True, unfortunately. Back in my old job a couple of people still used a DOS-based database program that was so ancient/poorly coded, it would only save to floppy (it was happy to grab data from other drives, but would only save to the A: drive. Why? You tell me). Cue major freak out when the floppy disk inevitably died one day. We recovered the data and I started thinking about virtualising the floppy drive, but decided to advise the head of the department to request a little cash for a long-overdue upgrade instead. Local government IT can be terrifying at times.
I used to run all my homebrew off of a fake 2GB pro duo on my PSP and never had a problem. I have heard horror stories though, so getting a sandisk would probably be the best bet.
Yeah, ive had homebrew run off of some fakes, however good luck getting a ps1 game to run from a fake.
Sony and Sandisk co-developed the Memory stick format. It has been a few years since I used flash memory for anything but hobbies, however here is what I do remember. Most of the Sony sticks in the early days were manufactured by sandisk. They may even make all of them, I am not certain if that holds true at this point. Since Memory sticks use the magic gate technology they are able to prevent un-licensed technology and as a result most of the knock-offs are shady at best. It seems that a lot of the fake memory sticks are simply poorly made, while others forge headers and actually do not hold the amount of information they state they do. If you use a lower quality of memory stick be prepared for problems. Like everyone else said do not buy them from ebay. I would also steer clear of some of the discount chains as they may also unknowingly get ahold of counterfeit units. Stick with an authorized retailer that is well known for customer service to ensure you get a good stick. There are also several guides out there to help you spot a conterfeit from a real one as well.
I have used Sony, SanDisk, and Lexar in my PSP for home brew. I bought a fake SanDisk model off eBay and it worked but did not support Magic Gate (not sure if that matters). The only area I had issues was when I played my ripped UMD games. I ran into stuttering issues while playing games that require a lot of loading off the stick. I also ran into slow transfer speed while loading and saving data on the stick from my PC to PSP. I ended up destroying the thing and just waited for good deals on the name brand models. If you live in the states Fry's has a nice deals on an 8GB Lexar MSPro DUO. http://shop2.frys.com/product/5495639?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG As others have stated I can also vouch for Sony, SanDisk, and Lexar. I currently use a 1GB and 8GB Sony, 4GB Lexar and a 4GB SanDisk Ultra II.
Ehhh i would stay away from lexar as well, my lexar stick absolutely refuses to play PS1 games off of it, My ripped UMD's and homebrew work fine, other that the stuttering you were mentioning when the game/homebrew is loading from the stick, but it does nothing but give an error message when trying to run a PS1 game. The Sony and the Sandisk both run everything fine.
