This is normal! The tool has likely detected and hidden bad blocks in the NAND flash. The remaining capacity is the true, reliable storage space. For example, a 64GB drive might end up at 59-60GB, which is accurate for a healthy TLC chip. If the drop is drastic (e.g., 64GB to 8GB), the drive was likely a fake capacity device that physically only contained 8GB of NAND.
At the heart of millions of budget storage devices lies a specific, unassuming black square: the . While the average consumer sees a 128GB drive for a suspiciously low price, technicians and data recovery specialists see the FC1178BC as the gatekeeper of that data—and often, the source of its demise.
Scammers utilize the FC1178BC (and similar controllers) to trick operating systems. By manipulating the firmware parameters, they can program a 4GB drive to report itself as a 1TB drive to Windows or MacOS. The controller blindly accepts the writes, cycling them over and over onto the small physical space until the drive is corrupted. To the user, the file appears to copy over, but the firmware is simply overwriting old data, leading to massive data loss. firstchip fc1178bc firmware
The progress bar inside the drive's slot will display the current action (e.g., Erasing, Testing, Writing Firmware ).
Choose Default Scan or Low-Level Format for a thorough repair. This is normal
Using an MPTool to re-flash the FirstChip FC1178BC controller .
However, this is not for the faint of heart. To reflash the firmware, the technician must often short specific pins on the controller chip to force it into "ROM mode," a state where it accepts new firmware commands. This process, known as "shorting the jumper," bypasses the corrupted firmware on the drive. For example, a 64GB drive might end up
: If you get a "Flash ID not found" error, you may need a newer version of the MpTools that contains the database for your specific memory chip.