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Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?



 
 
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  #11  
Old October 18th 16, 10:48 PM posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage
Ant
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 858
Default Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Rod Speed wrote:
Ant wrote


Either I'm having bad luck


Or are mistreating them in some way.


Maybe. I am trying to figure out why so many failed USB flash drives on
my side.


Some just stopped working and not detected at all by any
computers (desktops and (laptop/notebook)s and OSes
(Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows).


That is the result I got with the only one that has failed.
I haven't even bothered to open it up to check how its
failed, whether it is a simple mechanical failure, dry
joint/cracked trace etc or what.


Their cases are hard to open up! Looking at their USB connectors, they
look clean and fine to me. No bad odors like burning smell. The only
thing noticeable is their temperatures are hot after long usages.


Some are detected but no disk volumes seen and
can't even partition and format. Some seen and
connected, but can't been fully formatted.


What's up?


Either bad luck or the way you are treating them static wise.


The kids don???t do anything special with them static wise
and the houses are all carpeted, 3 different houses. And
at least one of them has full aircon used in the winter for
heating which can be a static problem. One other has gas
heating and I forget what the third one has heating wise.
I've only been in there in other than the winter, moving
some heavy furniture in there.


No carpets here, but a few rugs. Mostly hard floors (never dropped
them). Temperatures can be hot (up to 90F degrees in the room during
heat waves). The two drives that went bust was during the cold and wet
temperatures (60F degrees and light rain outside; 70F degres indoor).


lots of physically moving around, etc.?


These get plenty of that, usually in cars but not always.


Most of the times, the tiny drives are in my wallets to be carried
where-ever I go. They don't move around much in the crowded tight wallet
in my front pockets. That should be OK, right? I have seen people put
them on their keychains and appear to be more abusive since they hit
desks. tables, etc. but they still work.


Is Lexar brand any good as shown in
http://www.salescircular.com/ca/computer/usbstp.shtml web page
from the local So(uthern) CA(lifornia) stores (Fry's Electronics, Best
Buy, Costco, Walmart, Target, Office Depot, Staples, etc.).


Yes, some of the ones I use are Lexars.


Hmm, I might try Lexars next. Or maybe well known brands won't metter to
me since Sandisk failed for me in the past. :/


Of course they must be returnable if the drives die
quickly again within return times. :P


Thank you in advance.


Still smirking.


I will always smirk.
--
Quote of the Week: "I really believe I've been a good person. Not
perfect - forget about perfect - but just learning by what I was taught
and living by my own values. I might have stepped on a few ants - and a
few other things as well - but I've never hurt anybody." --Kiri Te
Kanawa
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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  #12  
Old October 18th 16, 10:51 PM posted to comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage
Ant
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 858
Default Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Your Name wrote:
In article , Doc O'Leary
wrote:

For your reference, records indicate that
(Ant) wrote:

Either I'm having bad luck or USB flash drives suck even with various
sizes (e.g., 512 MB to 32 GB), well known brand names (e.g., SanDisk),
and cheap/free ones (SP [a few years] and Patriot [had it since
10/3/2015]). They don't seems like they don't last longer than a year. I
keep them in my drawers, wallets, etc.

Of course, anyone who remembers how unreliable floppy disks used to
be would treasure a one year life span.


I can't say I've ever had any real problems with floppy disks. I've
still got a huge pile of them (some magazine cover disks, some my own
disks). In fact, the biggest issue I've ever had with floppy disks is
the drive in my beige G3 dying and I didn't have the time nor equipment
to fix it, so I got an external USB one instead.

A large part of the issue many people had with floppy disks is due to
the way they treated them. Mine were and are always stored in boxes,
never simply thrown into bags or pockets alone.


I found that frequent erasures and writes of large files killed them
fairly fast, with just small writes to text files or the like they
served a good life, and for Read-Only use I've found they last very
well indeed.


Is this still true for USB flash drives? I was copying HUGE files and
even installing mac OS Sierra onto these two recent 32 GB USB flash
drives.
--
Quote of the Week: "I really believe I've been a good person. Not
perfect - forget about perfect - but just learning by what I was taught
and living by my own values. I might have stepped on a few ants - and a
few other things as well - but I've never hurt anybody." --Kiri Te
Kanawa
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @
http://antfarm.home.dhs.org (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail privately. If credit-
( ) ing, then please kindly use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
  #13  
Old October 18th 16, 10:52 PM posted to comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 160
Default Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?

In article , Ant
wrote:

I found that frequent erasures and writes of large files killed them
fairly fast, with just small writes to text files or the like they
served a good life, and for Read-Only use I've found they last very
well indeed.


Is this still true for USB flash drives? I was copying HUGE files and
even installing mac OS Sierra onto these two recent 32 GB USB flash
drives.


it was never true.
  #14  
Old October 19th 16, 01:28 AM posted to comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage
Your Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24
Default Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?

