Hardware29.09.2021

We bought a 2TB flash drive from Wish — but got something very different

MyBroadband purchased a 2TB USB 3.0 flash drive from Wish, but testing revealed that it was, in fact, a 16GB USB 2.0 drive.

Marketed as an “ultra-large capacity keychain flash memory USB stick”, the 2TB drive cost $9 (R136) and had 117 reviews with an average rating of 3.9/5.

Some users claimed that it works great, while a few claimed that the capacity was smaller than advertised.

The price tag should already raise concerns. 1TB and 2TB flash drives typically cost multiple times what Wish charged for this drive.

The package arrived 18 days after placing the order. The drive was packaged in a plastic bag labelled “USB Cable” with a 2TB sticker, which did not inspire confidence in the product.

It was time to put our newly acquired flash drive to the test.

When connecting the flash drive to your computer, it appears to be the real deal, with Windows reporting 1.9TB capacity.

The feedback from Windows makes the drive seem like a bargain. However, further testing revealed the nasty truth.

We tested the memory stick using H2testw — a free tool developed by Harald Boegeholz to check mass media devices for their actual size, as opposed to the advertised size.

By using H2testw, we were able to establish the true capacity of the flash drive and the read and write speeds.

The H2testw results revealed that the 2TB memory stick had an actual usable capacity of only 14.4GB.

It had read speeds of 16.0MB/s and a write speed of 5.22MB/s, which is in line with the performance of a USB 2.0 drive — not a USB 3.0 drive, as was advertised.

We were unable to change any of the partitioning on this flash drive as it disconnected from the computer as soon as an attempt was made. Reconnecting the drive presented it as 1.9TB again.

So, what we received from Wish was not a 2TB USB 3.0 flash drive as advertised, but rather a 16GB USB 2.0 drive.

It means that while the drive is usable, as soon as more than 14.4GB is written to it, files are going to be lost.

Paying R178 for a 16GB USB 2.0 flash drive is a bad deal. For a similar price, one can buy a 64GB USB 3.1 flash drive from Takealot.

The images below provide an overview of the product and the test results from H2testw.