Go to navigation
  • from October 2010
  • to January 2012
last updated –
posted 2012-Jan-22, 5:36 pm AEST
posted 2012-Jan-22, 5:36 pm AEST
reference: whrl.pl/Rcvy3z
posted 2010-Oct-21, 5:37 pm AEST
O.P.

Anyone try one of these yet ?

The brand is Fission or Fusion or something like that. i cant find it on their website

reference: whrl.pl/Rcvza1
posted 2010-Oct-21, 6:11 pm AEST

Why not go to msy and get a decent branded one that won't fail straight away a kingston 8gb goes for $17 $2 more for a sandisk

reference: whrl.pl/RcvDot
posted 2010-Oct-22, 3:59 pm AEST
O.P.

deejay500sl writes...

Why not go to msy and get a decent branded one that won't fail straight away a kingston 8gb goes for $17 $2 more for a sandisk

Thanks.

I missed that one.

reference: whrl.pl/RcvGIy
posted 2010-Oct-23, 3:11 pm AEST

Australia Post have a Transcend 8GB USB flash drive for $19.95.
Useful for those of us who don't live near MSY (or Aldi, or…) :)

reference: whrl.pl/RcvGK2
posted 2010-Oct-23, 3:26 pm AEST

deejay500sl writes...

Why not go to msy and get a decent branded one that won't fail straight away a kingston 8gb goes for $17 $2 more for a sandisk

Because it would cost approximatly $40 in fuel to drive to the nearest one.

Believe it or not, we don't all live within walking distance of a discount PC gear supplier.

reference: whrl.pl/RcvGQR
posted 2010-Oct-23, 3:55 pm AEST

Vader writes...

we don't all live within walking distance of a discount PC gear supplier.

I don't 10km away ~20min drive

reference: whrl.pl/Rcwd3i
posted 2010-Oct-30, 11:34 am AEST

Yeah Ive got one, the copying is slow and its already corrupted on me, after someone in the household mindlessly pulled it out while copying/deleting while not saying anything.
Thats what I think happened because it doesnt allow the usb to format anymore
With either FAT, exFAT or NTFS, and its showing up as 8Mb
Usually the unit size I leave to default anyway

reference: whrl.pl/RcwFc7
posted 2010-Nov-4, 8:30 pm AEST

Same I got one when I was in there getting some other things,

Copying is slow, starts off fast, around 30 meg a sec and then slows right down, at times to 3 meg and then continues to slow down, not sure if it is a faulty one. Will be taking it back to exchange it and see how it goes.

reference: whrl.pl/RcwL1B
posted 2010-Nov-6, 10:48 am AEST

Yeah just got one it wont save you only get what you pay for back to aldi for a little talk

reference: whrl.pl/RcwXfK
posted 2010-Nov-8, 2:52 pm AEST

Traded in our screwed up one and they were happy to trade it back and give us another one. Probably just some fault of the usb's.
The usb on this one is actually not crooked and the swivel cover isnt a struggle to swivel around either. Test copying and formatting is working to perfection.
No complaints atm!

They are meant to be a good company apparently.

reference: whrl.pl/RczYe8
edited 2010-Dec-15, 8:04 pm AEST
posted 2010-Dec-15, 7:26 pm AEST (edited 2010-Dec-15, 8:04 pm AEST)

Bought 2, have tried 1 and returned it for exchange.
They are branded "fission – connect to freedom".
Should be "fission – connect to frustration!!!"
My experience = "fission" sticks are complete time wasters!!!

First one became completely corrupted = locked as 8mb after couple of days.
Could not format or anything.
Tried many ways from Google search to restore to working order but could not.
Returned it for exchange.

This new stick = when I change a folder's name, all the files in it disappear!!!
These are the worst brand of usb stick I have ever used.
Will be returning for refund.

The previous 8GB flash stick brands from Aldi like Tevion and Medion worked good for me.

reference: whrl.pl/RczYrw
posted 2010-Dec-15, 8:18 pm AEST

i bought a kingston one for $12 @ ComputerAlliance

reference: whrl.pl/RczYKv
posted 2010-Dec-15, 9:30 pm AEST

Just go to a computer store on the way to somewhere important, like the doctors or the shops for grocery shop. There must be one such as MSY or U-Mart or whatever, do it when convenient.

reference: whrl.pl/RczYVY
posted 2010-Dec-15, 10:10 pm AEST

weekend markets

29 dollar 16 gig

they're pretty good I had a 4 gig from a seller back when they were 40 for a measly 12 dollars

reference: whrl.pl/RczY1L
posted 2010-Dec-15, 10:42 pm AEST

I bought one – total sh1te – cannot reformat to anything but FAT32 – takes 10mins plus to transfer 400Mg

reference: whrl.pl/Rcz0rG
posted 2010-Dec-16, 11:05 am AEST

Picked up 2 yesterday. Perfect!

reference: whrl.pl/Rcz2L7
posted 2010-Dec-16, 6:16 pm AEST

What is the speed of this stick?

