Sandisk 512MB Flash Drive

Hey, Ive been having problems with a Flash Drive, and im not sure what the problem may be. Every once in a while when I plug in my drive it tells me that the drive is not formatted and must be to be used. I have clicked format multiple times and have lost all my information, which is becoming frustrating. I'm not sure if this is because I unplug it before I click the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon or what. It says in the instruction that it is not necessary to do. When I got it it didn't ask to reformat for the first ferw months, but after I had it for a while, It just started "unformatting" on its own. If anyone knows any reason why this may be happening, could you please tell me.

Not removing it properly could certainly be a cause of it. There is a reason you have to go through the procedure and i think youve just found out what that reason is!

How many times did you write data to it?
There is a limit to this...

sandisk instructions do say that "safely remove hardware" dont have to be used.
there is a windows update for media card reader.
try that.

sandisks website has drivers if you are not using windows xp or me edition
http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/DriverDownloads.aspx

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Originally posted here by SirDice
How many times did you write data to it?
There is a limit to this...

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What do you mean by "limit"? I am constantly writing and reading to the drive; are you saying that that could be the cause?.

there isnt any limit.

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there isnt any limit.

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Oh yes there is! It is a solid state transistorised device. There is a limit to the number of cycles that a transistor can take. Depending on the quality of the device, that is probably of the order of 10,000-100,000, so it is not likely to be the problem here................in any case you would be getting media errors not formatting ones.

Basically I wouldn't use Sandisk if you gave it to me. the reformatting thing is a known issue. And I do not believe them when they say you don't have to properly dismount the device before unplugging it. Sure you can get away with it, but there is nothing on Earth will save you if you pull it out whilst it is still being written to.

:)

What nihil is saying is likely right on. I use SanDisk stuff for a while. I don't run into problems with them. I do use the dismount function for either SD cards or flash drives. Just my own paranoia.

However, if you are reading and writing to them as you would a hard drive (like using Word or Excel to open and edit a file on the device), this may be part of the problem. Write caching may be your culprit. If you don't run the dismount function, there may still be things in the write cache that haven't been finished when you pull the device out of the interface. Unfinished writes leave an open/incomplete file in the device. Just like in a floppy or Zip disk, the open/unfinished file will make the media unusable.

My own practice, carried over from floppy and Zip days, is to: 1) copy the working files I want over to the hard drive; 2) work on the files and save them to the temporary location; 3) copy the files back to the media; 4) run the dismount function and remove when prompted.

Haven't had a problem.

Buy decent kit
it works out cheaper in the long run

follow all disconnect instructions AVIDLY

replace, but first COPY, each FLASH drive on a regular basis


I think THAT covers it :)

also.... if you are mounting and dismounting it from PC to Mac (vise versa) frequently.
am always burning a flash disk so many times.

arrgh, now when I plug it in it says "found new hardware ADIR ROM". I am assuming my flash drive is now screwed . . . also, sometimes it will know that it is a flash drive when I go into My Computer, but when I double click it, it says: "Please Insert a disk into Drive E:"

Now, I think the best solution is to buy a new one, and put the old one in the package, return it, and now I have a new one. :D There isn't anything wrong with this anyway, because it has a two year warranty, and I haven't had it that long. And its easier to do it this way. Do you see anything wrong with this?

No, nothing wrong there, they generally have a warranty of 2-5 years. Even allowing for the finite number of cycles that the transistors can handle they should last significantly longer than that.

Also, you followed their instructions. With the new one I would recommend that you follow ours.

Also, if you start to experience problems, save all data and deliberately reformat it perhaps once a fortnight or month depending on how much you use it ;)

I have certainly encountered problems with Sandisk SD cards in digital cameras and that seemed to be the work around. I am sure that it is something to do with their software/firmware, perhaps it has been fixed :)

ok, thanks guys! I'll make sure to so wat you guys said. I guess that was nieve of me to think that they would last through that abuse. (I WAS using it like a HD, saving to it about every 45 seconds :rolleyes: )