Deleting data from a USB memory stick

[Andy M0FYA]

Were they well a known brand such as Sandisk or brought from Ebay at a very cheap price ?? There are many sticks out there that are not what they say - There is a way to spoof PC's into thinking they are higher capacity then they actually are - this might be the problem you have ?

John

They were bought from Amazon, middle of the range price. I confess there is no maker's name visible on the devices, though. They seem to happily store 18GB (I haven't tried putting more on), so not 16GB devices or smaller pretending to be 32GB.

Andy

[Andy M0FYA]

Did you try F5?

And what service pack for Vista do you have?

And... are you opening the Explorer window via a desktop link, (*.lnk file)? (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960954)

I hadn't tried F5, but now just have - nothing different.

I accept all the Vista updates as they appear from Microsoft almost weekly, so I'm assuming (dangerous, I know) that all Service Packs should be incorporated.

I'm opening Explorer by going to Computer and then clicking on Drive K.

Note that Explorer seems to refresh automatically - as soon as the Delete action is finished the Documents folder vanishes on its own - but then reappears as soon as Explorer is reopened to look at the K drive!

I'm thinking dodgy memory sticks more and more.

Andy

[Skywave]

The answer may be as per this . . . .

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/ad...stick.html

HTH,
Al. / March 15, 2013.

[boiss]

Have you tried properties ? They may be read only or the the data you copied on to them may be read only, uncheck the boxes. Also the data within the files may be the same, make sure all are made 100% RW etc and that you have full access.
Mike

[Skywave]

Having read all that has been written and thinking about that, my conclusion is that the stick has corrupted its file index - or whatever the equivalent is of that in a memory stick: it doesn't know how to find files in it for the purposes of deleting them. This is a different process to finding files for a read operation. That inability to delete files is a manifestation of why it can't format the stick. I used to get the same trouble on old RLL drives, way back in the days of the PC/XT, MS-DOS v.2.11 and Seagate fixed disks. (Remember those days? ). I've even had this trouble with 1.44 MB floppies that have been in storage (and unused) for several years: the earth's magnetic field slowly disturbs the magnetic domains on the disk's magnetic media: an attempt at a reformat always fails.

Only one conclusion, therefore, can be reached: the stick is U/S.
Sorry to break the bad news.

Al. / March 15th., 2013 //

[Joe]

I used to get the same trouble on old RLL drives, way back in the days of the PC/XT, MS-DOS v.2.11 and Seagate fixed disks. (Remember those days? ).

Sure do, Al.

- Joe

[Andy M0FYA]

Only one conclusion, therefore, can be reached: the stick is U/S.

Al, that is the conclusion I am coming to, although it's odd that two sticks behave in the same way. But they are identical and were bought together. I suppose I'd better try the third one.

I feel an order for replacement sticks is inevitable.

Andy

[Skywave]

Only one conclusion, therefore, can be reached: the stick is U/S.

. . . although it's odd that two sticks behave in the same way. But they are identical and were bought together.
Andy

Perhaps it's not odd at all: two identical sticks, presumably by the same manufacturer, from the same supplier, same capacity . . . etc. However, I would have been surprised if the same fault conditions had been found with two sticks which came from different manufacturers, different suppliers, etc.

Again, I don't wish to sound like a prophet of doom, but when you look at the available evidence from a distance . . .

Al.

[Refugee]

I once has an SD card go duff.
The reader had dry joints on the USB plug.
I have never been able to format it again.
The reader has been fixed and still works.

[Andy M0FYA]

Many thanks for all your suggestions, chaps!

I have just ordered three Sony 32GB memory sticks from CCL Computers which should be delivered on Tuesday, so we'll see what happens with those.

I haven't dealt with CCL computers before, they were recommended by a friend who buys a lot from them.

Andy