Tag Archives: test

fixed : ValiDrive alternative for macOS

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Question :
I have purchased a 2TB USB-stick for a discount price. I thought that was an incredible deal and when I received it it looked great and my Mac even recognises the USB-stick as properly and sees 2TB of available disk space. I can even reformat the drive and it will still remain listed as 2TB… incredible !
But as the brand name on the product and the packaging do not add up, I got the feeling that at least something is off… so I googled some and found that it is common practice with USB-sticks with extreme memory sizes to turn out to be fraudulent or even counterfeit products… in-factory the firmware has been hacked to make the USB-stick appear as a large volume drive, but when in use, but when in use the data copying either stops when the maximum amount of actual (hardware) memory capacity is reached (4GB or 8GB or sometimes even more) or the data copying keeps on going endlessly but is at the same time erasing previously copied data…
That is really bad news…
Now there is a tiny piece of software for Windows that can check if a drive has been tampered with like that : ValiDrive by GRC (Gibson Research Company) …but that’s Windows-only…

Is there any app for macOS that can do the same ?

Answer :
YES there is !
Even though there is no official version of ValiDrive for macOS and drive checking apps like Disk Utility, TechTool Pro, CleanMyMac X and WD Drive Utilities are not (yet) able detect these hacked drives… there is a macOS-app that can :
Drive Capacity Tester by Sascha Simon Software ( available on the Mac AppStore )

Here’s how to use Drive Capacity Tester to verify USB drives :
– plug the USB-stick into your Mac
– if there is still data on the USB-stick, backup all data from it, then trash everything or reformat
– when there’s no more data on the USB-stick, open Drive Capacity Tester
– then, in the list, select the USB-stick
– in the popup window that appears, just leave Size at “Full” and Steps at “Write and verify data” and click the “Start Test” button (there is no nessecity to pay for the Pro-version… but it is of course very kind of you to support Sascha Simon by buying the Pro-version)
– now, if the countdown underneath the “Writing Files” status bar just counts down to zero, just let it finish… if it finishes regularly, you’re good : the drive is what it is supposed to be
– but… if the countdown underneath the “Writing Files” status bar counts down extremely fast, then loops and restarts the countdown… you can be sure that it is a faulty USB-stick
– in that case you can stop the “Writing Files” process as it will probably get you nowhere… (or you can let it run till it finishes, if ever, hoping you will find how much memory space there actually is on the drive

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

info : comparison of lightning-splitters

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Question :

I would like to use two lightning-connections on my new iPhone that only has one lightning-connector. Are the available lightning-splitters any good ?

 

Answer :

Yes and No.

Yes, if you only want to use a pair of wired headphones and charge your iPhone at the same time, all lightning-splitters I’ve tested are up to the job. And if you have a USB-headphone (or a mini-jack-to-USB-adapter) you could even use the Apple Lightning Camera Connector.

But if you want to connect anything else, the lightning-splitters that I’ve found won’t do the job… even the ones that claim to support data syncing didn’t support in iOS 12 in my testing…

So, for now it’s only power&audio-splitters…

Here‘s an in-depth comparison [open attached file] of the lightning-splitters I’ve tested :

Apple Lightning Camera Connector

Auswar Lightning Audio Splitter

Beyeah Lightning Audio Splitter Argent

Beyeah Dual Lightning Splitter

PowerBear Dual Lightning Splitter

Arotao Dual Audio & Charge Adapter

 

My recommendations would be :

  • if you want a mini-jack-adapter for your headphone : get the Auswar Lightning Audio Splitter
  • if you want data-transfer : get the Apple Lightning Camera Connector

test : iPhone 5 covers compared

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Searching for a good cover for a brand new iPhone 5, I had to do a lot of searching, since most iPhone 5 covers do not meet these three minimum requirements :

1- anonymity : it should not be too easy for others to see that I am holding an iPhone, so the Apple logo must be covered (the cover should preferably be plain black, distinguished in design and not too bulky)

2- small cut-out for the rear-camera : different from iPhone 3G(S) and iPhone 4(S) covers, most iPhone 5 covers have an extremely large cut-out for the rear-camera – this should be considered a design failure, since there is no technical need for this and it means that there will be two differently colored materials from the back of the iPhone visible in the cut-out… which looks extremely un-stylish…

3- ports & screen protection : the ports (audio headphone jack and lightning cable port) should be covered to not gather dust or sand, and the screen should be protected from accidental scratching (without having to turn to a flip-case design)

Luckily, during my elaborate search I found the solution(s) for the third requirement :

– the best ‘dust stopper’ is by far the “(unbranded) iPhone 5 Combined Headset and Lightning Dust Stopper“, because it’s flexible/elastic and you will not easily loose it since it stays fixed to the iPhone (thought the headphone jack) when you have to unplug it for charging

– probably the best ‘screen protector’ I’ve come across is the “Colorfone Screen Guard (Clear) for iPhone 5“, because it leaves the screen colors and sharpness intact, it has  extremely minimal cut-outs (for the menu-button, the front-speaker and the front-camera) and it took little effort to place without bubbles or dust-particles

The first two requirements however where too much for most cases, including my initially preferred brands like Belkin, Marware, STM and Griffin (and other ones like Kensington, Macally, Incase, Incipio, Gear4, Muvit, Rocketfish, Ozaki and Xqisit). So I ended up comparing these five iPhone 5 cases :

– Speck CandyShell for the new iPhone (black)

– SwitchEasy Tones for iPhone 5 (black)

– Artwizz SeeJacket for iPhone 5 (black)

– Terrapin Protector IP5 (black)

– iGadgitz TPU Cover for iPhone 5 (black)

And the winner is…

even though all of the five cases tested (or rather : compared) are good products, and you might personally favor another case…

…my ‘best buy’ choice goes to the iGadgitz TPU Cover for iPhone 5 (black) because it it without a doubt the best value for money at only 1 GBP (ca. 1,50 euro), it is not bulky in any way, it fits tightly, the design is very chic, and it even has a screen protector film included (with rather minimalistic cut-outs)

my full comparison of these five iPhone 5 Covers is available here :

comparing 5 iPhone 5 covers

Note : judging from online reviews, I had high hopes for the Speck CandyShell and SwitchEasy Tones : they might provide slightly better protection than the iGadgitz Cover, but the very complete SwitchEasy Tones turns out to not be black at all (despite the name) and it’s tiny buttons are rather uncomfortable in use …and the Speck CandyShell turns out to look rather cheap due to low production quality and there’s a design fault since the perforation for the speakers doesn’t line up (which might even degrade the audio quality)…