USB Flash Drive

[hoffm11]

I just got a 128 MB Sandisk Mini flash drive and experienced a disturbing issue today. I copied a bunch of files from my home computer (XP Pro) and then brought the device to work and noticed all the files I put on there where delete, but the folders where still there. My work computer is a Win2K computer. Has anyone had this issues with a flash drive? How did you correct it?

[Janak Parekh]

Hmm. I hope your unit isn't defective. Run a CHKDSK/Scandisk on it and see what turns up. You made sure to eject the device from XP in software first, right?

--janak

[carphead]

Is the drive formatted with NTFS? It could be a security issue if you are in the Administrators group on your home PC but not your work machine. Try formatting it with FAT32.

[hoffm11]

I thought with XP, you don't need to eject the device using the tray icon? I know in Win2k it is "recommended."

[hoffm11]

Is the drive formatted with NTFS? It could be a security issue if you are in the Administrators group on your home PC but not your work machine. Try formatting it with FAT32.

I will have to try this.. Thanks for the info.

[KenClunk]

I have had many problems with SD sandisk card as well as thier readers. First yes the files can currupt because of not safely ejecting the card however this is unlikely. Also in XP you do not have to "eject the card" so long as you have the settings correct.

In "My Computer" right click on the removable drive then go in to properties. In the removable disk properties go to the "hardware" tab. Click on the device and then click properties. Another winow will open with that devices properties. Click on the "polocies" tab and make sure that it is set up for quick removal.

If that is right then you can just take the card out whenever it's not wriyting to it. The next thing i would do is reformat the card. The do a dick check. You can do both by right clicking on the drive. Do this to make it "fresh".

If p[roblems still come up go to Sandisk's site. They have a recover tool that you can download for free. This also comes in handy when you need to retrieve currupted files without formatting.

I have had to send my cards to sandisk twice before b/c the cards were bad. I hope you don't have to go through that headace.

[hoffm11]

Thanks for the recommendations.. This site rocks!

I formatted the drive and made it FAT32 and also did a "full" scan disk. I then copied the files over to the device and used the "Safe Removal" in XP and WIN2k and everything seems to work.. Oh also, I didn't put the Cruzer Lock program back onto the device. I will have to try that later and see if that was causing my problems.

Thanks again!

[KenClunk]

I'm glad that you figured it out.

[carphead]

I had the same Sandisk Cruzer Mini delivered today. I'll see if I can make it do the same :)

Brought one of these baby's because their bootable :wink:

[Zack Mahdavi]

I thought with XP, you don't need to eject the device using the tray icon? I know in Win2k it is "recommended."

It's still basically required, but Windows doesn't complain if you pull the drive out without ejecting it. However, data loss is still possible if you don't eject the drive. XP offers a "quick remove" feature, which is supposed to fix this.

Sometimes, you may not see the eject icon in your system tray. It sometimes get hidden beneath the "<" arrow.

I've been using a Cruzer Mini 128MB for about 5 months now and haven't had any problems. It's been very good to me.. :)