Need a tool to ID USB flash drives if possible (it's a generic store brand).
Want also to perform some integrity testing before putting many drives to use.

Can anyone please recommend the best tool or tools for this job (bootable or windows based preferred)?

What do you mean by "ID" them? there are tools like chipeasy, chipgenius, Flash Drive Information Extractor (getflashinfo.exe).

be careful when downloading the first 2 - scan for malware with up-to-date scanner. But great tools. tells you chipset, flash chip ID's, serial number etc..

for testing, I assume you mean writing and reading with no errors the full advertised capacity? if so there is h2testw http://www.heise.de/download/h2testw.html.

any specifics I missed, just ask again with more specifics

cheers

These are not fakes but a real dirt cheap in store "home brand" of some random manufacturer. I'm interested in finding out who makes them to see if they are going to die a fast or slow death anytime soon. For testing, again its just integrity to see if they hold up before using them for some backups.

ok, gotchya. first - get one and open it up and post pictures of both sides of the PCB. If you don't want the expense, I will buy it off you and pay for shipping. Actually I would like to do that in any case if you don't mind posting one.

1 - it doesn't matter who makes it, and I doubt you would ever find out who anyway. And this isn't an indication of quality, or durability or anything else.
2 - You cant go by price. Many USB's are the same inside. I have seen AU$6 and AU$18 drives, different brands, exactly the same inside. Verbatim, Toshiba and Sony often have same controller chip and same NANDs. different prices for no fathomable reason except store that sells them.

Some of my favourite USB's - Sandisk Cruser switch 8GB are AU$5.97 at Officeworks

things to look at, and be sus of:
Alcor controller
"blob" controller and/or NAND memory chip
NAND memory chip with RMRMRM lasered over the Sandisk brandname

if you do a file copy test of many small files, the speed should stay the same roughly. a crappy device will start higher, and gradually get slower. or may just be slow anyway. I don't have any speeds available off the top of my head, but for your own tests, test 2 or 3 of decent brandname: Sony, Toshiba, Corsair, Kingston, Sandisk, Verbatim, Patriot.. then compare with the subject.

also test with h2testw - this tests every bit of the flash, and filling it up is a good test, some fail when you fill them. It also makes sure they haven't lied about capacity.

But if you are talking only 6 or less, I would be sticking to the brand names. Though cheap ones for low useage probably wouldn't be a problem but there is no garauntee the firmware is written well, or design of PCB is good with proper voltage filtering and protection, the correct circuit board layout is used (most recommend a 4 layer board for correct signalling, but cheapies often use single layer).. discreets of poor quality etc etc.

all that said, they just may be fine, and a bargain