| With the rapid advances made in technology these | | | | were obtained from actual stores in foreign countries. |
| days one may wonder why we haven't seen an | | | | You may also find them online as I've personally seen |
| official release of 128 GB memory sticks yet. Note that | | | | ads on a South African directory and from an ebay |
| I said "official." Because unfortunately, individuals all | | | | seller located in Latvia. Especially auction sites suffer |
| around the world have been faking this capacity and | | | | from this because often by the time the fraud is |
| selling it to unsuspecting customers. | | | | noticed it may be too late. The customer ends up |
| Among the top contenders of countries where 128GB | | | | unsatisfied and probably angry, while the seller may be |
| and similar capacities have magically sprung up are | | | | able to run off without taking responsibility. |
| China and India. The fraudsters go to the length of | | | | So take my advice and be careful regarding any USB |
| even selling them under a brand name, like Sony or | | | | drives that are above 64GB. Whether you're a |
| Kingston. | | | | customer or webmaster, don't be impatient and do a |
| To share a story, I recently talked to someone on | | | | little research first. If you happen to come across a |
| twitter who was all proud and happy to announce that | | | | 128GB flash drive first be aware of the country. Then |
| his father had brought him an amazing 120GB(!) flash | | | | don't let a properties screen or brand logo mislead you |
| drive from his visit to China. Suspicious about this, I sent | | | | to an impulse buy. What you should do is search for a |
| the person a tweet asking if he had tested it yet. To | | | | press release or blog post online confirming an official |
| my surprise he replied with a properties screenshot | | | | release from that specific brand. If you can't, chances |
| that showed a pie graph stating 119.97GB. | | | | are you'd be better off investing your money in a |
| I responded with "the real test will be when you're | | | | 32GB or 64GB flash drive. But the same care should |
| actually transferring that amount of data, let me know | | | | be taken here too because believe it or not, the same |
| how it pans out". The next day I got a tweet back | | | | unreputable sources have faked these as well. |
| saying that at 60GB, the flash drive maxed out. And | | | | Fret not however. There's hope on the horizon as |
| not only that, after several attempts the thing actually | | | | Samsung has announced to release a 128GB memory |
| died down completely. Suffice to say, he wasn't very | | | | stick sometime this year. Officially! I suspect that we |
| happy. But since it was just a well meant gift, he took it | | | | will see this as soon as USB 3.0 hits the shelves, |
| lightly. | | | | probably between autumn and Christmas. That way |
| This type of fraud is not isolated. In this case the father | | | | these large amounts of data can be transferred |
| had bought the flash drive from a market but I've also | | | | quickly and efficiently. Let's hope Samsung and other |
| seen posts mentioning that 128GB memory sticks | | | | companies will live up to the promise. |