> On Oct 6, 2025, at 4:12 AM, intrigeri <intrigeri@???> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> David A. Wheeler via Tails-dev (2025-10-02):
>> This revealed to me that the current Tails.net <http://tails.net/>
>> website doesn't include any information on how to safely get a good
>> USB stick, or that this is important. There are a lot of
>> counterfeits and low-quality sticks that could make Tails *appear*
>> to work poorly.
>
> Just a data point on this specifically: since
> https://tails.net/news/version_6.11/, we do detect counterfeit or
> low-quality USB sticks at runtime when they cause trouble bad enough
> that we notice, and when this happens, we give advice to the user that
> will help them replace their USB stick with a better one.
It's a great idea to note Tails 6.11's detection mechanism.
I've added that to the suggested text.
However, that detection mechanism is *FAR* from foolproof.
It's opportunistic.
Tools like H2testw can strongly detect fake capacity, but they
make installation harder (another step users must do),
significantly wear the drive, take hours...days to complete,
can force the drive into modes that are less reliable
It's MUCH better to choose a good stick in the first place.
> I'll let sajolida figure out, on the new issue we've created, if we
> can/should do better.
Happy to work with sajolida. I think this is important.
USB stick quality is more important to Tails than most OS installations.
So, it's important to document.
--- David A. Wheeler