I notice it doesn't say anything about being vista readyboost compatible. Often a sign of slow ram, but possibly there's a licencing cost to make that claim, in which case maybe it isn't an indicator of slowness.

I'd much rather pay another $5 for fast ram than wait twice as long for something to copy over

reference: whrl.pl/Rcz3mi
posted 2010-Dec-16, 8:33 pm AEST

u can just go to the shop and get one

there are many of them^^

reference: whrl.pl/Rcz3te
posted 2010-Dec-16, 8:56 pm AEST

I walked into Harvey Norman last week and picked up a 4gb usb for $7, so that'd be 2 (8gb) for $14.

It is a Lexar brand and am currently using it for Readyboost. Works great.

reference: whrl.pl/RcAaYK
posted 2010-Dec-18, 4:38 pm AEST

Sandisk 8GB drive is $15 here, plus you can get 4GB (instore only) for $4, but all the other drives are available,
much cheaper than all these other places.

https://www.mln.com.au/search/index.php?typeID=22&subcategory=Storage

reference: whrl.pl/RcAbnc
posted 2010-Dec-18, 6:32 pm AEST

show us the picture mate^^

reference: whrl.pl/RcAb7D
posted 2010-Dec-18, 9:39 pm AEST

saving 1-2$$? if it costs that much for the petrol you know whats worth the drive.

reference: whrl.pl/RcAcpJ
posted 2010-Dec-18, 11:31 pm AEST

definately worth it, for Sandisk,
they have a 32GB Toshiba flash drive for $49
I saw the same drive at officeworks for like $89

reference: whrl.pl/RcAeLB
posted 2010-Dec-19, 6:16 pm AEST

There is a reason that some drives are very low cost.

Flash memory comes in a few grades and not all suppliers are honest, even the big boys.

Some of the rubbish that I've received from customers who want to be smart any buy bulk USB on foreign trade sites is quite unbelievably bad. They buy it over there, send it to me for duplication / loading.

Worst one? A MAJOR international brand bought a quantity for a conference and sent it in for loading. Some units contained a trojan, some units wrote at speeds far lower than others, some units identified as something other than what they were supposed to be.

Second worst? Ad agency sent a huge box of USB pens for loading urgently. They reported at anything from 1 Gb to 4 Gb... and they were meant to be 2 Gb. Craptacular assembly quality, write speeds ranging from OK to shockingly poor. Source? The cheapest bloke they could find in [a state capital].

If you're buying onesies and twosies for personal use, spend the dollars on premium product. You'll be happier.

If you want bulk volume for marketing or conferences, etc, make sure you know your product and trust your supplier. And don't be too keen to save a dollar else you will really get what you pay for – or worse. Your commercial reputation is worth more than that!

HTH.

Cheers – Ozi.

reference: whrl.pl/RcAfa6
posted 2010-Dec-19, 8:02 pm AEST

OziOscar writes...

or worse. Your commercial reputation is worth more than that!

Toshiba memory, Sandisk memory Kingston,
as long as its original, you cant go wrong.

reference: whrl.pl/RcAnr9
posted 2010-Dec-21, 4:25 pm AEST

textfingers writes...

First one became completely corrupted = locked as 8mb after couple of days.
Could not format or anything.
Tried many ways from Google search to restore to working order but could not.
Returned it for exchange.

I had the same problem, after 20 mins it wasnt worth my time, and just exchanged it, way way easier. Apparently a number of people on the net have had that problem.

The new one works great, and has had no problems, since then

reference: whrl.pl/RcCrRO
posted 2011-Jan-20, 11:02 am AEST

I bought 3 of these (Fission 8GB USB stick) just before Xmas and found that 2 of them were faulty and the other seems to work ok.

I copied the folders and files to the 'stick' only to find later that it didn't copy all of the files even though the remaining space available had decreased the files just didn't exist ... or in the case of the second one were corrupted.

I am returning them to ALDI's for a refund. Even though the 3rd one seems to be ok I can't take the risk as it may fail later.

I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy these at all ... they are rubbish ... and once again I have been disappointed by an electronic product I have purchased at an ALDI store.

reference: whrl.pl/RcCr0O
posted 2011-Jan-20, 11:23 am AEST

Bought two and they both were really dodgy.

Slow transfer speeds and random corruption of files.

