Some time ago I bought (online) a portable SSD drive (2TB) and a thumbdrive/flash drive (1TB).

 

I bought them as part of a project to store as MP4 and MP3 my large collection of music CDs and DVDs. Both devices initially worked. When I got up to about 7 or 8GB they both failed, and in fact some of the files and folders already on them had become unreadable.

 

I sighed, muttered about cheap Chinese crap, and put them in a drawer.

 

Recently I dug them out - and would like to try them again. My PC runs Windows 10 (64 bit).

 

Is there some process, or software perhaps, which can sort them out, or is it simply cheap Chinese crap!

 

 

Yes....sorry 

Throw them away. Don't buy cheap crap if you want you data stored reliably.  I mean, throw them away. Obviously just 8GB drives.

Goggle data recovery software. Unless the drive is physically munted, you should be able to get something out of it.

 

 

6 minutes ago, JAG said:

When I got up to about 7 or 8GB they both failed, and in fact some of the files and folders already on them had become unreadable.

 

This usually means they were fake. If you want to know for sure, check the brand name and how much you paid compared to somewhere like JIB or Amazon. If it was less than half the price of well-known retailers, you likely have your answer. While you could try using them, I'd bin them as they will never be reliable.

Can’t believe people still use portable drives if <1TB is enough storage 🤦🤦‍♀️ 

 

1TB cloud storage included in Microsoft  365 subscriptions. Thank me later!
 

 

Yes, Microsoft 365 subscriptions include 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage. This is a standard benefit for both Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family plans. 
 

The storage is accessible across various devices and can be used to back up files and photos

 

 

6 minutes ago, Nemises said:

Can’t believe people still use portable drives

 

People travel.

 

Not everyone has reliable internet.

 

 

6 minutes ago, Nemises said:

1TB cloud storage included in Microsoft  365 subscriptions. Thank me later!

 

I'll thank you if you pay for my annual subscription ... By the way, what do you pay?

46 minutes ago, JAG said:

Some time ago I bought (online) a portable SSD drive (2TB) and a thumbdrive/flash drive (1TB).

If you bought them cheap?  They are probably fake.  I tend to buy my drives from retail stores like Advice.  There is so much fake cr*p online, even if you pay premium prices you really don't know what you're getting. Average price of a "real" portable 2 TB SSD drive is about 5000 THB and a 1 TB "flash drive" is about 2500 THB.  

However, with that said, a number of manufacturers do have anti-counterfeit portals on their websites where you can check your device's authenticity. If you can find those sites, use them to verify your devices authenticity. 

Example: https://verify.seagate.com/verify/

5 minutes ago, VR333 said:

Not everyone has reliable internet.

This is a Thai forum and Thailand has reliable internet.  

36 minutes ago, JAG said:

Is there some process, or software perhaps, which can sort them out, or is it simply cheap Chinese crap!

 

You could try reformatting them to   less capacity  than they fail at

say  7 gigabytes  then try filling them up with data make a check sum them and  back the data  compare the checksums

https://windowsreport.com/checksum-on-windows/

 

20 minutes ago, Nemises said:

1TB cloud storage included on Microsoft  365 subscriptions. Thank me later!

 

Not everyone wants 3 letter agencies to have all their personal information.

2 minutes ago, johng said:

Not everyone wants 3 letter agencies to have all their personal information.

Wrong. Any uploaded “personal information” is (can be) password protected. 

Yeah, plenty of these on Lazada, Shoppee etc ( used to be, not sure if still have) usually sell for ridiculously low prices 

Usual scenario is they will show the correct amount of space and appear to work fine initially, then the files will start to overwrite and everything becomes corrupted.

Best to bin them I would say .

46 minutes ago, Nemises said:

Can’t believe people still use portable drives 🤦🤦‍♀️ 

 

1TB cloud storage included in Microsoft  365 subscriptions. Thank me later!
 

 

Yes, Microsoft 365 subscriptions include 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage. This is a standard benefit for both Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family plans. 
 

The storage is accessible across various devices and can be used to back up files and photos

 

 

This is why.  Speed.  Even a USB 3.2 is about 200 times faster than using cloud storage over the internet.  And if you lose your internet connection?  You're still go to go if you have your data on a portable drive.

Portable devices
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps)

USB4 (40 Gbps)
Thunderbolt 3/4 (40 Gbps).

Cloud Storage
10–100 MB/s

3 minutes ago, Nemises said:

Wrong. Any uploaded “personal information” is (can be) password protected. 

Which can be easily 'broken' by 3 letter agencies if they want/need. That is standard practice these days mate - they can access anything and everything. Especially true in Thailand - no 'consumer laws' to hold them to account either. 

