Today I will touch on the topic of faulty flash drives again. You may have heard some people talk about flash chip grades or level 1/2/3 chips. Formally, there are three grades for flash chips A, B and C and unofficially D. All flash chips start life on a silicon wafer and are cut from this wafer. The chips that have not passed the quality control are automatically separated by the machine that cuts the wafer.

A note

Also known as Tier 1 flash chips, they are the best chips available. Grade A chips have the manufacturer’s name and serial number laser etched into the flash chip. Samsung and Hynix are the largest producers of Grade A flash. These chips will have a consistently low error rate, be much faster than other grades, and will last much longer. Vendors that offer these chips often offer a lifetime warranty on the product.

Seeing as these are the chips we use, our custom flash drive orders come with lifetime replacement warranties.

grade B

These chips are as reliable as Grade A chips, but do not have the manufacturer’s serial number or name engraved on them. Grade A and B chips are reliable and have low failure rates.

Now to the low end products. The stores that offer these will never provide any kind of warranty on their products as failure is guaranteed.

grade C

Going back to the silicon wafer, there are two parts that the original manufacturers discard. The portions that have not passed quality control and the edges of the wafer. Second hand sellers will buy these wafer parts from reputable sellers and resell them to end users. These Grade C chips have a 30-40% failure rate. On rare occasions, they can cause system instability, depending on the state of the flash memory and how the computer is reading/writing data.

Grade D

These are hard to find to be honest, but if found, be careful. Some crafty vendors have a laser that they use to engrave things with… anything. These vendors will buy some Grade C chips and laser-engrave them with the Samsung or Hynix name and serial number and pass them off as the real thing. The failure rates are the same as Grade C, but you will be tricked into paying premium prices for these units. Most of these suppliers are located in China.

Buyer’s Guide (list of useful tips):

* Do not choose a foreign seller that has a lower price than the rest of the market.
*Beware of all providers that do not offer a guarantee. If they use Grade A, why wouldn’t they offer a guarantee? If there is no warranty, they will most likely sell you cheaper lower grade chips
* Always inform yourself about the quality of the products. If a sales representative seems hesitant, it may be better to go with someone else.