# What's the deal with this portable hard drive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753 "2026-06-08T16:43:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/1 "2026-06-08T16:43:34Z")
I want to buy a portable hard drive which I can plug in to my laptop so I can back up files. The prices seem to have gone up since the last time I bought one. Which is why I was surprised to see this offer: > **[Amazon.com: VLSVLS Tinycarry 16TB Large-Capacity Type-C Portable Mini SSD,...](https://www.amazon.com/VLSVLS-Tinycarry-Large-Capacity-Portable-External/dp/B0H3947H9F)** > > Tinycarry 16TB Large-Capacity Type-C Portable Mini SSD, Tinycarry 16TB External Hard Drive A 16TB drive for forty dollars? Other companies are pricing 2TB drives at over a hundred. What am I missing here? What’s the reason this drive is so much cheaper than others? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/2 "2026-06-08T16:50:55Z")
It’s a scam. Ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/3 "2026-06-08T16:53:00Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > What am I missing here? You are missing that fake products are very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very very common on Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/4 "2026-06-08T16:54:10Z")
It’s a fake / scam. Amazon has lots of those. The drive is much smaller but is programmed to falsely report it’s big. And also lie when it fills up. So it continues accepting written data from the OS and just throws it away. Since lots of drives are bought for backups that are never read from, folks can be backing up to nowhere for years before they notice. By which time the scammer has long since closed a dozen generations of Amazon stores, each with generic Chingrish names. Amazon could stop this cold. But they’re now too big to care. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/5 "2026-06-08T16:55:36Z")
Zero customer reviews and almost everything else sold by that brand are beauty products. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/6 "2026-06-08T16:57:28Z")
Article on these fake hard drives [Why the Heck Is Amazon Selling These Fake 16 Terabyte Portable SSD Drives?](https://www.howtogeek.com/142496/why-the-heck-is-amazon-selling-these-fake-16-terabyte-portable-hard-drives/) And if you look up the company “vlsvls” on various business advisor boards, so many alarms go off that there is a chance it will attract your local fire department. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/7 "2026-06-08T17:05:11Z")
The old aphorism, “If it is too good to be true it probably is.” applies here. The OP had a sense of that and asked here. Pay attention to that. This is almost certainly a scam. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/8 "2026-06-08T17:05:17Z")
Okay, it looked suspicious. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/9 "2026-06-08T17:05:25Z")
I mean, actual portable 16TB SSD sell for literally **thousands** of dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/10 "2026-06-08T17:07:21Z")
Nah…can get one for less than $600: > **[Amazon.com: WD 16TB Elements Desktop External Hard Drive, USB 3.0 for...](https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Desktop-Drive-Compatible-WDBWLG0160HBK-NESN/dp/B08KTRKB6S)** > > WD Elements desktop storage with USB 3.0 offers reliable, high-capacity, add-on storage, fast data transfer rates and universal connectivity with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices. The sleek design features up to 18TB capacity plus WD quality and... ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/11 "2026-06-08T17:08:53Z")
Good article. Thank you. It’s worth pointing out it’s 3 years old. Which means a) there have been some tech and price changes since then. And b) this problem is not new and Amazon is still ignoring it. And ignoring many other similar problems for other kinds of products. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/12 "2026-06-08T17:08:54Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Nah…can get one for less than $600: That’s not a portable solid state drive… ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/13 "2026-06-08T17:10:24Z")
Our own @Mangetout has done several videos on his YouTube channel about various scam storage devices, how they work, etc. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZG-Joa3e5Tk/maxresdefault.jpg "Testing A \*FAKE\* 2TB USB Flash Memory Stick (SCAM from Wish.com)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG-Joa3e5Tk) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/14 "2026-06-08T17:14:40Z")
I didn’t try looking very hard but I cannot find a “portable” 16TB external drive. Best I saw was 8TB. Beyond that you get something like I linked. Again…I only did a cursory search. Maybe some exist. To be fair, the one I did link above is not huge and can be carried but I get it is not something you want to stuff in a backpack either. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/15 "2026-06-08T17:18:15Z")
I think the point is that it’s not an SSD. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/16 "2026-06-08T17:18:56Z")
Maybe I’m using the wrong terminology. I’d call the WB 16TB you linked to a “portable”. Does portable mean a drive that’s small enough to carry in your pocket? If so, what’s the term for a drive that’s the size of a paperback book? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/17 "2026-06-08T17:20:58Z")
Fair enough. 16TB SSD do exist but they are rare and expensive. Meant for enterprise servers. Not Joe Schmo. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/18 "2026-06-08T17:21:00Z")
Ok, I think there’s a bit of “who’s on first” going on. “Portable” is a subjective term. The actual issue is the linked hard drive is not a solid state drive (SSD) - it’s got magnetic platters. There are ‘portable’ 16TB magnetic drives for under $1000 (but still several hundred dollars), for a given value of ‘portable’. There are, to my knowledge, no portable 16TB SSDs in the sub-$1k price range. There are no commercially available sub-$100 16TB drives of either type that are not scams. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/19 "2026-06-08T20:33:09Z")
One of three things will happen if you buy that: 1. They send something else and try to spin out the refund process until you give up. 2. They send a thing that looks like that and it’s just an empty usb drive enclosure. 3. As (2), but inside there’s a little PCB with an 8gb SD card plugged into it, that has been spoofed to report 16tb capacity. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2026, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753/20 "2026-06-09T01:47:55Z")
You think that’s a bargain? I just had a pop up ad on YouTube for a 32TB hard drive that fits in my pocket _ **for less than the price of a beer.** _ But there were only 100 left. Also, when I clicked on the link, the first warning I got was that it wasn’t a secure connection. Too bad, for “less than the price of a beer” I might have ordered it and taken it apart just to see what was inside. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-this-portable-hard-drive/1030753.md?page=2)