Maps Navigation MicroSD card security

Hey all
Looking for someone with IT/ programming knowledge here.
I bought one of the MicroSDs for 2021 (actually 2020 maps FWIW) and it works fine in my 4runner. It was not OEM, but some Chinese company on Amazon. Link to card

862710E073 Latest Maps Update Navigation sd Card 2021 Fit for Toyota PRIUS 4 Runner

here. That said, again it works fine in my 4runner.
I felt the technology was simple so I just copied to another microSD, the original one from my 4runner, to use in my other Yotas. Many of the models 2013-2020 use the same card. So I wiped my T4rs old card. MSDOS formatted to FAT32, added the same files and tried my wifes 2013 Highlander.
It immediately recognized it, did a 15 minute update and rebooted the dash. However when it came back up, it said card is not able to be read. I thought that was odd, since it literally took the update. It even shows the same updated package as my t4r on the settings app. It just cant read the maps.
Just curious what other setting could be made on a microsd that would prevent maps from being read. Any ideas?

 

Just a guess but they may have a security bit that gets flipped to prevent people from doing the very thing you tried.

 

Secure enough that a Chinese company could just copy it and sell on Amazon?

 

Chinese are probably programming at the bare metal level, not MS-DOS, and know how to flip it back.

 

I'm really looking for someone who can tell me what method is used to secure these cards.
Unsecure enough that the system will update, but secure enough that the maps can't be read.

 

Cloning the card before installing it in a device would have a better chance of working probably. I have to do this often at work on servers with proprietary OS installed on SSDs. I can use a fresh unused drive but once installed they are non transferable.

 

Interesting. So perhaps a new card would be better than an updated factory card.