Why don't two of my flash drives work?

You can try uninstalling the device drivers and letting Windows rediscover the devices. Unplug all USB flash drives. Open Device Manager, on the view menu at the top make sure that "Show Hidden Devices" is checked:



Then expand Disk Drives. Right click on each entry that is greyed and uninstall it. If there is a check box for uninstall driver, check the box to uninstall the driver too.




Once you get all the greyed items uninstalled, restart Windows. Then plug in flash drive.

Ghot said:

With either of those flash drive plugged directly into the laptop...
what do you see under Control Panel > Devices and Printers?


Attachment 362042


Attachment 362043

When I put either of the flash drives directly into the laptop, I get this in Devices and Printers:
.

The flash drive is "SM3267AB Memory Bar". It goes away when I remove the flash drive.

Please comment on post #9.


Download and install:
https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usbdeview-x64.zip




After inserting the flash drives run:

https://www.tenforums.com/attachment...iskparinfo.bat

Administrative command prompt:
msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic

Please see edit to post #14.

Megahertz said:

Did you try to insert the flash drives on another computer?

I just tried each flash drive in turn on my other laptop. File Explorer recognizes that it's a flash drive but tells me to insert a disk into USB Drive (E:). When I right-click, I get an Eject option and when I do the Eject, I get the normal message telling me that it's safe to remove the drive.

I put the flash drive back in after ejecting it and went to Devices and Printers: a new entry gets added in the Devices category: SM3267AB Memory Bar. That entry goes away when I properly eject the flash drive. (I got this behaviour for each flash drive in turn.)

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MaloK said:

From the comment section on amazon....

Zoltan the Gypsy


Amazon.com

I would replace them all for something more professional. Like the Sandisk Ultra or even Cruzer. From a reliable source.

Thank you, that's quite useful. If I'm not able to get my existing flash drives working again - with or without the original data - I was going to ask for a recommendation for a reliable model of flash drives so that I can replace them with something better.

As for the ADATA repair tool, I've tried to get it but the ADATA website won't let you download it any more; this has apparently been the case for 5 or 6 months now. (When you try to download it after typing in your serial number, you either get a box that has an empty list in it or Chinese characters that Google translates as "not available for download".)

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Bree said:

I'm afraid that sounds very much like the flash drive has died. This can happen suddenly, often there's no warning. This happened to one of mine (ironically, one of the newest) last week. It now behaves much the same as yours does.

I was using it normally, then suddenly could no longer write to it. I then discovered that although I could see files on it I couldn't copy them either. Unplugging it and plugging it back in (to the same or any other PC) now results in it not being recognised until about 5 minutes after inserting it, and when it finally does appear it looks like this:

The flash drives I'm complaining about are doing much the same.

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NavyLCDR said:

You can try uninstalling the device drivers and letting Windows rediscover the devices. Unplug all USB flash drives. Open Device Manager, on the view menu at the top make sure that "Show Hidden Devices" is checked:



Then expand Disk Drives. Right click on each entry that is greyed and uninstall it. If there is a check box for uninstall driver, check the box to uninstall the driver too.




Once you get all the greyed items uninstalled, restart Windows. Then plug in flash drive.

I successfully uninstalled the ADATA USB drivers with no flash drives in the laptop. When I re-insert the flash drive, I see this in File Explorer:


Notice the ? over the E: drive. When I click on the E: drive, it asks me to insert a disk in E:.

zbook said:

Please comment on post #9.

I've done that now.

zbook said:

Please comment on post #9. Download and install:
https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usbdeview-x64.zip

I've downloaded the zip file but I'm not clear on how to install it: unzip the file and simply execute the .exe file?

zbook said:

Please comment on post #9. After inserting the flash drives run:

https://www.tenforums.com/attachment...iskparinfo.bat

Administrative command prompt:
msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic

I'm holding off on this third step until I'm clearer on the second step.

Sounds to me like it's time to accept that it's dead.