'Undead' Thumb Drive

[cornemuse]

I have a thumb drive, 16 gig HP branded (but I have also basically the same 'diff color' PNY branded drive), ntfs formatted mixed media on it. It did work but started causing computer to freeze up when attempting to open it. Was about to break it open to see how much space 16 gigs takes up!

Ubuntu could not open it either.

Plugged it into still another computer (with XP 64 bit) & read it just fine. Transfered all files & re formatted it to fat 32. OK. The other computers still cant read it. (ubu or xp 32). This includes plugging into front panel usb ports and directly into (without usb extensions) the mobos usb ports, all of 'em, 1 at a time. Yes, first thing, did AVG virus scan, fwiw. scan complete before I lifted my finger off the key!

Any ideas??

(I come up with some strange stuff huh?)

-corne-

[fritzi93]

Offhand, it seems to be your hardware.

1) The drive and files are okay on another computer.
2) The problem persists regardless of the OS booted to.

Um, dumb question: Tried a CMOS reset?

You're right, that's a weird one.

[KarMa]

Happens to me with a very cheap and slow Kingston I have (16GB). Froze my computer twice so I rarely use it with my Win7 computer. Dunno why.

[Nelson37]

First, eliminate a random malfunction by repeating insertion test 4-5 times on each box with a power cycle in between. Once or twice is not enough.

"Once is bad luck, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action!"

Most bad sticks develop a crack in the board or connection point causing intermittent operation, this gradually gets worse until they don't work anymore. Also, some types of PC usb port supply more, or less, power than others so this may exaggerate the problem on a flaky or marginal stick.

[jagabo]

16 GB thumb drives cost $5. Throw it away and get a new one.

[cornemuse]

Money not the issue, already replaced it. Just try'n to understand whats going on.

-c-