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  • Detecting the life of a USB flash drive?

    From Mr. Man-wai Chang@3:633/10 to All on Monday, January 05, 2026 23:05:52

    Is it possible?

    Say I placed a brand new USB drive at home. Someone sneaked into my home
    and replaced it with an old one. Can I detect this? :)

    --
    @~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
    / v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
    /( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
    ^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul@3:633/10 to All on Monday, January 05, 2026 18:30:38
    On Mon, 1/5/2026 10:05 AM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:

    Is it possible?

    Say I placed a brand new USB drive at home. Someone sneaked into my home and replaced it with an old one. Can I detect this? :)


    Drive serial number ?

    wmic diskdrive get serialnumber

    Probably easiest to check a hard drive label,
    to see if the printout matches any field
    on the drive label.

    Paul


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mr. Man-wai Chang@3:633/10 to All on Wednesday, January 07, 2026 11:22:27
    On 6/1/2026 7:30 am, Paul wrote:
    On Mon, 1/5/2026 10:05 AM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:

    Say I placed a brand new USB drive at home. Someone sneaked into my home and replaced it with an old one. Can I detect this? :)


    Drive serial number ?

    wmic diskdrive get serialnumber

    Probably easiest to check a hard drive label,
    to see if the printout matches any field
    on the drive label.


    That only tells the serial number, but not the date it's manufactured.
    Old and new are just dates. ;)

    --
    @~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
    / v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
    /( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
    ^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul@3:633/10 to All on Wednesday, January 07, 2026 00:46:17
    On Tue, 1/6/2026 10:22 PM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
    On 6/1/2026 7:30 am, Paul wrote:
    On Mon, 1/5/2026 10:05 AM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:

    Say I placed a brand new USB drive at home. Someone sneaked into my home and replaced it with an old one. Can I detect this? :)


    Drive serial number ?

    ÿÿÿ wmic diskdrive get serialnumber

    Probably easiest to check a hard drive label,
    to see if the printout matches any field
    on the drive label.


    That only tells the serial number, but not the date it's manufactured. Old and new are just dates. ;)


    You wanted to detect a "substitution" of the item.

    Record the original serial number, then if
    the serial number is changed, you know the
    device has been replaced.

    That is all the serial number can do.

    USB sticks are of such poor quality, that the
    manufacturer doesn't want you to know how much
    usage it has had. On one stick, I only got to
    write it with a DVD ISO about seven times, before
    it died. The flash should manage at least six hundred
    writes.

    Whereas the older flash drives, ones having SLC or MLC
    flash, those last and last. I have one that is 8GB
    capacity, and it's had lots of stuff stored on it.

    Paul

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mr. Man-wai Chang@3:633/10 to All on Wednesday, January 07, 2026 20:07:28
    On 7/1/2026 1:46 pm, Paul wrote:

    You wanted to detect a "substitution" of the item.
    ....
    USB sticks are of such poor quality, that the
    manufacturer doesn't want you to know how much
    usage it has had. On one stick, I only got to
    write it with a DVD ISO about seven times, before
    it died. The flash should manage at least six hundred
    writes.
    Other than never ever leave them on the table and walk away, I guess
    there will never ever a method to solve the problem.

    --
    @~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
    / v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
    /( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
    ^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)