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Author Topic: Disappearing Flash Drive  (Read 3792 times)

Offline Steve_J

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Disappearing Flash Drive
« on: March 20, 2009, 01:18:37 AM »
Hi to all TSers. It's been a very long time since I was here last.

I've come across a problem I can't figure out. sos.gif (So what else is new. Isn't that why we came here in the first place?)

I recently purchased a 32Gb Kingston Flash Drive that I wanted to use for backing up my primary. So far, so good. I plugged it in to my USB port and it popped right up. I copied some files to it and that seemed to work also. So what's the problem you say? Well, a short time later and for no apparent reason, isn't that always the case, it disappeared from the desktop never to be seen again.

Here's what I've done to attempt to recover. I opened up Disk Utility and there it was in the listed volumes. I selected it and ran First Aid. Uh, Oh. Error, Error with the following message, "The underlying task reported failure on exit!. So I ran Erase and that worked and so did partioning. Still no drive on the desktop, so I rebooted. Disk Error with the following message, "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer."

To make a short story long. After repeating the same procedure in various combinations, Run First Aid, run Erase, run Partition, reboot, with the same results, I'm at a loss. wallbash.gif I need some help here. Any ideas?
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Offline gunug

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« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2009, 05:06:29 AM »
You don't say what computer, OS Version, or flash drive you are using but I have seen this happen upon occasion.  The fact that it worked at first means that you probably have a good format on it although a friend of mine does format his flashdrives (8G or  higher) with NTFS for use with XP and Vista (boo). I have had some USB connected drives that were stubborn and what has seemed to work for me is booting up in safe mode (holding down the shift key) with the thing plugged in the first time and then see if it doesn't come up that time or a second time when you boot up.  I've also seen permission/preference problems mess up mounting external drives as well (I use AppleJack on my systems to fix such things).

Good luck with this and welcome back!  smile.gif
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Offline Steve_J

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« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2009, 10:10:37 AM »
QUOTE(gunug @ Mar 20 2009, 02:06 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
You don't say what computer, OS Version, or flash drive you are using but I have seen this happen upon occasion.  The fact that it worked at first means that you probably have a good format on it although a friend of mine does format his flashdrives (8G or  higher) with NTFS for use with XP and Vista (boo). I have had some USB connected drives that were stubborn and what has seemed to work for me is booting up in safe mode (holding down the shift key) with the thing plugged in the first time and then see if it doesn't come up that time or a second time when you boot up.  I've also seen permission/preference problems mess up mounting external drives as well (I use AppleJack on my systems to fix such things).

Good luck with this and welcome back!  smile.gif


My computer is a Cube running OS 10.4.9 The drive is a 32 Gb Kingston DataTraveler Flash drive
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Offline Steve_J

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« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2009, 09:49:56 PM »
Well I tried AppleJack but it did not help. Out of utter desperation I tried formatting the drive in MS DOS and joila! there it was back on the desktop.

So now the question is, what up with that? Why will it format in DOS and not Mac?
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Offline krissel

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« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2009, 05:19:42 AM »
Well, Kingston says MSDOS is the default but doesn't say you can't use any other.  Curious.  Thinking.gif

http://www.kingston.com/support/howtodt/default.asp?type=m3


However, in Googling I did find people with problems trying to access their large GB Kingston drives. I have a feeling they may need to rework their hardware. One foreign site dealt with counterfeit drives.

http://www.fixya.com/support/t1800822-pen_...t_formatted_any

http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-37343-6...file-disappears
« Last Edit: March 21, 2009, 05:20:28 AM by krissel »
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Offline sandbox

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« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2009, 11:15:54 AM »
I have a few of their smaller DataTravelers, so far no problem. I can format them for any platform. I use them between OSX/Linux/XP ....but again they're in the 4-20 mb range.
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Offline Steve_J

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« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2009, 01:30:26 PM »
QUOTE(krissel @ Mar 21 2009, 02:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
However, in Googling I did find people with problems trying to access their large GB Kingston drives. I have a feeling they may need to rework their hardware. One foreign site dealt with counterfeit drives.


I contacted Kingston and it turns out my drive is counterfeit. So now I will try to get my money back.

For anyone purchasing DT100 or DT150 larte capacity "Kingston" drives, look on the USB connector. According to their tech support, the part number is etched into the connector.

Caveat Emptor!
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Offline chriskleeman

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« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2009, 01:51:27 PM »
Steve J nice to see you around! Even if you are having a problem sad.gif

That really stinks that you were sold a counterfeit drive, but I guess it's a somewhat more simple fix in the end!

I hope you get your money back, and we thank you for the heads-up on that one notworthy.gif

Chris K
« Last Edit: March 21, 2009, 01:51:59 PM by chriskleeman »
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2009, 02:31:40 PM »
Sorry 'bout getting scammed! Easy to do nowadays, I guess. And thanks for the alert!
QUOTE
the part number is etched into the connector
That makes interweb/mail ordering rather tricky...
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Offline jcarter

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« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2009, 06:56:29 AM »
Where did you buy it?  
Jane
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Offline Steve_J

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« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2009, 02:46:02 PM »
QUOTE(jcarter @ Mar 25 2009, 03:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Where did you buy it?  
Jane


I purchased it on eBay. I will tell you what vendor as soon as the resolution is complete. So far they have been very cooperative.

I have had very good luck on eBay. I've been buying electronics there for years and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times something has gone wrong. I can remember only once getting "scrued" and that was with an electronics game I purchased for a Christmas present that never showed up.

I say "cavere emptor". (Buyer be careful)
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Offline jcarter

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« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2009, 03:49:17 PM »
Ive only bought a couple of things on ebay, but here is a funny, well not that funny, story about that.
There has been a rash of big new TVs stolen from summer houses around here, and one family came for the weekend and found theirs gone, cops came and they made the report and all. Then they went on ebay to get another TV, and found one they wanted, looked at where it would be shipped from, yes indeed, right about 15 miles away, in the 'bad' part of town.
Called the cops back, and they got a warrant and found 60 stolen TVs in the cellar of that rental. ANd the TV that belonged to the people from here was there.
Jane
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Offline Steve_J

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« Reply #12 on: April 02, 2009, 09:50:41 PM »
Just wanted to follow up on the vendor of that counterfeit flash drive I purchased on eBay. They returned my purchase price promptly and with no questions asked or any hesitation. All in all a good result from a disappointing purchase. The vendor was Sherri Harbison of Texas, a.k.a. beachbumsunltd.
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Offline krissel

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« Reply #13 on: April 03, 2009, 02:09:48 AM »
Thanks for the update.  salute.gif
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Offline jcarter

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« Reply #14 on: April 03, 2009, 07:00:58 AM »
I just hit her site on ebay, and the feedback said "refunded price of counterfeit drive".
Jane
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