topic Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help! in Electronics

Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

focksie — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 21:35:40 GMT

I'm working on a large document and save it to two different flash drives every couple of pages. I just saved it to one successfully, then inserted the second flash and noticed it didn't light up initially. The E drive didn't appear on the screen at all when I went to "Save as".

I have also tried to insert the second flash drive into the printer's port. Nothing. I then tried to insert the first flash drive (with the successful save) into each port. Nothing again.

I turned the computer off, unplugged from the wall, and tried again. No E drive on the screen.

I scanned for malware. None.

I googled for possible solutions. A lot of what I read is too complicated for me to understand, plus as soon as I read "You will erase files when performing this operation" it made me run for the hills.

Anyone have any idea what's wrong?

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

Mz iMac — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 21:38:21 GMT

Have you tried restarting your computer?

What type of computer do you have? Mac? Windows PC?

Which OS system?

If you are using a Mac, do a PRAM and/or SMU reset.

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

chickenbutt — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 21:39:51 GMT

Yeah, I think about your only choice is to reformat it and that will, indeed erase everything on there. Other than that, it could just be dead. Drives can die. I have several flash drives and yet to have one die on me but, knowing it can happen (with any type of drive really), one thing to do is always put important stuff in more than one place.

I'd also save it to at least one computer and then copy to the external. Don't just save it on an external and nowhere else.

I hope somebody else knows more and can offer a solution!

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

focksie — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 21:40:48 GMT

"I turned the computer off, unplugged from the wall, and tried again. No E drive on the screen."

Oh, sorry Mz iMac - It's Windows 7 Toshiba laptop.

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

focksie — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 21:45:08 GMT

chickenbutt - Do you mean the flash devices themselves are dead? Both of them? Or the drives in the computer are dead? Can both drives in the computer be dead? My printer works.

I don't have an external drive. I have only one computer and I've only had it for 3 years.

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

Mz iMac — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 21:48:23 GMT

I did a Google search & found this PDF file...

Take Ownership & Grant Permissions for Entire Hard Drive

Hope this helps

Sorry, I know nothing about Windows PC

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

focksie — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 21:56:53 GMT

On 9/20/2014 Mz iMac said:
I did a Google search & found this PDF file...

Take Ownership & Grant Permissions for Entire Hard Drive

Hope this helps

Sorry, I know nothing about Windows PC

I took a look at this. It is way too advanced for me to attempt and comes with a very strong warning about not attempting this on your own, that you can lose all permissions and have to reinstall Windows. Thanks anyway!

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

Nuttmeg — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 22:43:33 GMT

On 9/20/2014 Mz iMac said:
I did a Google search & found this PDF file...

Take Ownership & Grant Permissions for Entire Hard Drive

Hope this helps

Sorry, I know nothing about Windows PC

I use a little registry fix called "Take Ownership" It works with Windows 8, 8.1, 7, Vista, and XP.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/add-take-ownership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

Caffeina — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:14:29 GMT

When a flash drive is plugged in, does it show up when you open Computer in Windows Explorer?

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

focksie — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:20:08 GMT

On 9/20/2014 Caffeina said:
When a flash drive is plugged in, does it show up when you open Computer in Windows Explorer?

No, "E: drive" does not appear on the screen (as usual) when the device is plugged in and I try to "Save As" to E drive.

Oh, I see what you mean. No, it doesn't appear either when I open "Computer". Only C: and D: appear.

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

Caffeina — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:33:32 GMT

Maybe this?

www.howtogeek.com/howto/22251/find-your-missing-usb-drive-in-windows-7-vista

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

sciencegeek_1 — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:45:54 GMT

This is probably going to sound old fashioned...

My laptop is 4 years old, and though it has USB ports for a flashdrive, it also has a cd/dvd drive. Does yours? You can save to a disk and store it away from the computer, it's as good a back up as a flash drive.

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

sciencegeek_1 — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:52:01 GMT

Another thought. If your computer has a port for a sd card (like you'd use to transfer pictures from a camera) you could save to an sd card.

