is it my computer or flash drive

Help me figure out what is wrong with either an 8GB flash drive or my computer.
My OS is winxp sp2 home ed. and I have 3 very good working flash drives now.
The new 8GB drive is acting very weird. When I transfer image files, the
8GB drive displays some good JPEG image thumbnails which can be opened for
preview or editing but many more strange looking thumbnails with a JPEG label
that will not open! The questionable drive will leave out folders and other
parts during a transfer.
I have not had any of these bizarre effects with the other 3 drives I've
been using for a while so I believe it's the 8 GB flash drive. I formatted
it and have used 'safe remove' to put it in a different USB port but it still
acts strange. I tried to delete some very strange files that appear in the
drive (no idea how or why) and it tells me the files can not be deleted:
cannot read from the source file or disc!
thanks for your help here........
jim

--
gr8 art at www.irenesfineart.com

jimrich wrote:
Help me figure out what is wrong with either an 8GB flash drive or my computer.
My OS is winxp sp2 home ed. and I have 3 very good working flash drives now.
The new 8GB drive is acting very weird. When I transfer image files, the
8GB drive displays some good JPEG image thumbnails which can be opened for
preview or editing but many more strange looking thumbnails with a JPEG label
that will not open! The questionable drive will leave out folders and other
parts during a transfer.
I have not had any of these bizarre effects with the other 3 drives I've
been using for a while so I believe it's the 8 GB flash drive. I formatted
it and have used 'safe remove' to put it in a different USB port but it still
acts strange. I tried to delete some very strange files that appear in the
drive (no idea how or why) and it tells me the files can not be deleted:
cannot read from the source file or disc!
thanks for your help here........
jim


A flash drive bought on Ebay perhaps ?

There are tales of woe all over the place, if you look.
Read some of the reader comments, for examples of how they
got screwed.

http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/02/b...urns-up-in-oz/

Another article on the subject, he

http://reviews.ebay.com/BEWARE-of-FA...00000001236200

Paul

"jimrich" wrote in message
...
Help me figure out what is wrong with either an 8GB flash drive or
my computer.
My OS is winxp sp2 home ed. and I have 3 very good working flash
drives now.
The new 8GB drive is acting very weird. When I transfer image
files, the
8GB drive displays some good JPEG image thumbnails which can be
opened for
preview or editing but many more strange looking thumbnails with a
JPEG label
that will not open! The questionable drive will leave out folders
and other
parts during a transfer.
I have not had any of these bizarre effects with the other 3 drives
I've
been using for a while so I believe it's the 8 GB flash drive. I
formatted
it and have used 'safe remove' to put it in a different USB port but
it still
acts strange. I tried to delete some very strange files that
appear in the
drive (no idea how or why) and it tells me the files can not be
deleted:
cannot read from the source file or disc!
thanks for your help here........


Get what you can from the 8GB flash drive. Then toss it. Typically
when a maximum threshold of errors (bad spots) are record, the flash
drive catastrophically and immediately fails. You did not identify
the brand and model of the 8GB flash drive but then the manufacturers
provide little, if any, information regarding their masking algorithm.
Looks like your is flailing as it fails.

Don't be misled that electronics are infallible. Just because a USB
thumb drive uses flash memory doesn't mean it won't wear out. They
can endure a maximum number of writes or erases. Flash memory can
only be flashed so many times. Although electronic, they wear out.
How often have you written files (or deleted them or done anything to
update the flash drive)? If you are using a program that updates its
files on the flash drive, remember that all those updates count
against the endurance of the device. Some apps could produce several
thousand updates per minute and do so as long as the app is running.
Using a flash drive for pagefile space will accelerate when it fails
since updates are at a much higher rate than for normal use when
copying or updating data files. Write/erase endurance specs are
usually hard to find and rarely divulged by the device makers (so you
have to read articles by the flash memory manufacturers but that will
tell you the endurance of the chip, not what masking algorithm is
employed by the flash drive manufacturer that used that flash chip).

"Like all flash memory devices, flash drives can sustain only a
limited number of write/erase cycles before failure. In normal use,
mid-range flash drives currently on the market will support several
million cycles, although write operations will gradually slow as the
device ages" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keydrive). "Flash memory
has a finite number of erase-write cycles (most commercially available
flash products are guaranteed to withstand 1 million programming
cycles) so that care has to be taken when moving hard-drive based
applications" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory). Flash
drives should NOT be used for permanent storage and any files placed
on them should be non-critical files (i.e., you can afford to lose
them the same day you put them onto the flash drive). Just like with
a hard drive, anything you put onto a flash drive - if important to
you - should be backed up to provide a second copy. Flash drives are
less prone to physical abuse than hard drives, but then your hard
drive, after installed, receives little physical abuse whereas you are
subjecting the flash drive to static, dirt, wear from
insertion/extraction, physical shock, and other environmental factors.
Unlike your system or video RAM, flash memory does wear out as it
suffers from electric field stress (thin oxide stress). "Over time,
oxide stress from repeated program and erase operations may degrade
the gate oxide layer to cause the transistor to malfunction. This
contributes to faulty operation of the flash memory device.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of detecting a transistor
error caused by the degradation of the gate oxide layer "
(http://www.freshpatents.com/Flash-me...reducing-t...).
That is why these devices will incorporate fault-tolerant schemes to
mask the failures. More masking as errors occurs results in more
redirects that slow performance, and there is usually a maximum (spare
space used for the masking) after which the device catastrophically
fails.