USB Memory Sticks

[astral]

Earlier this year 1 Gb memory stick failed, no apparent reason, and it was only about 1 year old.

So I bought a new 4Gb Kingston.

I have been using it as portable memory and applications whilst on a trip to Europe,

so that I could have access to my files in Internet cafes, without having to carry my computer.

Now that has failed and all the files and e-mails during the trip are lost.

Is this a common occurrence, or am I just unlucky?

[wileycoyote]

I have also had problems when disconnecting usb pen drives.

In my case if the disconnection has NOT been acknowledged by the pc,the files may not have fully transferred.

I have to check the pen drive after disconnection just to see transfer is complete.

This doubles the time....

Wiley Coyote

[astral]

In my case the whole stick is now DEAD.

[Guest Reimar]

In my case the whole stick is now DEAD.

Astral, if you can get this Spray: Kontact 61 or Contact 61 (from Kontakt Chemie, Germany), use it to spray the connectors in the stick and after that use a Video Spray (as used years ago for Video Recorder Head cleaning) for clean out the rest from Kontact 61! May it helps. It has helped me twice!

[Farma]

I have one stick that appears to be dead when I plug it into certain computers. It works fine on my home computer.

I found if I wiggle it in the problem usb connection until it lights up I can get the computer to recognise it. It may be worth trying the same with your stick.

[Firefoxx]

I've seen a big memory stick from Kingston fail. It failed right before my eyes. However, this was a single case in very many. Be a bit careful when using them, as in don't insert/remove them quickly in succession (this kills any USB device), keep the contacts away from harm, insert properly (don't bend, insert at an angle, etc), allow the drivers to load completely before using, and reboot if the computer wants you to reboot. For keeping the contacts safe, the caps do the job, but can be very easy to lose/misplace. I therefore bought the type where the contact recedes into the body by using a slider. No more lost caps.

And FYI, they're not called memory sticks. Memory sticks are the Sony proprietary memory card, that works mainly with Sony devices. These, OTOH, are called thumb drives, USB flash drives, handy drives, pen drives, or jump drives.

[elkangorito]

I've recently had a problem with my flash drive as well.

I plugged it into the schools computer, which unbeknowns to me, was heavily infected with about 47 viruses. When I asked to disconnect my drive, nothing happened for about 10 minutes (the drive light was still on & no confirmation from the computer). Because I needed to leave, I got impatient & pulled the drive out of the computer (knowing that this may cause a problem). Now the drive is still accessible but the contents of the drive are in RAW format.

I've googled about this & all the RAW recovery software costs money.

I really need this data as it is work related. Is there anybody with any ideas please?