If I were in your shoes, I'd go to the store and buy a new thumb drive, an sd card, and some writeable disks. Something should work. Anything as long as you can back up the document saved on your computer.

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

sciencegeek_1 — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:53:58 GMT

And yet another thought. Attach the document to an email to yourself. That email is stored on your internet provider's site, so you can access it from any computer, anywhere. It's a good temporary solution.

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

focksie — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 01:12:18 GMT

On 9/20/2014 Caffeina said:
Maybe this?

www.howtogeek.com/howto/22251/find-your-missing-usb-drive-in-windows-7-vista

These sound like good instructions Caffeina but I got stuck on this part:

"You should be able to determine which one is the drive you’re trying to access by its size and format type. Here we’re trying to find a 4GB thumb drive. Right-click on the drive and select Change Drive Letter and Paths."

I have no idea from the illustration how they identified the 4GB thumb drive. I don't see any indication of that. My device is a 1GB thumb drive and as well, there is no indication on the screen which device that is so that I can go ahead and change the drive letter.

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

focksie — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 01:15:10 GMT

Good ideas sciencegeek. I don't know anything about sd card technology, but my computer has a CD drive. I assume backing up the document happens in the same way my computer backs up files every week ???

Tomorrow I'll buy another couple of flash drives. I hope they work.

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

sciencegeek_1 — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 01:52:15 GMT

On 9/20/2014 focksie said:
Good ideas sciencegeek. I don't know anything about sd card technology, but my computer has a CD drive. I assume backing up the document happens in the same way my computer backs up files every week ???

Tomorrow I'll buy another couple of flash drives. I hope they work.

Your computer has a name for your CD drive. Since your flash drive was drive E, I'm guessing that either drive C or drive D would be your cd drive. You save to it the same way you do to a flash drive. Put the disk in and do a "save as" to the correct drive.

I hope your USB ports work with a new thumb drive. Good luck!

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

Caffeina — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 01:54:17 GMT

On 9/20/2014 focksie said:
On 9/20/2014 Caffeina said:
Maybe this?

www.howtogeek.com/howto/22251/find-your-missing-usb-drive-in-windows-7-vista

These sound like good instructions Caffeina but I got stuck on this part:

"You should be able to determine which one is the drive you’re trying to access by its size and format type. Here we’re trying to find a 4GB thumb drive. Right-click on the drive and select Change Drive Letter and Paths."

I have no idea from the illustration how they identified the 4GB thumb drive. I don't see any indication of that. My device is a 1GB thumb drive and as well, there is no indication on the screen which device that is so that I can go ahead and change the drive letter.

You need to slide the bar at the bottom to bring the other columns into view, so you can see the column labeled Capacity. It probably shows a capacity slightly less than what is printed on the flash drive, maybe 900-some MB. This short video shows the procedure. The guy has an accent but the video seems easy to follow. He slides the bar over at about the 1:36 mark.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXiYML2OPmw

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

focksie — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 02:28:36 GMT

Oh now I see Caffeina -- it's a horizontal scroll in the middle of the screen. You can see the size if you scroll right. I have 4 computer icons in the top box but unfortunately, the first two icons have no drive letter at all next to them, the 3rd icon has (C and the 4th icon has (D, so I'm not touching the 3rd and 4th. The first icon, when I scroll to the right, shows a size of 1.46 GB which is the closest equivalent to my 1 GB flash drive. But when I right-click on that icon like the instructions say to do, the only thing that comes up is a "Help" menu and nothing else, and that's because there's no letter listed next to that icon to be changed!

I knew there was a reason I was the last hold-out in my family to get a computer. It's so bewildering and frustrating to me when something goes wrong.

sciencegeek - Yes, my D: drive holds the CD. That's where my files are backed up weekly.

Re: Flash Device Stopped Working - Help!

Lynnj — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 03:15:26 GMT

Its been a while since I've used a PC, I am on Mac now. But....if i remember correctly, an E drive is usually a CD/DVD drive. You say you can see a C and D drive when you plug in the flash to the USB. So click on those drives to see what they show, of course with your flash plugged in.