There are tons of fake Memory Sticks out there, and while some of them do work, many feature less than reliable performance. mavy, a programmer from PSX Reality, has come up with a comprehensive, homebrew method to check if your flash card is a fake. The test won't be fast, and it will involve doing a reformat of the disk, but it does appear to be quite comprehensive.
However, I've also heard that there's a poor man's way of checking for the real deal. Go to the PSP's XMB, and have "Memory Stick" highlighted as one of your options. Hit Triangle and then "Information." If MagicGate, Sony's proprietary copy-protection scheme isn't supported, chances are high that you have a fake.
[Via PSP3D]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-09-2007 @ 11:31PM
murg182 said...
i bought mine at the sonystyle store in fashion valley so i know its real
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1-10-2007 @ 1:36AM
jon said...
^^^exactly, if you bought one from a reputable retailer, like a physical electronics store, and not online from ebay, then you know yours is real
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1-10-2007 @ 4:20AM
BurnZ said...
Mines fake but it works, I didn't but it cause it was a Sony anyway. I bought it due to its capacity.
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1-10-2007 @ 4:27AM
Akz said...
Mines 2gb memory stick is fake but it works none the less!:p
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1-10-2007 @ 6:27AM
appy said...
i bought a fake one off ebay for dirt cheap. so i threatened to give him negative feedback and he sent me a genuine one :D
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1-10-2007 @ 7:02AM
Unicron said...
I know my 256mb and 2gb sandisks are legit.
But i would never buy a memory stick off ebay because there is a high risk of it being a fake. And the fake ones might be working fine now but at any point the could get corrupted meaning that everything on the stick will be lost.
Likewise i would never buy a GBA game from ebay as most are bootlegs.
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1-10-2007 @ 10:04AM
V0rteX said...
hey, i guess mine's fake too. Do you guys manage to play psx games on the psp with your fake mem sticks?. cause i cant :/
for the rest it works pretty fine
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1-10-2007 @ 1:22PM
Topsy said...
So if it says, "UNKNOWN" when you do an information about the mem stick on the XBM it's a fake?
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1-10-2007 @ 2:15PM
Jerome said...
my 2Go was fake and did not work! Took some pictures, but after a couple, it completely f*ck my cameras, corrupt files! Got it from ebay, 2 hours later after sending a email to the guy gave my money back! I then bought a 4Go from a store for 110$. I am happy now! :P
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1-10-2007 @ 9:24PM
brian hanna said...
if it says unknown next to the magic gate thing does that mean its fake? cuz i got mine from amazon market and it says unkown
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1-10-2007 @ 10:00PM
Ryan said...
Yeah my 1gig which i bought off ebay is fake but it still holds 1gig and ive had no dramas with it so i dont care
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1-11-2007 @ 12:05AM
Dreadhead541 said...
mine's fake, and it works just fine
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1-11-2007 @ 10:02AM
Ujn Hunter said...
I bought a cheap 2gig card online from an Amazon seller, and it ended up being a fake... it works fine so far, but it's fake none the less... blah
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1-11-2007 @ 1:39PM
Yashamaru said...
All 3 of my 4GB (sandisk Ultra II) are real and I use the XMB to check (way better then a format). I feel bad for anyone stuck with a Sony MS. Sony's are over priced (like every apple) and slow.
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1-11-2007 @ 9:43PM
Cwapeater said...
Whats the big deal if it's fake, all of you guys seem to say that your "fake" ones work fine, mine does too ... as far as I know
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1-20-2007 @ 8:56PM
unhappy ebay buyer said...
LITTLE STORY THAT MAY BE HELPFUL TO PEOPLE THAT HAVE OR WILL BUY OFF EBAY(soz it a bit long i didnt have time to rite a shorter one)
WARNING ABOUT A SELLER ON EBAY
i got two off of ebay from a guy called zt_shop, i didnt leave feedback straight away cuz of the amount of sites saying about fakes (that i didnt find until i ordered it,blah) he charged me for two lots of packaging and posting which later turned out they were sent in the same pakage!!! then iput some stuff on me card and everything, apart from the fact that when i tried taking the card out my psp it kept getting stuck but a litle wigle and was fine.so i went up town psp in pocket watching some simpsons on the bus , it pullled in to station so i turned it to standy,20 mins later went to watch rest and loandbehold card corrupt,so i took it out gave it a blow and put it bak in as this normally works but it f**d my card up as i couldnt even reformat!! THEN WHEN I LEFT NEGATIVE FEEDBAK THE SELLER ON EBAY ISSUED A CASE AGAINST ME TO GET IT REMOVED BECAUSE I WARNED PEOPLE HES SELLING FAKES THAT CORRUPT FOR NO REASON!!! i even have suspicions hes getting his friends to give him good feedbak!!
my advice wait and test before leaving feedback as people are just commenting on how good delivery was and not quality!
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2-02-2007 @ 5:27PM
Mark said...
to 'unhappy ebay buyer'.....I've had the exact same problem with this guy, unfortunately I've left positive feedback already, and as it turns out I've got a fake too, corrupted all my game saves.....he was very quick to reply to my email when I thought it was just faulty and said he'd replace it, but I've sinced found out it's a fake, so have gone to the dispute console on ebay/paypal, and hopefully I'll hear something from him soon.....I ain't gonna hold my breath though....
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3-14-2007 @ 1:47PM
Daniel said...
yes mines real, i got it from a electonic store its a blue sandisk 2 gb for $60
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