USB drive stopped writing files

[Guest M Skabialka]

A friend using Windows 2000 has been using a USB flash drive to store

documents since her machine is quite old - this is the backup. Suddenly

last week when she was trying to copy a file to it, it said that the flash

drive was read-only and nothing could be copied to it. I had her do a

chkdsk on it and found no errors, but she was still unable to write. She

was able to copy all of the files from the drive to her computer, then I had

her format the flash drive in Windows Explorer. Now she can't write

anything to it. She's not on the Internet so doesn't introduce visruses,

trojans etc, to her computer.

Is there any other way to get the drive usable again? It's fairly new,

lesss than a year old, and stays near the computer, so isn't subjected to

heat/cold/stress/collision damage.

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: USB drive stopped writing files

 

 

"M Skabialka" <mskabialka@NOSPAMdrc.com> wrote in message

news:edPhlf8zIHA.2384@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>A friend using Windows 2000 has been using a USB flash drive to store

>documents since her machine is quite old - this is the backup. Suddenly

>last week when she was trying to copy a file to it, it said that the flash

>drive was read-only and nothing could be copied to it. I had her do a

>chkdsk on it and found no errors, but she was still unable to write. She

>was able to copy all of the files from the drive to her computer, then I

>had her format the flash drive in Windows Explorer. Now she can't write

>anything to it. She's not on the Internet so doesn't introduce visruses,

>trojans etc, to her computer.

> Is there any other way to get the drive usable again? It's fairly new,

> lesss than a year old, and stays near the computer, so isn't subjected to

> heat/cold/stress/collision damage.

 

There are three possible reasons for this failure:

a) The flash disk could have failed.

b) The PC's USB port could have failed.

c) There is something wrong with the USB driver on her PC.

Before doing anything else, you must eliminate b) and c) by

testing the flash drive on a different PC.

[Guest Sid Elbow]

Re: USB drive stopped writing files

 

M Skabialka wrote:

> A friend using Windows 2000 has been using a USB flash drive to store

> documents since her machine is quite old - this is the backup. Suddenly

> last week when she was trying to copy a file to it, it said that the flash

> drive was read-only and nothing could be copied to it.

 

Not sure about flash drives per se but some flash memory cards have a

manual switch that renders the card read-only. It's possible that some

manufacturers of USB Flash Drives do that too.

 

Usually the switch is tiny and hard to notice. I would guess it would be

possible to move it accidentally.

 

In any event, these things are pretty inexpensive these days so if it's

at all suspect and is being used as a backup medium, I'd go for a new one.

[Guest M Skabialka]

Re: USB drive stopped writing files

 

There is a switch on it, but the same results happens no matter which way

the switch is set.

She's unemployed and doing a job search, so even a flash drive is a chunk of

the budget, but it may be her only choice.

 

"Sid Elbow" <here@there.com> wrote in message

news:4856a455$0$7886$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com...

>M Skabialka wrote:

>> A friend using Windows 2000 has been using a USB flash drive to store

>> documents since her machine is quite old - this is the backup. Suddenly

>> last week when she was trying to copy a file to it, it said that the

>> flash drive was read-only and nothing could be copied to it.

>

> Not sure about flash drives per se but some flash memory cards have a

> manual switch that renders the card read-only. It's possible that some

> manufacturers of USB Flash Drives do that too.

>

> Usually the switch is tiny and hard to notice. I would guess it would be

> possible to move it accidentally.

>

> In any event, these things are pretty inexpensive these days so if it's at

> all suspect and is being used as a backup medium, I'd go for a new one.

[Guest M Skabialka]

Re: USB drive stopped writing files

 

I'll have to see if she can find someone else with a USB port for testing.

She didn't have to install a driver on Windows 2000 to start off with though

to use it. She has no Internet connection to get a new driver, and lives a

long way from me as far as testing it myself goes.

I hadn't realized a flash drive could fail - the worse that has happened to

me was one misreporting the free space by incredible quanities (thousands of

GB) but that was fized by formatting. As Sid said, she may have to get a

new one, though I wish there was a easy (free) fix!

 

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

news:ezkSVA9zIHA.3680@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>

> "M Skabialka" <mskabialka@NOSPAMdrc.com> wrote in message

> news:edPhlf8zIHA.2384@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>>A friend using Windows 2000 has been using a USB flash drive to store

>>documents since her machine is quite old - this is the backup. Suddenly

>>last week when she was trying to copy a file to it, it said that the flash

>>drive was read-only and nothing could be copied to it. I had her do a

>>chkdsk on it and found no errors, but she was still unable to write. She

>>was able to copy all of the files from the drive to her computer, then I

>>had her format the flash drive in Windows Explorer. Now she can't write

>>anything to it. She's not on the Internet so doesn't introduce viruses,

>>trojans etc, to her computer.

>> Is there any other way to get the drive usable again? It's fairly new,

>> lesss than a year old, and stays near the computer, so isn't subjected to

>> heat/cold/stress/collision damage.

>

> There are three possible reasons for this failure:

> a) The flash disk could have failed.

> b) The PC's USB port could have failed.

> c) There is something wrong with the USB driver on her PC.

> Before doing anything else, you must eliminate b) and c) by

> testing the flash drive on a different PC.

>

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: USB drive stopped writing files

 

 

"M Skabialka" <mskabialka@NOSPAMdrc.com> wrote in message

news:u%23788HJ0IHA.3648@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> I'll have to see if she can find someone else with a USB port for testing.

> She didn't have to install a driver on Windows 2000 to start off with

> though to use it. She has no Internet connection to get a new driver, and

> lives a long way from me as far as testing it myself goes.

 

She could send it to you for the cost of a postage stamp.

 

Even though she did not have to install a USB driver,

there is still one in Windows - the native USB driver.

[Guest Sid Elbow]

Re: USB drive stopped writing files

 

M Skabialka wrote:

> There is a switch on it, but the same results happens no matter which way

> the switch is set.

 

That's actually rather curious. If it *is* a write protect switch and

it's write protected in both positions, it suggests a hardware failure.

Can you perhaps get the make/model of the drive so that you could check

the manufacturer's website and confirm the switch function?

 

> She's unemployed and doing a job search, so even a flash drive is a chunk of

> the budget, but it may be her only choice.

 

Sorry, we tend to get a little cavalier sometimes.

[Guest M Skabialka]

Re: USB drive stopped writing files

 

What are my options if she sent it to me?

 

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

news:ut0c1$K0IHA.548@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

>

> "M Skabialka" <mskabialka@NOSPAMdrc.com> wrote in message

> news:u%23788HJ0IHA.3648@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

>> I'll have to see if she can find someone else with a USB port for

>> testing. She didn't have to install a driver on Windows 2000 to start off

>> with though to use it. She has no Internet connection to get a new

>> driver, and lives a long way from me as far as testing it myself goes.

>

> She could send it to you for the cost of a postage stamp.

>

> Even though she did not have to install a USB driver,

> there is still one in Windows - the native USB driver.

>

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: USB drive stopped writing files

 

 

"M Skabialka" <mskabialka@NOSPAMdrc.com> wrote in message

news:%23YMyxGW0IHA.5472@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

> What are my options if she sent it to me?

>

 

You plug it into your PC the way you plug any other

flash drive in a PC and check if the problem persists!