand storage equipment, the most worrying thing is the virtual capacity standard. A hard drive with a nominal capacity of 1TB may actually only have 800GB, which will directly lead to data storage failure.
The need for testing tools
In the digital age, devices such as USB flash drives and mobile hard drives are commonly used tools for data transfer and backup. However, there are some businesses in the market that will deliberately falsely mark the storage capacity of these devices in order to gain profits. After the user saves the file, the system interface displays a successful operation, but in fact the file has not been completely written in. Once an attempt is made to read it, it will fail.
In daily use, it is extremely difficult for ordinary users to detect such a situation, and the operating system generally does not proactively issue alerts. By the time you realize that important data is missing, it's often too late. Therefore, after purchasing second-hand storage equipment, it has become an essential safety process to immediately use professional tools to conduct authenticity testing.
The core working principle of the software
This type of detection software does not simply read the information when the device leaves the factory, but performs verification by writing specific test data to all storage sectors of the device and then reading it out. For example, the software will write data to all areas of the USB flash drive marked 32GB, and then read the data back completely to verify the actual usable storage space.
This process, called "full disk read and write verification," can accurately measure the actual capacity of the device. The software will record the number of errors that occur during the read and write processes. These errors generally mean that the storage medium has physical bad blocks, which is an important indicator for determining the health of the device.
Detection process and operating steps
The U disk or mobile hard disk to be tested needs to be connected to the USB port of the computer. The process is very straightforward. After starting the software, there will generally be a prominent Start Detection button on the main interface. Click this button and select the corresponding drive letter to complete the operation.
The software interface will display the progress in real time after the detection starts. The time taken by the entire verification process is determined by the device capacity and USB interface speed. A mobile hard drive with 256GB storage space may take dozens of minutes. During this period of time, it is best to avoid other high-load operations on the computer to ensure the accuracy of the test results.
Key information included in the report
After the test is completed, the software will create a particularly detailed analysis report. The key part of this report is the comparison between the "stated capacity" and the "confirmed capacity". If there is a very obvious difference between the two, it can be confirmed that the device is falsely labeled. The report will also list the highest valid data area of the device.
The date and time of this test, equipment serial number and other information will be included in the report meeting held. Some advanced tools can provide reading and writing speed test results, displaying the minimum and maximum speed of the device during continuous reading and writing as well as random reading and writing, thereby helping users fully understand the performance of the device.
Software security and data risks
To be clear, data writing during the detection process will completely erase all information that originally existed on the device. Therefore, before conducting testing, be sure to confirm that there is no critical data that needs to be retained in the device to be tested, or that a complete backup has been made.
Although formal detection software is designed to detect hidden dangers and theoretically will not damage normal equipment, any write operation to a storage device carries a very small probability of risk. For critical data that stores a unique copy, the safest approach is to copy it to other trusted storage media before testing.
Become a savvy digital consumer
Facing the complicated second-hand intermediate goods market, it is not reliable to rely on the expressions of traders. Actively using tools for verification and identification is an effective way to keep data security in your own hands. A simple inspection can prevent the fruits of work from being lost or key documents from being damaged due to false capacity marking.
The existence of such tools also promotes the market to expand towards a clearer and more standardized trend. Once consumers have basic discernment capabilities, the space for low-quality and fraudulent products to survive will continue to be squeezed, and it is all users who ultimately benefit.
Have you ever lost important files due to false storage device capacity? You are welcome to share your experiences or opinions in the comment area. If you find this article helpful, please give it a like and support.
