Now that's interesting. I have a few dead samsung uSD cards, that I'd check for genuineness, if possible. I suspect they might have been a cheap clone.

https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/...

I guess too little too late. None of the 4 dead Samsung cards I could find have the V mark (too old for that), required for validation, and they probably started adding support for regular EVO cards just a year ago or so.

does it run on linux or do i need windows to run that? because if windows is needed then sandisk can get a chunk of my salary.

It's a windows tool.