Need a new memory stick for my PSP

[Daragon]

4 GB prefered so I can fit all those lovely PS1 games I have on it. Seen this on the 'bay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sandisk-Memory-Stick-MS-Pro-Duo-4GB-4G-4-GB-G-FOR-PSP_W0QQitemZ270084163782QQihZ017QQcategoryZ18871QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

My only concern however, is that its blue whereas the ones sold by play are red (I'm assuming) One was bought recently from the seller however with positive feedback left.

Can anyone recommend what I should do? If not ebay, is there anywhere else more reputable I can obtain a 4 GB stick for less than play's price?

Cheers.

[VR46]

Sure that ebay one is a fake, what are they at play ? £60 still ? if so that's pretty cheap for 4gb, though www.mymemory.co.uk might be worth a look (but don't forget they charge £4 postage)

[tom-nook]

I read an article recently that said something like 98% of the memory cards sold on ebay are fake so probably best to avoid unless you're 100% sure it's legit.

Sandisk do the 4gb pro duo's in both blue & red btw. Blue is the standard colour for all their sticks & the red one is from their PSP branded gaming range. As far as I know there are no perfomance differences between the two.

[Daragon]

How are you able to tell if its a fake or not? The seller's feedback is decent enough.

Should probably add I already placed a buy it now bid, should I email the seller and tell him I'm not interested in it?

[Ouenben]

How are you able to tell if its a fake or not? The seller's feedback is decent enough.

Should probably add I already placed a buy it now bid, should I email the seller and tell him I'm not interested in it?

True
but the seller might not know they are fake!

[pacrifice]

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/1112089/SanDisk_Gaming_Memory_Stick_PRO_Duo_4GB/Product.html

I doubt very much play.com would be sellin fakes so i'd recommend them.

[hoyteamx]

Did you buy it already? the ebay link says bidding has finished. At that price its almost certainly a fake.

There are a few things you can do to see if its genuine. The first thing is the packaging. The packaging for the fake ones looks cheap. Six blobs of glue instead of properly heat sealed around the edges.

Once you have the memory card and you format it check the memory size. Fake ones vary in size but a 2gig should read 1,910mb. Fake ones have stuck on writing (not engraved) and sometimes they are a little thicker.

My friend got a fake 2 gig from ebay. His is still working but I`ve heard of fake ones failing after a month, getting jammed in the PSP, and not showing the true amount of memory available.

[Geoff D]

The packaging on the card I received from an amazon marketplace seller was riddled with spelling mistakes; bit of a giveaway that.

[bwi]

Easy way to check its a fake. Put the stick in your psp, don't select anything and then press triangle. Click information and then see if it says magicgate supported.

This i've been told is a damm reliable way.

Look on ebay and you will see loads of cheap blue 4gb sandisks , then do a search for gaming sandisk, there is a lot less of them purely because you can acutally see the chip inside and they are usually pretty damm close to what play, picstop etc sell for.

Personally i wouldn't touch ebay and all that good feedback is from people who just dont know that they have a fake card.

Bri

P.s none of mine have failed this test so if someone with a fake can try can you please confirm on here

[tom-nook]

I think bwi's right. I've read a few guides & most seem to suggest that if you stick the card into a magicgate device the card should indicate that it's supported rather than something like 'unknown'.

With the Sony cards there seem to be loads of guides on ebay (written by ebay members as ebay themselves aren't that proactive) highlighting how to detect a fake such as the way the packaging is sealed, holograms etc. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any easy way (when looking at pics on ebay) to tell if a Sandisk card is genuine or not though.

Personally I wouldn't buy cards from ebay and the old addage about something looking too good to be true is usually right. There are plenty of listings where the sellers say they the cards are genuine (& in many cases I think they believe it as they've been duped by their supplier) but the cards are clearly fakes.

Edit: just noticed that there's no packaging in the pic on that listing. I'd suggest you ask the seller if the card comes factory sealed....if it's loose then it's almost certain it's dodgy.

[bwi]

Ive seen some sony fake packaging and it had just three heat seals on each side . Plus where it had been heat sealed there were bulges inbetween the seals. It just didnt look right.

Put it this way if you gamble on an ebay card and you flash your psp again in the future (there have been numerous updates in the last month), would you trust a card that is more liable to corruption and failure than a genuine one?

Bri

[bootmonster]

go with the play.com one. Seriously, you won't get a real one for much cheaper on ebay (if you can actually sus the real ones) and play.com are ace for warranty cover.

This is one of the genuine sellers. Not much cheaper.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Global-Digital-Media-Exchange_Memory-Stick_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ2QQftidZ2QQtZkm

[J0e Musashi]

Put it this way if you gamble on an ebay card and you flash your psp again in the future (there have been numerous updates in the last month), would you trust a card that is more liable to corruption and failure than a genuine one?

Bri

You can just use the official 32Mb one for flashing and this for other stuffs. My mate has a fake one, it suffices for everything he needs. Perhaps transfer speed is a little slower, but otherwise it's all good.

[bootmonster]

You can just use the official 32Mb one for flashing and this for other stuffs. My mate has a fake one, it suffices for everything he needs. Perhaps transfer speed is a little slower, but otherwise it's all good.

Not if you install 3.03 OE-C the proper way. The DATA.DXAR + 150.PBP + 303.PBP is more than 32 MB AFAIK....

[J0e Musashi]

I'm on OE-C right now, 21MB was the highest I got to.