A Flash Drive Just Stopped Working!

Hi! My new floppy drive is working fine--even though it wouldn't stop clicking while connected to my main laptop--but now, a flash drive just stopped working: when I connect it, i get no indication that it was even noticed. I switched it with my USB mouse, and the mouse still works, but the drive doesn't. I can try the drive at my day program tomorrow, but in the mean time, I want to access it. What can I do to find out why it doesn't work, as it has some important data on it that I want to use?

 

It worked on the computer at my day program. I extracted a few goodies from it but nothing essential. I'll try the drive again now.

 

Still the same.

 

Another flash drive works.

 

Not a good sign. If it can't be read on the computer at your "day" program/location, there is something wrong with the drive itself. If it CAN be read on your day computer but nowhere else, there is a possibility some sort of "encryption/compression" was used originally; I's strongly recommend you back it up without compression or encryption onto another type of media as soon as possible; either CD, DVD, or another thumb drive. (I wish you luck.)

 

Uhh...thank you. I think I have some extra flash drives to which I can copy some of the information.

 

I plan on trying it on a Win98SE computer later today, as I think it's FAT32. I'm pretty sure it wasn't compressed, and I'm very sure it wasn't encrypted.

 

I just tried it into the Win98SE computer and it worked. Then I plugged it into the problem computer, and this time, it worked! I don't know what happened, but I'm sorry for wasting your time.

 

That may work, but any computer from Win 95 (and probably earlier,if you can access the drive) should be able to read a FAT 32 drive. Be aware, however, that Win 98, or even Win 98SE were NOT able to read or access thumb drives, and needed an "aftermarket" driver to do so; I had to do that to get my Win 98SE computer to access the USB thumb drives and external hard drives. I believe the Win 7 and later solved the problem.

 

As I said, it did work on a Win98SE system: it has the necessary drivers, and I'm able to both read from and write to flash drives.

 

That's good; Win 98, and even Win 98SE came with many different versions of the USB drivers, or the computer (s) in question may have been updated with the newer drivers. But if the thumb drives ARE "FAT 32," there's no reason any computer running Windows of any flavor shouldn't be able read them. Either way, I'd recommend ALL critical files be copied somewhere else ASAP.
(Remember, we ARE talking about possibly 25+ year old computers here. and at least 4 generations of Windows ago.)

 

I don't think there's a problem anymore, as it works now, but thank you for the advice.

 

I think you're right: it stopped working again. I'd better try to back the contents up on a Win7/32 laptop here, but I have to put this computer in sleep mode first, as there's not enough space for both laptops on my desk. I'll be back.

 

Intermittently "working" and then not working is usually a sign the drive (be it HDD, SSD, or thumb drive) is failing, so I would recommend you back up the drive ASAP; the next time you try to use may be one time too many. I hope you CAN transfer what's important before the drive fails completely.

 

I transferred probably some of the important information from it and need to check it again to finish the job. BTW, it's not working properly on only one computer, so it shouldn't be just the drive.

 

Not sure what yuo mean. If a USB "Thumb drive" (which is I think this what you mean) malfunctions or is intermittently working and not working, it would indicate it is indeed, the drive that is in imminent death, and ALL should be transferred immediately, and THEN you can edit/delete" what you want or need from that copy. I (IMHO at least) would not trust the drive for anything at this point, unless or until it can ALL be transferred to another media, even if another thumb drive .

 

Well...it is a thumb drive, and when I go to my day program today, I plan to transfer more stuff off of it. Thank you.

 

With all due respect, don't just copy "some" or more of it, copy ALL of it if it is (seemingly) dying. You can always delete what you don't want, once a (now, apparently) "flaky" drive is going bad, or dies before you cope everything. (Done there, been that, unfortunately.)

 

I can use a disk image utility to image its contents onto a .iso file on a 256GB flash drive that's serving as a second hard drive. I have such a tool but don't remember its name, so I won't be able to find it in my Downloads folder. Do you know one? The OS is Win7Pro/64. I could also just perform a direct copy. Thank you.

 

I'm not sure going the ".iso" is the best way. You would (should?) want the critical files available to be accessed individually. At this point, I'm not sure what you ARE trying to accomplish. In my experience, an "iso" file is for the operating system; the data is saved by other means, but YMMV. The important thing is to get your critical files copied onto another type of media ASAP, before the thumb drive fails completely. You can always "massage" the files and/or data after the contents of the drive are copied onto more stable media. Good luck.

 

I didn't go the .iso approach. I copied the whole drive to a folder on another drive. Other than the time taken by the copying, there were no issues with the copy. I think the problem's the computer, as my USB floppy drive also has problems on that specific computer and not the one at program.

 

After everything is off it, do a full format, not the quick method. If it can finish that it may still be usable. Sometimes that fixes issues with them. Would have to just try it and see for a while before you put any real faith into it. None critical files would be fine I would think.

 

Okay. I'll try that at program today. I still don't know why it works on one computer but not another.