Help! Files on thumb drive keep disappearing

S

suprdvn

New Member
Help! Files on thumb drive keep disappearing.
I am trying to backup all my photos and other files to a USB Drive (thumb drive, flash drive).

Files on drive will open and appear just as it should, files show correct size , (not saving shortcuts), can close and reopen drive they are still there.
Unplug and plug drive back in and files are gone, most folders are there but are empty (not even hidden files) no file size.

USB drive not full, managed to get 2.5GB on a 8GB drive.
Copy/Paste or Drag/Drop, even one folder at a time, makes no difference.
Same results whether saving hidden files or not
Same results with other thumb drives.
Same results attempting to save other file types.
Checked for fragmentation thumb drive- ok
Restarting computer does not help.

Windows XP

Dave
 
No I hadn't tried that. I have no idea what it means but I just tried changing that now. I right clicked the drive and clicked Format, but it only has FAT32 as an option and can't be changed.

Dave
 
I'll have to take a look at hp usb format tool tomorrow. Perhaps by downloading this program I can try a different partioning system NTFS. It appears that my only option right now is FAT32. It seems unlikely that it would make that big a difference. Anyone have opinions on that or the hp format tool?

I did a little research: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/cacheWrite-c.html
It has to do with write caching. I tried disabling it and it still does not work. "Enable write caching on the disk. This setting enables write caching to improve disk performance, but a power outage or equipment failure might result in data loss or corruption."


I just learned about the "Safely remove hardware" icon. I found it and tried it and the files still disappear!


I'm beginning to wonder if some disks only hold a fraction of the stated capacity. In Properties it clearly shows that it is a 8GB drive but I can't seem to get anthing else on it. It is only at 2.54 now.

Dave
 
Thats a werid problem um is there anything in particular your trying to store on the Flash drives i.e. certain files example .pdf .swf and so on and is it possible your computer has a virus???
 
I have narrowed it down to the drives. I tested the same drive by plugging it into a known good laptop and cannot get anymore on it. These are cheap drives bought on ebay. I bought different ones from different sellers and assumed that they couldn't all be bad. Apparently I was wrong.

Philthomas (from another forum) I'm going with your advice "it is not a good idea to rely on USB Memory Sticks for long term back ups, as they are notorious for getting corrupted. Far better to back up to a good quality CD or DVD (Verbatim). USB sticks are great for convenience, like moving stuff from A to B, but I would never trust them for long term storage."

I've been placing photos in folders labels like this "08oct Johna's bday". I will have to start doing so with data files as well. That way I can more easily find data that not yet been backed up because I don't want to repeat backing up the 10+ CDs worth of data I have now.

Thank you all

Dave
 
you can get "archive grade" dvd/cd's that claim to last upto 100 years!!!

But IMO the best long term backup is HDD's
 
Your comment SQ1 was interesting........i read somewhere that rewritables are good for something like a 100yrs. Dont like myself because dvds are so cheap.
 
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