How to tell counterfeit / fake Memory Sticks apart... (Guide - Sort of ;)

[wakaru]

Most of you will be aware of the amount of fake memory sticks specially common, but not limited to online auctions (i.e. eBay)

Some of you have asked me by PM a way to find out if yours is one of those or not.... right, there you go...

It´s a bit difficult to get a closer look to the packaging and stick beforehand when you´re buying via Internet, but there´s a very good guide from eBay to let you visually identify if your Stick is genuine.

A simpler system would be checking if your stick is MagicGate compatible, but you will not be able to tell until you have the stick in your hands. The procedure is quite simple, as follows:


1.- Go to GAME -> Memory Stick (Alternatively you can go to VIDEO -> Memory Stick or PHOTO -> Memory Stick as well)


2.- Press the TRIANGLE button and then the X button.


3.- If the Memory Stick is Fake, the MagicGate technology will appear as Unknown.


4.- On the contrary if it´s Genuine, the MagicGate will appear as Supported.

I hope it helps

[Angelo]

Legend... absolute legend.... cheers Wakaru!

[oz_mick]

Yes I read this on Ebay and found out my 4gb and 2gb were fake, well they were cheap... However they still work.. So I am wondering is having a fake stick all that bad considering the price.

So what is bad about a fake stick?   Mine seem to work ok despite being fake.

Is there a problem having magic gate not supported ? I dont know what this does.

oz_mick

[Loonix]

well probably you cant make a fake one to a pandora stick

And they are unreliable.
I have 2 2GB fake sticks and i know that they corrupt the data sometimes.
I would never trust them with important documents.
Second they are made much ceaper,
sometimes you just need to twist them a little bit and they split open (thats what i heared)
On the other hand i heared they often have faster write speeds wich realy counts to there advantage.

But when you did get lucky with your sticks then you are just that just like me ^^
i got mine very cheap and can live with formating them once in a while.

[oz_mick]

Yah I read that about the Pandora mem stick and went and bought a genuine Sony 1 GB for the purpose. I wanted a smaller sized stick but a 512 mb stick was only $2 cheaper.

Still its not bad the 4GB fake holds all the entertainment I need at the moment and seems to work ok. So far I have not experienced corrupted data like you.

Thnx for the feedback

oz_mick

[wakaru]

Unlike Fake Batteries, fake Memory Sticks can be used for the Pandora's Set.

That's what I read somewhere anyway. I did not try with my fake one, but I might do in future just to check.

[Loonix]

Wakaru i just jumped the gun and converted one of my fakes into a Pandora stick.
No problems what so ever (aside from the unbelivable long copy times o.O)

i will try my other ones too

[oz_mick]

Well I have 512MB Genuine Sony Memory Stick coming from Hong Kong (hahahahha and Santa and the Easter Bunnny are real too),,,, anyway when it arrives (if it ever does) I will make a Pandora Memory Stick out of it and give it a try and post the result here.

Mick

[Brighty]

Hi

Got a second hand psp on Sunday and was pleased to find it had a 1GB memory stick in (i thought i was getting no stick, as they wanted an extra £10 for one with a 32mb stick )

I followed the procedure above, but get no 'magicgate' entry, just the top 2.

Any idea what that means?

Also, as an aside, i have a 2gb sony memory stick pro duo (fake i'm pretty sure) that i'd been using in my old phone. Is this compatible with my psp, or does it need to be a 'psp' specific memory stick (the 1gb one has 'psp' written on it)?

Cheers

Brighty

[wakaru]

@ brighty

Magicgate is just a copy-protection technology implemented by SONY.

It is the fastest way to check whether or not the stick is legitimate since it is impossible to reproduce.

Counterfeits/Fakes will be cheaper, slower read-write capabilities and less reliable but nonetheless they will still work.
 
Any Memory Stick Pro DUO will be compatible with your PSP regardless of "whatever it says in the tin".

[Brighty]

Cheers for that

Any idea why my psp does not have a 'magicgate' entry though, not even 'unknown'.

I only get the first 2 lines on mine

Cheers

[silver88]

2.- Press the TRIANGLE button and then the X button.


3.- If the Memory Stick is Fake, the MagicGate technology will appear as Unknown.


4.- On the contrary if it´s Genuine, the MagicGate will appear as Supported.

but my wan no apply anything
just    User Capacity n Free Spare
so it is fake or original?

[wakaru]

Never seen that before... what brand is it?

[silver88]

Sony memory stick pro duo 1gb
n i bought it original
so expensive wan...............

[wakaru]

It should be OK then I guess.