Don't buy.

reference: whrl.pl/RcCr6H
posted 2011-Jan-20, 11:46 am AEST

dodgyest pieces of Sh1t ever, 2mb/sec tranfer rate and corrupt files, will never buy from them again, should of got a bit more expensive brand name one.

reference: whrl.pl/RcDOtG
posted 2011-Feb-8, 10:37 pm AEST

Fission 8GB USB Stick = absolute piece of crap.

Purchased one the other day from Aldi. Nothing but a headache! Slow and eventually corrupted or something!? Nightmare USB stick. Was nothing but drama from about 30 secs after I plugged the thing in. Will be returning asap not for replacement but will be asking for full refund!

Anything else I have ever got from Aldi has been fine, this is an exception!

Will purchase a better more reliable USB stick from elsewhere...

reference: whrl.pl/RcDOJ3
posted 2011-Feb-9, 12:28 am AEST

Even Woolworths sell them, I have a couple and they work fine.

reference: whrl.pl/RcDOOC
posted 2011-Feb-9, 1:40 am AEST

My Dad bought one which worked for a little while, then must have shorted out or something, as it refused to work after a few uses. I tested it and it was completely non-functional.

He returned it for another which promptly proceeded to do the same thing. He went back and got a refund.

reference: whrl.pl/RcDOT9
posted 2011-Feb-9, 5:29 am AEST

I was given one of these, just after new years, but after some random corruption and two reformats, it is now universally recognised (all PCs running all OS genres) as a read-only, yet obnoxiously blank, 8GB USB drive.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it.

reference: whrl.pl/RcEyRz
posted 2011-Feb-19, 2:46 pm AEST

Can't use this as a bootable USB, get 'boot error' every time.

reference: whrl.pl/RcEDNO
posted 2011-Feb-20, 11:07 pm AEST

You can pick up the SanDisk 8GB form Dick Smiths for $16.99. And SanDisk is a brand too..

reference: whrl.pl/RcFvOD
posted 2011-Mar-4, 3:54 pm AEST

Ebay – Sandisk 8GB Micro SD HC from China $16 – takes 2 to 3 weeks and comes with USB reader and SD adapter as well – because it's a Micro SD, fits in my Mobile phone, Smart phone, Point and Shoot camera with adapter and into my PC USB slot with reader.

I just bought 2 to last me till the next phase in Memory technology!

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280572585495&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

reference: whrl.pl/RcFvXH
posted 2011-Mar-4, 4:17 pm AEST

HN have 16 GB Toshiba flash drives for $24.

Writes @ 11MB/s, which isn't bad for a cheapie.

reference: whrl.pl/RcFwbm
posted 2011-Mar-4, 5:10 pm AEST

v6hilux writes...

Ebay – Sandisk 8GB Micro SD HC from China $16 – takes 2 to 3 weeks

Thats only a class 2 memory card so 2 MB/s. It would take around 60 minutes to fill that up. It might be ok in a phone but as a USB stick not really that great unless read/write speeds aren't important.

reference: whrl.pl/RcHwAY
posted 2011-Apr-1, 2:58 am AEST

ALDI are now carrying these 8GB sticks as a stock item.
Brand: Fission
Price as at 31/3/2011: $15.99

... and I have to add my voice of displeasure (putting it mildly) to those above.

I bought one to load up with MP3 tracks for background music via a USB enabled stereo (Yeah, I know ... that's a lot of music). I set myself up with the first 1GB of data and copied it across...

First thing I noticed was that the write speed started at under 3MB/s and gradually fell to below 1MB/s at about the halfway mark and kept falling ... but that's the good news.

File corruption was rife. No faults were flagged during writing, but the files were in a bad way. Some would play OK; some would play with a dropout or two; some would play with droputs left, right and centre; some would play ok for the first 20 seconds or so and then skip to the last 10 seconds (that's one impressive drop-out!). Then you have the ones that WMPlayer 'didn't have the codec' for and those that were, according to WMPlayer were not of the right format for the extension.

Interestingly, the originals on my HDD all played fine. I also tried the exercise on a 2GB EZCOOL stick I had with enough space ... and they all worked fine from there, too.

I checked the files by running DIFFMERGE. The result for the EZCOOL stick was perfect, but the ALDI "Fission" lived up to its name – bits everywhere.

In case I had picked up a dud, I returned it for a replacement ... but it, too, was less than perfect. I thought I would give it one more try and exchanged it for a third one.

This last one gave the best results of my file comparison test by far!! – of 180 files, only 29 of them were corrupted. That's nearly an 84% success rate (and this was the top of the class?!!)

It's going back tomorrow.

Don't know if I'll try for a fourth.........................

reference: whrl.pl/RcIpWD
posted 2011-Apr-13, 8:48 pm AEST

I got one DOA, one horribly corrupting files, and one inconspicuously corrupting files (that last one being the nastiest)!

