Repairing Counterfeit Fake MP Players

SOSFakeFlash has been asked by victims of fake and counterfeit MP Players purchases – how can I restore to the real capacity? MP-Archer has provided some very useful information to help you begin your journey to return your MP Player back to it’s orignal Capacity.

Buying On eBay – MP Players – Memory Cards – USB Flash drives – Why You should Use A Credit Card To Pay And Not Your Bank Account

The evidence gathered in the last eight months by the FrankenFlash Project and their groups indicates that buying MP Players, USB Flash Drives and Memory Cards is a very risky business. You will find more than enough documented evidence at sosfakeflash.wordpress.com.

So if you are going to bid and buy on eBay why use a credit card instead of bank account funding?

Guide to fix hacked USB drives – A visual Example

One of eBay’s Fake Flash victims created a neat visual guide after reporting his fake to SOSFakeFlash. It is a wonderful example for anyone interested in repairing a fake flash drive and seeing how the tools work before trying to carry out a repair. Even if you don’t have an AMECO or Micov based controller chip on your fake flash drive, it can help you prepare. Many reflashing tools are similar in their interface and the general principals to operate.

Guide to fix hacked USB drives

After reading it, you are ready for a more detailed explanation of the things you will need to do to prepare for rescuing your fake.

About VID PID Repairing Counterfeit Flash Drives – Steps To Succeed

The fixfakeflash.wordpress.com site has some known solutions available. The most important information is the controller chip vendor for the flash item, known as the “Chip Part-Number” with ChipGenius.

If you don’t find a solution that works visit the main site for incoming information repair solutions. sosfakeflash.wordpress.com

About VID PID Repairing Counterfeit Flash Drives – Steps To Succeed

FixFakeFlash from SOSFakeFlash, explains steps to rescue a fake flash (counterfeit) drive. How you can try to return it to its true size. Wrestling with FrankenFlash drives to make them useful is a mystery to most victims of fake flash drive purchases. The information FixFakeFlash has for you comes from the efforts of fake flash victims who succeeded in repairing their drives.

Before you begin, please read: Should You Repair A Fake USB Flash (Pen) Drive? from TechChips. Update September 23th, 2009.

Important Update on Chipgenius 20101207,  please read:

Chip Genius – The Good And The Bad About This Software In Identify Flash Memory Chips And Repairing Fake Hacked Memory. How Useful Is Chipgenius?

Important Update on repairing flash memory cards to original capacity from TechChips  20110713.

Fixing Fake SD SDHC Cards, Is It Possible? What Are The Problems And Challenges? What Software To Use To Test For Flash Memory Fake Chips. Is There A Free Download To Check Flash Drives And Memory Cards Size?

To repair counterfeit (fake) flash drives you need the VID and the PID for a flash drive. This will help you determine the software tool required to perform a low level reformatting (commonly known as reflashing). Reformatting in an operating system is “high level” and can not repair the drive. The controller on the flash drive has been reprogrammed to lie – this is why you normally need a special software tool. They exist and are available, but you need to know which one you must use for your drive.

The VID is the Vendor information, the PID is the flash chip controller information. The PID is supposed to identify the chip set family for a software reprogramming tool. How to find this information? The easiest way is to download a program called chipgenius – it will read the drive for you. Only if chipgenius does not find any useful information or the information does not match anything known on the internet should you consider taking your USB flash drive apart. Some drives do not come apart easily so avoid this unless you have no other choice. In most cases you will not have to consider doing this.

Update 20091023: Please consult the new FAQ at FixFakeFlash Inspectortech for important information on repairing fake flash memory items before you attempt to repair.

Follow these steps to begin the journey to fix and repair your fake USB flash drive to its real size: