Those free USB sticks in your drawer are somehow crappier than you thought
arstechnica.com
Rejected chips, hidden microSD cards plague the USB stick market.

Many have microSD cards soldered to their circuit boards.

  • @[email protected]
    33•2 months ago

    Reminds me of the time when I bought a stack of microSD cards and readers from alibaba. About half of the cards and readers were dead on arrival, and the remaining ones died within a few years.

    Now I’ve learned my lesson. This is what happens when a company outsources quality control to the customer.

    • @VelociCatTurd
      31•3 months ago

      I had a less technical savvy coworker putting together a raspi for something, emulation I think. And he was notoriously cheap, he told me he got a micro SD from China for a suspiciously low price.

      Well during this endeavor, he would keep asking me about random errors he was seeing. And I kept saying bro it is that cheap SD card you bought. He wouldn’t hear it.

      Eventually, he tried out another SD card and sure enough, no more weird errors.

      • @[email protected]
        20•3 months ago

        Power sources is another one. The errors caused by a slightly broken PSU can be really mysterious.

      • @Squizzy
        11•3 months ago

        Absolutely, the companies are just so big the choice is so small so they can all be shit

  • @[email protected]English
    21•3 months ago

    Is no one else paranoid to put a free usb stick in their computer? I thought that was the classic social engineering hack.

    (full disclosure: I’m not in I.T. and my info might be older than the hills)

    • swab148
      6•3 months ago

      They used that trick in Mr. Robot, so I’m pretty sure it’s legit. As long as not too many people know about it 🤫

      • Ultragramps
        2•3 months ago

        Tappity tappity tap “I’ve got total control. It’s all yours.”

    • @helpImTrappedOnline
      3•2 months ago

      Yes, it is still a thing to be concerned about. Perhaps the method of handing out free usbs is less common now. If there’s a drive lying around in public, don’t plug it in.

      A new name brand 64gb usb costs around $10. The free ones are usually 2 to 8gb and a probably a 50¢ micro SD card. Free usbs go in trash.

  • rem26_art
    17•3 months ago

    i just had one of those free sticks that I got from an event die on me the other day. I should pry it open and see if it’s just a microSD card lmao. Didn’t lose anything of worth on it cuz it was only like 128MB