Today in Edworking News we want to talk about f3 - Fight Flash Fraud
f3 is a simple tool that tests flash cards' capacity and performance to see if they live up to claimed specifications. It fills the device with pseudorandom data and then checks if it returns the same on reading. F3 stands for Fight Flash Fraud, or Fight Fake Flash.
Testing Performance with f3read/f3write
To test the performance of your flash drive, you can use f3write and f3read. These tools work in tandem: f3write writes large files to your mounted disk, and f3read checks if the flash disk contains exactly the written files. This ensures that the flash drive is performing as expected and not losing data.
```bash
f3write /media/michel/5EBD-5C80/
f3read /media/michel/5EBD-5C80/
Replace `/media/michel/5EBD-5C80/` with the appropriate path for your system. On Macs, USB devices are typically mounted in `/Volumes`.
Quick Capacity Tests with f3probe
f3probe is the fastest drive test and is suitable for large disks because it only writes what’s necessary to test the drive. It operates directly on the (unmounted) block device and needs to be run as a privileged user. Be cautious, as this will destroy any previously stored data on your disk.
```bash
sudo f3probe --destructive --time-ops /dev/sdX
Replace `/dev/sdX` with the correct device identifier.
Correcting Capacity to Actual Size with f3fix
If you discover that your flash drive is fake, f3fix can help by creating a partition that fits the actual size of the drive. Use f3probe’s output to determine the parameters for f3fix.
```bash
sudo f3fix --last-sec=XXXX /dev/sdX
Replace `XXXX` with the last sector number provided by f3probe.
Installation
Download and Compile
You can download the stable version of F3 from here. Uncompress the files and compile them using the following commands:
```bash
tar -xzf f3-7.2.tar.gz
cd f3-7.2
make
sudo make install
Compile on Different Platforms
F3 can be compiled on various platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Windows (using Cygwin), and Mac. For detailed instructions on compiling F3 on these platforms, refer to the official documentation.
Docker
A pre-built image is available on Docker Hub. To use it, run:
```bash
docker run --rm -it --privileged --device=/dev/sdX:/dev/sdX altmay/f3 f3probe --destructive --time-ops /dev/sdX
Replace `/dev/sdX` with the correct device identifier.
Graphical User Interfaces
Thanks to the growing community, there are several graphical user interfaces (GUIs) available for F3:
F3 QT: A Linux GUI that supports f3write, f3read, f3probe, and f3fix.
F3XSwift: A Mac GUI that supports f3write and f3read.
Additional Resources
For more advanced usage, you can explore bash scripts and other tools like Flakyflash to identify and mark bad data clusters in the FAT file system.
Image: Testing flash drive performance and capacity using F3 tools.
Remember these 3 key ideas for your startup:
Ensure Data Integrity: Using tools like f3 helps verify the integrity and performance of your flash storage devices, ensuring that your data is safe and reliable.
Optimize Resource Usage: By identifying fake or faulty flash drives, you can avoid potential data loss and optimize your storage resources effectively.
Leverage Community Tools: Utilize community-developed GUIs and scripts to enhance your workflow and make the most out of F3’s capabilities.
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For more information on F3 and to download the latest version, visit the official GitHub repository.
For more details, see the original source.
