Another SanDisk 32G Pen drive fails

Dunno about blinking or particular OSs. But suggest finding Disk or Device Management instead of looking in Explorer and perhaps doing a Format (if that option is offered). In XP, try Control Panel/Admin Tools/Computer Mgt/Disk Mgt.

HTH, Mike.

Usually no. When flash drives usually fail suddenly, without warning, and catastrophically.

One thought, are you sure that you do not have a counterfeit drive. A lot are out there especially large capacity ones.

Also look at this one, there a tons of examples online. Some other vids will run the previous link utils to expose the deception without disassembling it.

I have fixed several for good customers by simply repairing or reflowing the solder on the USB to PC connection. You've got nothing to lose; crack it open and look the board over under a good strong loupe.

You may have the same drive letter assigned to two different storage devices. Go to: Control Panel -> Admin Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management You should see you Sandisk drive but either no drive letter or duplicating the drive letter of another drive. Right Click and select "change drive letter and paths".

You may also have a broken USB connector. Many if not all USB flash drive PCB's are not very well mechanically secured to the connector shell. Bend the flash drive and you have a broken solder connection. Usually, all that's needed is to resolder the connection and deal with any broken traces. I sometimes slop on some epoxy if I want the fix to last.

SanDisk seems to be the best for me. They make a few losers, but in general, they're the best I can buy. I've had the SanDisk Cruzer Fit drive get a bit too hot for comfort.

I also have a small pile of about eight Lexar 32GB USB 3.0 (all plastic) flash drives that crapped out one at a time. Junk.

If you're seriously worried about reliability, I suggest you check the various review and rating sites. This one looks useful:

Any PC I plug it into pops up a message saying the driver is now installed BUT it does not show anything in Windows Explorer. This happens on a Win XP Pro laptop, a Lenovo laptop and a Win 7 Pro desktop.

The light on the pen drive blinks one long blink then a short one or two blinks.

Any chance of recovery ?

Any app to explore it ?

It is all backed up but it will take over night to fill a new pen drive so getting this one going would be better.

What brand is the most reliable pen drive ? Need 32 G.

Dusty,

Give this free tool a try - "MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition"

It has fixed numerous problems on flash drives that don't show in Windows Explorer or Disk Manager. And if it says it's dead, it probably is.

Bob S.

Nothing on reliability ! As usual reviewers do not know how to review. What is most important to you ?

Their second top rated is the one that died.

Other parameter metrics are of little interest.

Buying a Sony 32G as the one I already have has been the best.

Why ? The Sony has worked at every USB port I have tried it on. The Sandisk only works on some USB ports. Why ? because the Sony connector is a better quality connector and can make up for the deficiencies of the USB PC connector. I have several SanDisk pen drives and with some I have to wiggle the pen drive for it to make a connection. Not so with the Sony. The SanDisk skimps on it connector length and area trying to save a penny and putting their fingers in my purse. Poor quality connector !

The Sony has more reliability and quality. So I pay a few bucks more but it is well worth it.

Bob_S wrote:

Not sure what to do with this SanDisk 32G.

I used the "MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition"

It saw an empty drive in the tool. (nothing showed in windows explorer)

I did a full surface check and got NO errors.

I tried to recover and got an empty drive.

I reformatted as NTFS.

It now shows up in windows explorer as an empty 32G drive.

How did all the file table vanish ?

Is this pen drive now usable or should I just trash it ?

Bob_S wrote:

Bob, try

I suggest you try