In article , Ant
wrote:
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Your Name wrote:
In article , Doc O'Leary
wrote:
For your reference, records indicate that
(Ant) wrote:

Either I'm having bad luck or USB flash drives suck even with various
sizes (e.g., 512 MB to 32 GB), well known brand names (e.g., SanDisk),
and cheap/free ones (SP [a few years] and Patriot [had it since
10/3/2015]). They don't seems like they don't last longer than a year.
I keep them in my drawers, wallets, etc.

Of course, anyone who remembers how unreliable floppy disks used to
be would treasure a one year life span.


I can't say I've ever had any real problems with floppy disks. I've
still got a huge pile of them (some magazine cover disks, some my own
disks). In fact, the biggest issue I've ever had with floppy disks is
the drive in my beige G3 dying and I didn't have the time nor equipment
to fix it, so I got an external USB one instead.


A large part of the issue many people had with floppy disks is due to
the way they treated them. Mine were and are always stored in boxes,
never simply thrown into bags or pockets alone.


The same goes for USB flash drives. I've seen people treating them
extremely badly.


Someone told me putting these tiny USB flash drives in my wallets that
go into my pants' front pockets are breaking them due to stresses. What
do you thnk of that? I see people having them on keychains and they hit
tables, desks, etc. hard and loudly a lot!


Unlike the physical components of a hard drive, a USB flash drive will
take knocks a lot better ... but in some models / badly made ones it
could cause to chips being dislodged, bent connectors, etc. There's
also the issue of the caps getting lost, and then dust, dirt, etc. can
get inside causing issues.

Whenever I take a USB flash drive with me (which is a relatively recent
thing since I continued to use floppy disks and then CD-RW discs much
longer than most other people), I always have it in my shirt pocket,
usually by itself. I never ever put anything in the back pocket of my
trousers - my wallet, handkerchief, keys pouch, etc. all go in the side
pockets.




I think, for the industry, flash drives are seen as the new floppy. It
doesnıt much matter who you go with, theyıre all built to be essentially
disposable.

That said, though, they all seem to come with a 2+ year warranty, so
youıd be getting some nifty free refreshes if youıre seeing failures
every year. Personally, I just buy the MicroCenter store brand in
whatever size $10 will get me, and it generally lasts until at least
the warranty runs out. Itıs not a huge expense, so I donıt worry
too much about it.


USB flash drives (thumb drive, keyring drives, pen drives, memory
sticks, whatever else you want to call them) and SSDs do have a limited
lifespan measured in the number of write cycles ... so using them
continuously (e.g. as an OS boot drive with things like virtual memory
going) as Ant said can be a bit silly and cause them to "wear out" much
sooner than simply using them to store files on for backup or
transport.
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/l...sb-flash-drive
http://www.storagecraft.com/blog/data-storage-lifespan/
http://www.flashbay.co.nz/blog/usb-life-expectancy


The weird part is that I was still installing mac OS Sierra v10.12 on
these two old USB flash drives. Is that too much already? I only
wanted to install and use the OS for quick tests like those bootable
read only live discs for OSes. In the past, I used these USB flsah
drives to copy all kinds of files (giant sizes too) to use between
various computers.

I love flash drives for being super tiny and light to stick into my
wallet to carry easily! Argh.


You can get portable hard drives that are fairly small (some even have
built-in USB cables so you can't lose / forget it), although nowhere
near as small as a USB flash drive of course, but on the flip side they
have far more storage and / or are cheaper than the equivalent storage.
  #15  
Old October 19th 16, 01:32 AM posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage
Your Name
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24
Default Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?

In article , Ant
wrote:
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Rod Speed wrote:
Ant wrote

The kids don???t do anything special with them static wise
and the houses are all carpeted, 3 different houses. And
at least one of them has full aircon used in the winter for
heating which can be a static problem. One other has gas
heating and I forget what the third one has heating wise.
I've only been in there in other than the winter, moving
some heavy furniture in there.


No carpets here, but a few rugs. Mostly hard floors (never dropped
them). Temperatures can be hot (up to 90F degrees in the room during
heat waves). The two drives that went bust was during the cold and wet
temperatures (60F degrees and light rain outside; 70F degres indoor).


One issue is people leaving them in cars ... it gets very hot inside a
car, especially during summer (even if parked in the shade). I don't
know how things such as SatNav units and even car music systems manage
to survive, but I never leave any disks / drives inside the car.
  #16  
Old October 19th 16, 01:38 AM posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage
Jolly Roger[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 70
Default Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?

On 2016-10-18, Ant wrote:
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Rod Speed wrote:
Ant wrote


Either I'm having bad luck


Or are mistreating them in some way.


Maybe. I am trying to figure out why so many failed USB flash drives on
my side.


Maybe stop sitting on them.

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR
  #17  
Old October 19th 16, 01:41 AM posted to comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 160
Default Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?

In article , Your Name
wrote:

Someone told me putting these tiny USB flash drives in my wallets that
go into my pants' front pockets are breaking them due to stresses. What
do you thnk of that? I see people having them on keychains and they hit
tables, desks, etc. hard and loudly a lot!


