This post is intended to inform those who are not aware of the SD memory card problem. I'm talking specifically about SD (Secure Digital) cards because that's what the Gopro and another camera that I own require, but I'm sure the problem is not restricted to this type of memory card.
Not only Gopro camera users but digital camera users in general are usually on the lookout for good deals on high capacity memory cards. High capacity nowadays is 16GB and 32GB. If you find such memory cards on ebay for example, at a price that's too good to be true, you're probably going to be ripped off. This is not exclusive to ebay though, fake cards are circulating everywhere and even find their way into reputable stores in your area. They look exactly the same as the real deal, but all it takes is a paper label.
When talking about a fake card what we usually refer to is the storage capacity being less than what is stated for the card. In the case of the Gopro camera you should also be aware that cards don't necessarily need to have fake storage capacity to cause problems. It's also a question of card quality which is designated as class. Class refers to the minimum read and write speeds that a particular card is capable of, which need to be high when the camera is writing large amounts of data as in the case of high definition video. A table showing minimum read and write speeds per class:
Consequently the Gopro requires a class 4 or higher memory card. So a problematic card is also fake because while the storage capacity (designated in GB) may be correct, it may be labeled as class 4 but the actual read/write speeds are less than what a class 4 card should have. Using a card like this in a Gopro can really mess up the camera, although never permanently. The symptoms of an incompatible card due to lower read write speeds may be mild with the video footage being slightly distorted at times. In more severe cases the camera will freeze, and you will not be able to turn it off or on until you remove the card and battery, put the battery back and then turn on the camera, sometimes with a good card inserted and sometimes without any card. The freezing problem can also be caused by a card that's simply bad/not usable at all. Here is a program called Crystal Disk Mark that you can download and use free, which will test and report your card's read and write speeds.
Cards with fake storage capacity. To make a fake large capacity 16GB or 32GB card any size card can be used, even one as small as 128MB. Such a fake card is not as easy to spot as plugging it into your computer, clicking on properties and seeing what the storage capacity is. What happens with these fake cards is that the fraudsters mess with the card's programing, so that when your computer reads the card it will tell you the fake storage capacity. This programming can't be simply undone by something like formatting the card, and is difficult for the typical user to ascertain.
Often the fraudsters will use a higher capacity card, like a 2GB or even 4GB to make the fake card. Doing this is particularly devious and damaging. The reason for it is that a camera user will often not pass the 4GB mark until some time has passed since the card purchase. Up to 4GB the card will work fine. When the user does pass the 4GB mark the camera will keep on filming, except the data will not be stored. It will be visible in the card as large files, but when trying to view the video it will not play and will say the file is corrupted. In this way users who thought they were getting footage, possibly of something very important, will end up with nothing, and spend a lot of time trying to understand what is going wrong with their camera. The buyer also would've already given irreversible positive feedback to whoever they bought the card from shortly after receiving it. This is why in these fraudulent ebay vendor's feedback you see many satisfied customers and only a few people complaining.
I learned all this the hard way buying a bunch of cards. I thought I was getting a regular deal because I was buying wholesale, but I got ripped off too. I first determined a problem when I tested the card by transferring a large file to it, in this case a DVD just over 4GB. When the card wouldn't hold the data I started to research online for tools that will show me the true capacity of the card. There are a few little utility programs available that will test the card's storage capacity. But the test takes time which I didn't want to spend. I just wanted to revert the card to it's true capacity if possible, to make it usable; so that when the card is full the camera will stop filming and the data will be saved. I did find a simple to use program that will do just that without it being necessary to test the card. DISCLAIMER - I haven't used this program with a healthy high capacity card, so I don't know how it will affect it, although I think it should be fine. If you have problem card you've got nothing to lose. In a few easy steps this program restored %90 of the 16GB and 32GB cards I had to their true capacity which turned out to be 3.3GB. The other %10 of the cards became completely unusable, but they were probably unusable to begin with as I never tested them. The program is HP Drive Key Boot Utility and is free to download and use. The procedure to restore a card after the program is installed on your computer is:
1. Insert card into your card reader.
2. Start HP Drive Key Boot Utility
3. Click next
4. Select the drive the card is in and click next.
5. Select "Create new or replace existing configuration" and click next.
6. Select "Hard Drive" and click next.
7. Select "Create new filesystem" and click next.
8. Let the program work. When it's done and the interface changes to "HP firmware flash package" close the program.
9. Find the card's drive in My Computer, right click on it, and select format from the menu.
10. in the format menu it should already show the card's new true capacity, FAT32 should be selected as the file system, and default allocation size. Select quick format and click start.
That's it, it all takes one minute and the card will be formatted and ready to use with whatever smaller capacity it has.
