Hacking Japan Kingston 1GB microSD @ FutureShop

[Artimes]

After I bought my Kingston 2GB microSD I soon found out that Castlevania POR ran like sh!t... (pardon my French). So then I'm at work one day and I asked the guys in Communications if we carry any high speed microSD, such as the SanDisk UltraII. Unfortunately we don't carry them (yet). I then took a closer look at the Kingston 1GB microSD cards, long and behold "Japan" was on the front of the card itself (the Kingston 2GB microSD says "Made in Taiwan" on the back). I believe the retail price was $39.99CND. However, I think they were on sale that week from $49.99. I got it for $18.83+tax... (I love cost!) BestBuy owns FutureShop and we share the same inventory, at least in Canada. FutureShop doesn't exist in the United States.

-Kudos

 

[Artimes]

I found the card on the FutureShop website, you can view it here. However in the image the writing on the front of the microSD card has been edited to be just black. More than likely to make the card look more esthetically pleasing. There hare however differences in the SD adapter. The 1GB Japan model's SD adapter has a sticker of the Kingston/microSD logos on it. Where as the 2GB model has the logos printed directly onto it. You can't tell this from the site cause the picture listed with the 2GB model on the site is the same as the 1GB model, but with a 2GB on the microSD card opposed to a 1GB. I would know this cause I own both cards.

 

[nez]

I got a 1gb Kingston Japan (rebadged toshiba) microsd card off ebay for $20AUD delivered. That's about $16USD with no tax and it's genuine

 

[4saken]

I got a 1gb Kingston Japan (rebadged toshiba) microsd card off ebay for $20AUD delivered. That's about $16USD with no tax and it's genuine

How were you sure it was Japanese? Hardly any sellers give verification as their goods are Taiwanese

 

[nez]

I wasn't sure, I didn't realise it was such an issue until after I ordered it. Then when I finally got it and saw the SD-C01G JAPAN I thought gee that was lucky

 

[Artimes]

Mine says "SD-C01G JAPAN" too.

 

[4saken]

I wasn't sure, I didn't realise it was such an issue until after I ordered it. Then when I finally got it and saw the SD-C01G JAPAN I thought gee that was lucky

Okay that's one step closer in the assumption that Kingston has dropped it's Taiwan suppliers. Most eBayers sell Taiwanese microSDs

 

[nez]

yeah I'm sure they do.

http://www.kingston.com/asia/verifyflash/
I used this site to confirm it was legit. They have stickers on the back of the packaging with all those codes on it. I supposed it would be possible for them to counterfeit ones that look like japanese cards and replicate the sticker from an authentic one lots of times. In some of the pics they show the microSD cards with the SD-C01G JAPAN markings on them but I wouldn't really trust that.

I thought kingston had stopped the use of japanese made ones and were now using taiwanese ones?

 

[Fieryshadowz]

the ones i got from Buy.com were japan.. i ordered two for like $8 because of Google checkout (-$10) and ($5 Mail in rebate)

 

[amptor]

There's a lot on ebay that I am not sure if they are fake or not and they have the exact same packaging as dealextreme.

I confirmed with a member of this forum that dealextreme's 'made in japan' one works fine with PoR but I dunno that site sells a lot of fake stuff so it is really hard to tell what's going on.

Right now I own two brand new in factory sealed container 1gb SD-C01G JAPAN and one factory sealed 512mb SD-C512 microsd. These are genuine USA packaging, one came directly from Kingston.

Also each memory card has its own unique serial number, so if you actually buy two cards on ebay and they have the same serial number on both, that would be a good way to confirm that they are definitely fake.

I'm amazed with how freaking CHEAP a 1gb is these days that there is any money at all in making a fake one. I mean...what the hell.. the packaging alone takes more effort to make than it is worth. Damn cheap bastards out there.

 

[4saken]

Yep, once of eBay I bought a microSD with the exact same serial number on the card (the one written above SD-C01G) as on the photo on the auction. The same photo was used on all his auctions. Either I got the lucky photoed one (unlikely), or they were fake.

Dealextreme cards have the serial for verification on the back so they're definitely not fake.

 

[iwakura]

just for reference:

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=49236

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=49507

 

[fli_guy84]

Yup, I've tried the Dealextreme microSD with the verification process and I can verify that it's genuine.

 

[NemesisHunter]

For those that live in the Toronto Area (Canada), I picked my 1GB Japan Kingston MicroSD from TigerDirect. It cost me only 26.99$ plus tax ^^