Unlike the physical components of a hard drive, a USB flash drive will
take knocks a lot better ...


obviously.

but in some models / badly made ones it
could cause to chips being dislodged, bent connectors, etc.


nonsense.

There's
also the issue of the caps getting lost, and then dust, dirt, etc. can
get inside causing issues.


that doesn't matter.
  #18  
Old October 19th 16, 01:41 AM posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 160
Default Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?

In article , Your Name
wrote:

No carpets here, but a few rugs. Mostly hard floors (never dropped
them). Temperatures can be hot (up to 90F degrees in the room during
heat waves). The two drives that went bust was during the cold and wet
temperatures (60F degrees and light rain outside; 70F degres indoor).


One issue is people leaving them in cars ... it gets very hot inside a
car, especially during summer (even if parked in the shade). I don't
know how things such as SatNav units and even car music systems manage
to survive,


because they're designed to be used in a wide temperature range.

but I never leave any disks / drives inside the car.


risk of theft would be the only reason.
  #19  
Old October 19th 16, 03:30 AM posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage
Ant
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 858
Default Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Jolly Roger wrote:
On 2016-10-18, Ant wrote:
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Rod Speed wrote:
Ant wrote


Either I'm having bad luck


Or are mistreating them in some way.


Maybe. I am trying to figure out why so many failed USB flash drives on
my side.


Maybe stop sitting on them.


I don't put them in my rear pockets. They go in my front pockets.
--
Quote of the Week: "I really believe I've been a good person. Not
perfect - forget about perfect - but just learning by what I was taught
and living by my own values. I might have stepped on a few ants - and a
few other things as well - but I've never hurt anybody." --Kiri Te
Kanawa
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.home.dhs.org (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail privately. If credit-
( ) ing, then please kindly use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
  #20  
Old October 19th 16, 05:48 AM posted to comp.sys.mac.hardware.storage,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage
Rod Speed
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 8,559
Default Is it me or are there many unreliable USB flash drives?



"Ant" wrote in message
...
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Your Name
wrote:
In article , Doc O'Leary
wrote:


For your reference, records indicate that
(Ant) wrote:

Either I'm having bad luck or USB flash drives suck even with various
sizes (e.g., 512 MB to 32 GB), well known brand names (e.g.,
SanDisk),
and cheap/free ones (SP [a few years] and Patriot [had it since
10/3/2015]). They don't seems like they don't last longer than a
year. I
keep them in my drawers, wallets, etc.

Of course, anyone who remembers how unreliable floppy disks used to
be would treasure a one year life span.


I can't say I've ever had any real problems with floppy disks. I've
still got a huge pile of them (some magazine cover disks, some my own
disks). In fact, the biggest issue I've ever had with floppy disks is
the drive in my beige G3 dying and I didn't have the time nor equipment
to fix it, so I got an external USB one instead.


A large part of the issue many people had with floppy disks is due to
the way they treated them. Mine were and are always stored in boxes,
never simply thrown into bags or pockets alone.


The same goes for USB flash drives. I've seen people treating them
extremely badly.


Someone told me putting these tiny USB flash drives in my wallets that
go into my pants' front pockets are breaking them due to stresses. What
do you thnk of that?


I don't buy that, they are pretty rugged mechanically.

I see people having them on keychains and they
hit tables, desks, etc. hard and loudly a lot!


Yeah, don't buy that claim.

I think, for the industry, flash drives are seen as the new floppy. It
doesnıt much matter who you go with, theyıre all built to be
essentially
disposable.

That said, though, they all seem to come with a 2+ year warranty, so
youıd be getting some nifty free refreshes if youıre seeing failures
every year. Personally, I just buy the MicroCenter store brand in
whatever size $10 will get me, and it generally lasts until at least
the warranty runs out. Itıs not a huge expense, so I donıt worry
too much about it.


USB flash drives (thumb drive, keyring drives, pen drives, memory
sticks, whatever else you want to call them) and SSDs do have a limited
lifespan measured in the number of write cycles ... so using them
continuously (e.g. as an OS boot drive with things like virtual memory
going) as Ant said can be a bit silly and cause them to "wear out" much
sooner than simply using them to store files on for backup or
transport.
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/l...sb-flash-drive
http://www.storagecraft.com/blog/data-storage-lifespan/
http://www.flashbay.co.nz/blog/usb-life-expectancy


The weird part is that I was still installing mac OS Sierra v10.12
on these two old USB flash drives. Is that too much already?


Yeah, much more likely that it was that that killed them.

I only wanted to install and use the OS for quick tests like those
bootable read only live discs for OSes. In the past, I used these
USB flsah drives to copy all kinds of files (giant sizes too) to use
between various computers.


I love flash drives for being super tiny and light to stick into my
wallet to carry easily! Argh.


Yeah, very convenient for some situations like that and moving
movies around like I do.

 




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