5 minutes ago, Nemises said:

Wrong. Any uploaded “personal information” is (can be) password protected. 

And did they ask you what you had for breakfast.

Buy a good micro sd card from Jib, they dont sell fake stuff and very fast.

Can use it in your phone or tablet to play files, if you need it as a usb drive just use an adapter.

Class10 and up is fine.

 

https://www.jib.co.th/web/product/product_list/3/320

I own several Seagate Ultra One Touch SSD external hard drives and they are absolutely fantastic. Super fast, quite tiny, with a capacity of 1 to 5 TB and fairly well priced. It's really worth it to invest in high quality dependable hard drives. They're easy to travel with, I store hundreds of HD movies and full seasons of HD television shows on them, in addition to a lot of important data and documents. 

 

 

H2testw is the original fake capacity checker

 

https://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/H2testw.shtml

 

Make sure you copy off whatever is still accessible as it will erase your drive.

 

1 hour ago, JAG said:

Is there some process, or software perhaps, which can sort them out, or is it simply cheap Chinese crap!

Why not bin them, then go down to a Computer store and buy a couple ... Thumb drives, SD cards, External storage devices,  whatever you desire. Not one of those has ever failed me. If you are worried about cheap Chinese items then do not buy via online shopping. Not that this is a bad way to shop, just you will have a higher % chance of getting defective crap items.

Currently my music, movies, pictures, are stored on a number of  1T SSD San Disks, with another copy for redundancy sake, on a Seagate 7T Backup Plus hub. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuva

1 hour ago, Nemises said:

Can’t believe people still use portable drives if <1TB is enough storage 🤦🤦‍♀️ 

 

1TB cloud storage included in Microsoft  365 subscriptions. Thank me later!
 

 

Yes, Microsoft 365 subscriptions include 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage. This is a standard benefit for both Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family plans. 
 

The storage is accessible across various devices and can be used to back up files and photos

 

 

It because of the boring hassle of uploading the drives. I have eight 1 and 2 gigabyte drives and an old laptop. It will take AGES to upload to the drives to the cloud!

2 hours ago, Magictoad said:

It because of the boring hassle of uploading the drives

Bigger hassle trying to recover data from failed hard drives - as detailed in the OP. 

3 hours ago, VR333 said:

By the way, what do you pay?

Very affordable - provided you don’t live poverty 😀

 

3 hours ago, VR333 said:

I'll thank you if you pay for my annual subscription ..

Sorry to hear that you live in poverty🙃

3 hours ago, connda said:

This is why.  Speed.  Even a USB 3.2 is about 200 times faster than using cloud storage over the internet.  And if you lose your internet connection? 

Speed is not an issue for me when uploading important files and photos etc to the Cloud. What matters most to me is that they’re always there when needed - unlike what’s happened to the OP. 
 

If speed (of Cloud-stored files) is ever an issue or if connectivity is likely to be a problem, I will download a copy in advance. 

 

Buy brand name.

in reputable store.

or you will get fakes.

 

Don't store sensitive data on line, ever. 

46 minutes ago, quake said:

Don't store sensitive data on line, ever. 

 

FYI:

 

“Google has not had a known major breach of Google Drive data to date, though some Gmail accounts have been compromised via phishing.”

 

 

 

“In 2023, Microsoft reported that state-sponsored hackers accessed some employee emails, but not user files on OneDrive”

 

 

Probably fake and not recoverable to stated capacity.

 

Whenever I buy high capacity usb drives I always check them first with a testing  app -like fakeflashtest -  but there are several out there - Beware if you have data on the drive most of them will delete it so recover what you can to a known good drive first but none of them will give you more than the actual capacity of the drive you received

 

 

 

4 minutes ago, Nemises said:

FYI: “Google has not had a known major breach of Google Drive data to date, though some Gmail accounts have been compromised via phishing.”

Online storage may be useful but if your internet connection goes down it's not available until it is restored and also there is the issue of whether the data is encryted during transfer and who has access to the encryption keys.

https://www.cloudwards.net/best-encrypted-cloud-storage/

ExFAT format seems to work better on thumb drives but I have run into similar issues, particularly with MP3 files. SD cards work much better.

1 hour ago, Nemises said:

 

FYI:

 

“Google has not had a known major breach of Google Drive data to date, though some Gmail accounts have been compromised via phishing.”

 

 

 

“In 2023, Microsoft reported that state-sponsored hackers accessed some employee emails, but not user files on OneDrive”

 

 

 

Don't care mate.

it's never a problem until it is.

please carry on storing sensitive data on the net.

but for me.

No thank you.