The Sundarban
Kanika began writing about shopper skills in 2019 and has contributed to tech net sites cherish Beebom and The Mac Observer. For the duration of her race, she lined a large assortment of issues, including Android, Windows, AI, and the entirety Apple. She has been a genuine iPhone person since 2014, and owns an Apple tool from nearly every lineup. With a intriguing take into myth on the latest trends, she strives to help customers earn the most out of their objects.
Beyond her cherish for writing, she is a deep researcher and a lifelong learner, always intriguing to find the latest enhancements and rising applied sciences. Together with her ardour for skills and writing, she joined MUO in 2025 as a Freelance Tech Writer.
When no longer writing, she’s presumably attempting a viral Instagram recipe or looking at some thriller suspense on Netflix.
Unarguably, scoring an SSD with a more cost effective stamp stamp and worthy storage feels cherish a plot close deal. Nonetheless, among those profitable deals and slashed prices, you might close up with a fake. Fake SSDs absorb become extra frequent than ever and an increasing number of sophisticated to trouble. They might look utterly exact from the outside, with authentic labels and flashy branding. Nonetheless, they might be using low-quality parts, altered firmware, and a portion of the advertised capacity. Happily, there are some easy ways to test a fake SSD and set yourself from records loss.
Look at the fundamentals with CrystalDriveInfo on Windows
The absolute best system to trouble fake SSDs
You can test the in model runt print about SSDs on Windows and macOS, however some free instruments can put all the data in one articulate.
On Windows, you can spend CrystalDriveInfo, a free, launch-source utility that monitors the total properly being of your stable-articulate drives and laborious drives. It should existing all the runt print about your drive, including stamp, firmware version, serial number, reported capacity, total reads and writes, temperature, and further.
If your drive runt print and CrystalDriveInfo don’t match, you absorb a fake drive. There are easy ways to catch the red flags. As an illustration, if the stamp name is misspelled, unknown, or doesn’t match the one you’ve bought, it’s a indispensable warning. Moreover, if the model name is missing or reveals generic values cherish “SATA SSD”, or the capacity appears a total mismatch, this indicates one thing is no longer factual.
Besides to, you can test the total properly being popularity for each and every drive. It makes spend of color-coded interpretation: Blue indicates excellent properly being, Yellow indicates warning, and Crimson indicates the drive is failing or has failed. CrystalDriveInfo also experiences on SMART values, so you can test the performance of your SSD, together with error metrics, and likewise gives you a notification if your drive is set to fail.
Run a short DriveDx test on macOS
Dwelling red flags in seconds
On macOS, you can decide for DriveDx disk testing utility, which lets you run developed tests on your SSDs and HDDs. When you open DriveDx, the left panel reveals the built-in and external drives. Decide the drive you cherish to glimpse, and this might fair display conceal runt print equivalent to the stamp, model number, serial number, total capacity, and further. If you compare random stamp names, hundreds of energy-on hours for a brand sleek SSD, or other contradictory runt print, it’s evident that you absorb a fake SSD.
DriveDX also analyzes all SMART indicators to provide a holistic compare of your drive’s properly being. It continuously monitors your drive’s properly being, alerts you to any points, and displays your SSD’s final lifespan. It should also detect any failing drives, so you can help up crucial records beforehand.
Test valid capacity with FakeFlashTest on Windows
Right capacity published in seconds
FakeFlashTest is a free Windows instrument that rapid lets you test a fake flash drive. In total, fake drives spend modified firmware to display conceal an incorrect capacity, which is able to result in records loss and corruption. FakeFlashTest can help you verify the drive’s precise storage size.
You can run the Rapid Dimension Test to resolve whether a drive is fake. It reads and writes records to random segments across the drive. If the write/read direction of fails at any level, it arrive the drive’s precise capacity is no longer as advertised. Since the test will murder any records existing on the drive, you must help up the entirety beforehand. Besides, there’s a Test Empty Space mode that gives a extra in-depth prognosis. It should write test recordsdata to all the free articulate and then read them help to verify if the entirety used to be written accurately. It should display conceal any errors or variations which might be detected.
You might also spend FakeFlashTest to test if your SD card is valid or no longer.
Run F3 test to trouble fake SSD on Linux
Don’t aesthetic belief the specs
Credit: GitHub
F3 (Fight Flash Fraud) can help you verify the authorized capacity of your storage drive. It’s a present-line instrument that works for both Linux and macOS, critical cherish FakeFlashTest on Windows. It provides two functions to rapid test the storage on your drives. First, you wish to spend the f3write program, which writes records to the complete storage drive. Then, the f3read program is weak to verify that the drive contains the precise recordsdata written. If any error pops up or the direction of fails, it arrive the drive has been modified to picture a fake, bigger capacity than it in actuality has.
If you’re utterly happy working with the present line instrument, F3 is ambiance friendly and extremely efficient. In case this isn’t your thing, you can mosey for F3-qt, a free and person-friendly GUI version for Linux systems. The F3 test works the best for smaller drives. If you’ve got bigger drives, you can decide for f3probe.
Run the F3XSwift test for a short capacity test on macOS
Test your SSD claims
If you’ve got a Mac,
