  | Member with 53 posts. | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Experience: Intermediate | | Flash drive not working properly Something is wrong with my flash drive. I've been saving files to it, and each time before disconnecting I go to "stop" the drive before removing it. However, most of my files have been lost on it, reduced to some obscure format that I can't work with. Also, each time I put it in, I get this message asking me if I want to scan and fix errors on the flash drive. Selecting "more options" reveals that, apparently, it's not a Windows XP drive.
What is going wrong? Is there some way to just re-format the entire zip drive and start from scratch?
EDIT: I put this in the wrong forum. Can a mod please move it to the WinVista forum?
Last edited by toll_booth : 13-Aug-2009 05:09 PM.
| | | Junior Member with 3 posts. | | Join Date: Aug 2009 Experience: pretty good but not great | |  Solution your best bet, is to remove all the files on it, then you should reformat by putting it in a different computer then back in you own computer | | | Member with 53 posts. | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Experience: Intermediate | | Quote:
Originally Posted by widewiilover  your best bet, is to remove all the files on it, then you should reformat by putting it in a different computer then back in you own computer | OK. Can anyone else confirm that this is the optimal solution? | | | Member with 53 posts. | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Experience: Intermediate | | Yikes, we're going from bad to worse. Now I can't even format it, let alone access any data on it.
I'm starting to wonder whether it's just a bad disk. Is there any other way to wipe it clean? FWIW, I did complete a format earlier, but this didn't solve the problem over the long term. It worked for a few days but then...didn't. | | | Member with 53 posts. | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Experience: Intermediate | | Bump. Problem not solved yet. | | | Member with 53 posts. | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Experience: Intermediate | | Please, I need help with this.  |  | Senior Member with 197 posts. | | Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Long Island Experience: Advanced | | It would seem to me that if you're still having problems after a format you have a bad drive.
What are the specs of the drive? Size? Manufacturer? Age?
If it's still under warranty you'll most likely be able to get a replacement sent out from the manufacturer.
Have you tried running a chkdsk -f on the drive?
__________________
President, Vanguard Networks, Inc.
Cisco Networking Academy Graduate - CCNA
CompTIA Network+ Certified |  | Senior Member with 126 posts. | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Experience: Advanced | | Are you running any type of user control software, this may be affecting the way your drive works. |  | Distinguished Member with 20,637 posts. | | Join Date: May 2006 Location: Eastern Pa Experience: Advanced | | Quote:
Originally Posted by toll_booth Yikes, we're going from bad to worse. Now I can't even format it, let alone access any data on it.
I'm starting to wonder whether it's just a bad disk. Is there any other way to wipe it clean? FWIW, I did complete a format earlier, but this didn't solve the problem over the long term. It worked for a few days but then...didn't. | It could be a bad disk as they really don't last long. How are you trying to format it? | | | Senior Member with 126 posts. | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Experience: Advanced |
11-Sep-2009, 02:46 PM
#10 | Maybe you should try formatting through command prompt. If you need help formatting through the command prompt then open the command prompt (Start Menu >> Run>>cmd.exe) and type HELP FORMAT in the command line. | | | Member with 53 posts. | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Experience: Intermediate |
19-Sep-2009, 01:26 PM
#11 | Quote:
Originally Posted by pllobell It would seem to me that if you're still having problems after a format you have a bad drive.
What are the specs of the drive? Size? Manufacturer? Age?
If it's still under warranty you'll most likely be able to get a replacement sent out from the manufacturer.
Have you tried running a chkdsk -f on the drive? | 16 GB, unknown manufacturer/age. I ordered it used off of ebay. Quote:
Originally Posted by BillSnapWire Are you running any type of user control software, this may be affecting the way your drive works. | Such as? Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich-M It could be a bad disk as they really don't last long. How are you trying to format it? | Via Windows. Whenever I insert the drive while My Computer is up, it wants to format (but can't). Quote:
Originally Posted by BillSnapWire Maybe you should try formatting through command prompt. If you need help formatting through the command prompt then open the command prompt (Start Menu >> Run>>cmd.exe) and type HELP FORMAT in the command line. | Tried that but it failed. This error message appeared:
"Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable." | | | Senior Member with 126 posts. | | Join Date: Sep 2009 Experience: Advanced |
02-Nov-2009, 05:03 AM
#12 | Quote:
Originally Posted by toll_booth 16 GB, unknown manufacturer/age. I ordered it used off of ebay.
Such as?
Via Windows. Whenever I insert the drive while My Computer is up, it wants to format (but can't).
Tried that but it failed. This error message appeared:
"Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable." | User control software such as Windows SteadyState or surveilance software.
If it says the disk is unusable, then maybe it is just a corrupted disk. A company such as Tech Guys may be able to help retrieve data on it or some software can. You may want to research this further.
__________________
"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google." | |
Smart Search
| Find your solution! | |
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | | | WELCOME TO TECH SUPPORT GUY! Are you looking for the solution to your computer problem? Join our site today to ask your question -- for free! Our site is run completely by volunteers who want to help you solve your computer problems. See our Welcome Guide to get started.
| You Are Using:  |
Advertisements do not imply our endorsement of that product or service.
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:44 PM.
Copyright © 1996 - 2009 TechGuy, Inc. All rights reserved.
Powered by vBulletin, Copyright © 2000 - 2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
|  |
|
Welcome to Tech Support Guy! Read our Welcome Guide or take a minute to watch the video below!
Windows XP 
Search 
