Are these two 4GB cards fake?

protostar8 · 06-18-2008, 08:16 PM

I just got in two "official" sony memory cards and figured this scam forum was the most appropriate place to ask this. If not, can a mod please move it to the correct place for me.

All the faqs I've been able to find use pictures and information that is years old to try to identify cards. I know stuff can change over the course of a year or more, so I kind of wanted more confirmation. I called Sony's hotline about this and they were useless. So, would anyone be willing to try to help me determine if my memory cards are fake.

The pictures of the memory cards are being hosted via imageshack. Sorry about the broken up URL's but I don't have 15 messages on this forum yet so I can't link to them and The attachment button on the message creator isn't clickable for me (I'm guessing b/c I don't have 15 posts). To describe the cards, the storage capacity on one is 3780MB, the other is 3825, which is pretty fishy. Also, ebay's fake guide shows genuine cards as having two distinct black layers (like a black box in the middle surrounded by an outer layer) where-as my cards seem to be from one uniform mold. I formatted both via my psp, so I would think if they were official, then they'd both show up as being the same amount of space after formatting, right? Also, my cards have a giant white CE on the back of each, which I don't see on official sony cards. One card came in an OPEN official sony package while the other came loose in the mailing envelope (which wasn't how it was supposed to come). I also forgot to mention that the manuals appear to only be in 3 languages instead of the 14 that the ebay page says come with the official ones.

Thank you very much for any help. I'll happily answer any questions from anyone. Also, the seller took a long time to get these delivered and I don't want to go into that, but it just added more suspicion.

Take out the space between the "/" and "img" to make them work. Again, sorry about that inconvenience due to my not having 15 posts on this forum.
http:// img112.imageshack.us/my.php?image=001nk2.jpg
http:// img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=002xl2.jpg
http:// img393.imageshack.us/my.php?image=003mp0.jpg
http:// img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=004wg5.jpg

drew00629 · 06-19-2008, 07:41 AM

well the fact that they show close to 4gb memory isnt really an issue. the space on every mem card will vary by a few mbs, but 3.8 is around normal.
the easiest way to tell is when you put them in, do they say 'magic gate supported'? if they do then they are real.
you could also run a read/write speed test on them to determine if they fall within range of a real.

oh yes, i had a 1gb stick that also had the manual in three languages. I believe it was an older version, but it was real.

protostar8 · 06-19-2008, 03:08 PM

Okay. Good to know. I didn't really trust the MagicGate supported message b/c I've been told that newer fakes can actually fake that too now. I'm in the process of running speed tests to see using the PSXRMSTester program. Someone on the gamefaqs forums has been helping me with this too and it's what they recommended doing.

HunterXyron · 09-01-2008, 08:59 PM

Gamefaqs helping people with psp memory sticks.

You actually got people to help there????? how much did you pay???

Switchblades · 09-01-2008, 09:24 PM

Figure it out by cost, if it seems too good to be true it probably is too good to be true. Also look at the back for the sticker that says its market approved.

nain · 01-04-2009, 07:53 AM

hey guys in my country two cards are selling.One is the official sony pro duo and the other one is chinese.There is almost no difference amongst them and only an advance user can differentiate them.

drago1uk2000 · 01-10-2009, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew00629

well the fact that they show close to 4gb memory isnt really an issue. the space on every mem card will vary by a few mbs, but 3.8 is around normal.
the easiest way to tell is when you put them in, do they say 'magic gate supported'? if they do then they are real.
you could also run a read/write speed test on them to determine if they fall within range of a real.

oh yes, i had a 1gb stick that also had the manual in three languages. I believe it was an older version, but it was real.

Funny you should mention the magic gate supported thing. I bought a 4gb memory card with a pandora battery from this very site. I checked if the memory stick was magic gate supported and it said unknown.

OneTiger64 · 01-30-2009, 07:55 PM

Have you looked at this guide?

http: //reviews.ebay.co.uk/FAKE-Sony-Memory-Stick-Pro-Duo-MagicGate-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001535763

I found out one I bought on amazon was fake using this guide. Bastard just keeps changing names and still selling them. Amazon does nothing.
(remove space between : and /)