They are all dog slow too: 8 MB/s read, 1.6 MB/s write.

I gave up and will return what I have. I have already bought a 16Gig Kingston from MSY, apart from being completely error free (from my testing with checksummed data), it is fast too: 27.3 MB/s read, 12.9 MB/s write.

Surely Aldi must be aware of this by now. And if they are, they are being downright evil by continuing to sell these.

I wrote up the ugly details of testing here: http://techbabnos.stewart.com.au/2011/04/bad-aldi-fission-8gig-usb-sticks.html

reference: whrl.pl/RcJO39
posted 2011-May-3, 12:03 am AEST

For the record – I did return the USB stick... but I haven't had the courage to try another, despite standing right next to the display box on more than one occasion.

I doubt I will ever seriously consider these USB sticks for any purpose, other than out of morbid curiosity – to see if I could find one without errors.

Quite simply – should I actually succeed in finding such a beast, I just could not trust it.

reference: whrl.pl/RcMtyo
posted 2011-Jun-7, 5:10 pm AEST

Seems Aldi has been duped by the old "Faked Capacity Memory" scam that has been rife on Ebay for years now.

Quote from the sosfakeflash site:

http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/report-a-fake/comment-page-3/#comments

"ALDI Australia – 8GB Flash Drives Please Test Capacity With H2testw Before Using. Supermarket Chain Receives Bad Supply Of USB Flash Drives, Newest Victim In The Fake Flash Chip Memory Wars."

reference: whrl.pl/RcMQnM
posted 2011-Jun-12, 8:56 pm AEST

Grump3 writes...

Seems Aldi has been duped

Update:
Had purchased a total of 5 of these "8GB" flash drives from 2 Aldi stores in my area & used the free H2testw tool to fully test them. (As well as loading & attempting to retrieve over 1GB of assorted files)
All came in at under 1GB actual capacity & would corrupt/fail once that limit was exceeded.

Despite leaving Aldi several written reports as well as phoning their distribution centre nearly 2 weeks back suggesting they be withdrawn I note they still had them on sale today.

reference: whrl.pl/RcMQNn
posted 2011-Jun-12, 10:49 pm AEST

Guy at work bought one of these. Exchanged it 3 times. All 4 never worked. Don't buy a thumb drive from Aldi.

reference: whrl.pl/RcMQWC
posted 2011-Jun-12, 11:25 pm AEST

I wouldn't trust Aldi for my storage...

Anyway why not try JB HI FI?
http://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers/storage/

They even offer free delivery on some of their products. And the prices are pretty similar.

reference: whrl.pl/RcMVA6
posted 2011-Jun-13, 4:33 pm AEST

I couldn't understand why Aldi hasn't recalled all those phony flash drives after seeing multiple complaints.

I hope someone from Aldi would read this.

reference: whrl.pl/RcMZdc
posted 2011-Jun-14, 1:44 pm AEST

Consumer Alert Aldi Stores Australia Fission 8GB USB stick – Less Than 1 GB Actual Capacity

Buyers in Australia wonder why their Aldi 8 GB Fission usb sticks don't work properly – it's the oldest reason, upgraded flash memory storage chips. Five units have been tested with h2testw, four report a real capacity less than 1 GB storage, one almost impossible to test. Buyers contacted Aldi stores about the fake capacity [.]

Link:
http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/consumer-alert-aldi-stores-australia-fission-8gb-usb-stick-less-than-1-gb-actual-capacity/

reference: whrl.pl/RcMZ0x
posted 2011-Jun-14, 4:24 pm AEST
reference: whrl.pl/RcNbHT
posted 2011-Jun-17, 1:11 am AEST

Grump3 writes...

Consumer Alert Aldi Stores Australia Fission 8GB USB stick – Less Than 1 GB Actual Capacity

Was informed by the manager at my local Aldi that these items have now been withdrawn from sale as a result of warnings published on the sosfakeflash site.

So anyone who purchased one of these fakes should have no problems getting a refund.

reference: whrl.pl/RcNbYk
posted 2011-Jun-17, 7:58 am AEST

OziOscar writes...

Your commercial reputation is worth more than that!

meh, our company provides such bad support to our customers that distracting them from their broken network (that we are meant to be fixing) to a broken pen is actually a stress-reliever.

reference: whrl.pl/Rc3Zxl
posted 2012-Jan-22, 5:36 pm AEST

These usbs are rubbish. I bought a few of them and all of them have either turned all my hard work into corrupted files or the worst one being the one that keeps overheating and burning my fingers when i try to unplug it after a minute of usage.

These are the WORST USBS IN THE FACE OF THE EARTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!