USB Flash Drive bad sectors?

MitchRapp · Apr 3, 2005, 04:06 AM

Anyone ever get bad sectors on a USB flash drive similar to like.... bad sectors on a floppy disk or hard drive?

my no-name 256mb flash drive has some .... very funny.... i thought these things would work for years and years but I've been using it for about 2-3 months .... thank God I got it for free buttt...... now some files are corrupt

Anyways you think I could just partition the bad stuff out?

MitchRapp · Apr 3, 2005, 04:08 AM

here's a screenshot ... sooooo
can I just partition the last 25 megs of the flash drive and hide it from windows? so that my 250mb drive becomes 225 or something?

Matth · Apr 3, 2005, 09:21 PM

If you got a utility with it, it may be able to perform a diagnostic format.

Find the USB ID and you may be able to find a utility kit that will work with it, even if it's not the same name, as many of these are just a branded "reference design" using one of several popular chipsets. Not sure if it spares or shrinks, but the one I have has a diagnostic format utility.

MitchRapp · Apr 4, 2005, 03:47 AM

it didn't come with anythig .... just a no-name USB key with YDSM 256M written on it ....
tried partition magic but there's no option for removable media .... only my hard disks

mkk · Apr 4, 2005, 12:30 PM

Have you seen any other sign of the faults than with this perticular program? Test it by copying some files back and forth as well if you haven't.

redsolar · Apr 4, 2005, 02:31 PM

USB drives can develop bad sectors. This has been discussed in quite a few online and printed journals, especially if there are numerous read/write cycles performed on the drive. It's especially possible if you run things from USB drive, for example TIny Firefox, with cookies, etc. It may significantly reduce the lifetime of a flash drive.

There is really nothing you will likely be able to do, but if you know which side of the drive the sectors are, you may use a third-party partitioning utility to partition such segment of the drive out. Though I would not trust my data to a drive that has bad sectors, as they have a tendency to grow.

MitchRapp · Apr 4, 2005, 04:33 PM

damnit

might as well sell it on ebay or something..... gr...
what about these third party partitioning tools..... any names?

Apr 3, 2005, 04:06 AM	#1
MitchRapp a.k.a. pepiman Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Montreal Posts: 998 Rep Power: 51 System Specs	USB Flash Drive bad sectors? Anyone ever get bad sectors on a USB flash drive similar to like.... bad sectors on a floppy disk or hard drive? my no-name 256mb flash drive has some .... very funny.... i thought these things would work for years and years but I've been using it for about 2-3 months .... thank God I got it for free buttt...... now some files are corrupt Anyways you think I could just partition the bad stuff out?

Apr 4, 2005, 02:31 PM	#6
redsolar Off duty Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Las Vegas, USA Posts: 1,242 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	USB drives can develop bad sectors. This has been discussed in quite a few online and printed journals, especially if there are numerous read/write cycles performed on the drive. It's especially possible if you run things from USB drive, for example TIny Firefox, with cookies, etc. It may significantly reduce the lifetime of a flash drive. There is really nothing you will likely be able to do, but if you know which side of the drive the sectors are, you may use a third-party partitioning utility to partition such segment of the drive out. Though I would not trust my data to a drive that has bad sectors, as they have a tendency to grow. __________________ Real_Men_Do_Not_Use_Space_Bar Main rig: Intel Core i7 930 @ 4.0 Ghz \| Corsair H50 Push/Pull \| 12GB OCZ DDR3 \| ASUS Radeon HD 5850 \| 3x 1TB Samsung F3 RAID5 on Dell PERC 5i SAS + 1TB Hitachi \| MSI X58 Pro-e \| 850W Antec Truepower Quattro \| RocketFish by Lian Li Full Tower Case \| Gateway XHD3000 30" LCD \| Dell 2408WFP 24" LCD \| Dell 2407WFP 24" LCD \| Logitech Z-5500 Speakers \| Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Laptop: Samsung x360-34P \| Core 2 Duo SU9400 1.4 GHz \| 4GB DDR3 \| 128GB Samsung SSD \| Intel 4500M w/ HDMI \| WiFi \| Bluetooth \| 13.3" WLED 1280x800 \| Windows 7 Professional x64

Apr 3, 2005, 04:08 AM	Thread Starter #2
MitchRapp a.k.a. pepiman Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Montreal Posts: 998 Rep Power: 51 System Specs	here's a screenshot ... sooooo can I just partition the last 25 megs of the flash drive and hide it from windows? so that my 250mb drive becomes 225 or something?

Apr 3, 2005, 09:21 PM	#3
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	If you got a utility with it, it may be able to perform a diagnostic format. Find the USB ID and you may be able to find a utility kit that will work with it, even if it's not the same name, as many of these are just a branded "reference design" using one of several popular chipsets. Not sure if it spares or shrinks, but the one I have has a diagnostic format utility.

Apr 4, 2005, 03:47 AM	Thread Starter #4
MitchRapp a.k.a. pepiman Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Montreal Posts: 998 Rep Power: 51 System Specs	it didn't come with anythig .... just a no-name USB key with YDSM 256M written on it .... tried partition magic but there's no option for removable media .... only my hard disks

Apr 4, 2005, 12:30 PM	#5
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,490 Rep Power: 132 System Specs	Have you seen any other sign of the faults than with this perticular program? Test it by copying some files back and forth as well if you haven't.

Apr 4, 2005, 04:33 PM	Thread Starter #7
MitchRapp a.k.a. pepiman Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Montreal Posts: 998 Rep Power: 51 System Specs	damnit might as well sell it on ebay or something..... gr... what about these third party partitioning tools..... any names?