Re: [gentoo-user] Re: problem formatting new 256 GB USB stick : glances at gparted

[Philip Webb <purslow@ca.inter.net>]

250218 Michael wrote:

-- details of using 'f3probe' snipped --
 
> This is good news, it confirms neither of them are counterfeit units.
> However, the 2nd stick appears to be defective.  It takes almost 3.5 times
> as long than the first stick and from what we know for no good reason.
> This indicates the second stick has bad flash cells,
> a bad flash controller, or both.  I would return the bad stick as defective,
> asking for it to be replaced.
> 
> In my experience stores are box shifters.  Goods In - Goods Out.
> They try to buy from wholesalers with whom they have some relationship
> based on price-reliability-convenience and who they hope
> also apply similar criteria in their relationships up the supply chain.
> Any link in this chain can go wrong and you end up with bad goods.
> I don't expect them to perform QA/QC
> beyond looking at the shipping labels and customs declarations.
> The manufacturers may perform some actual quality checks on a sampling basis
> after the prototypes have been put together
> and the brand reps may audit the odd production run.
> I would think the rigour of such checks
> is proportional to the value of the assembled items.

Yes, that's very much what one would expect of any successful retailer.
My experience with Canada Computers since 2000 --  25 yr  -- has been good :
they do try not to sell anything which cb unreliable.
However, as you say, all it takes is  1  broken link in a long chain.

I tried formatting one of the sticks using Gparted + Glances.
After  10 hr  while I was asleep, it had formatted  1  partition
& was clearly stalled on the 2nd : the Parted progress bar was moving to-fro,
Glances reported critically high CPU I/O wait of  c 25 %
& that it was writing small amounts of data to the partition every  30 sec .
I had to cancel Gparted from the root command line
& then tested the 1st partition, which allowed me to edit a file,
but was very slow at everything.

So yes, at least  1  of the sticks is unusable & probably both.
I can take/mail them back to the store & ask them to test them with Linux
& refund my CAD if they confirm they're defective.
I would expect this store to be honorable re it
& to be pleased to have someone report the problem
st they can report back to their supplier & avoid future trouble.

Frank had a useful suggestion re alternative devices,
which I will reply to separately.  Your own comments thereon wb useful.

-- 
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