Computer guru's - Thumb drive question

[TTQ B4U]

So I found three 1GB thumb drives that may very well have had data on them at one time. They were in a computer bag in my basement that likey hasn't been touched in a couple years. No heat or moisture or anything. Just in my family room.

 

None of the three will format or open and when it goes to format them they pop up as 8mb formats vs 1gb or 966mb as I would expect.

 

Anything I can do to get them to work? I know they are cheap now, but I'd lie to not ditch them if there's a trick to get them to work.

 

What happened to them? What would kill these three chips ?

 

Thanks!

[dakotart]

Search for the "HP USB Disk Storage format tool" and give it a try for formatting them.

[Putty]

To be honest, it's not worth the time to figure out what happened to them....especially if you don't need the data. Visit Target and get a 4gb for $14.

[04silvrz]

screw target, if you are going to buy one you can get a 8GB for $14 at micro center.

 

 

fdisk them bitches. that's a lot of effort though.

[Putty]

Bill, the 1 upper!

[jeffro]

Search for the "HP USB Disk Storage format tool" and give it a try for formatting them.

 

used this to make a usb stick bootable once. awesome software.

[04silvrz]

Bill, the 1 upper!

 

 

sorry, wasn't trying to 1 up ya.. It's just Micro Center > Target for technology stuff.

[unfunnyryan]

screw target, if you are going to buy one you can get a 8GB for $14 at micro center.

 

 

fdisk them bitches. that's a lot of effort though.

 

Those cheap microcenter branded ones are highly subject to the problem originally stated. They go corrupt incredibly fast.

[87GT]

Those cheap microcenter branded ones are highly subject to the problem originally stated. They go corrupt incredibly fast.

 

I had one in my jeans pocket while washing it on a full cycle. Bitch still works fine. I watch Dr Who eps on my PS3 with it.

[Igor]

The microcenter ones are fine, there just slow. Sometimes you can find the Kingston branded ones for the same price in the bin.

[Littleguy]

Try this:

 

1. Buy a container of liquid nitrogen, 4 liters of Sprite, 2 ounces of vanilla extract, and 2 copies of People magazine (must be the most current issues due to freshness).

 

2. Set up the liquid nitrogen near your stove in the kitchen for easy access.

 

3. In the largest pot you have combine the 4 liters of Sprite, 2 ounces of vanilla extract, and the 2 copies of People magazine and bring to a boil stirring occasionally.

 

4. Drop the broken memory sticks in the pot and boil for exactly 3 minutes and 24 seconds (the combination of lemon/lime and vanilla will refresh the memory sticks, while the People magazine will help them catch up to current events that have occurred since they were left in the basement).

 

5. Quickly remove the sticks from the pot and drop directly into the liquid nitrogen container. Remove from the container after 1 minute 14 seconds. (The sticks need to be cooled very quickly after leaving the boiling container due to all of the "hotness" in the People magazine).

 

6. Plug them in and you are good to go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good lord I am bored.

[unfunnyryan]

I had one in my jeans pocket while washing it on a full cycle. Bitch still works fine. I watch Dr Who eps on my PS3 with it.

 

Water wont likely damage a flash drive. Constant rewrites will, and the microcenter ones handle rewrites incredibly poorly.

[87GT]

Water wont likely damage a flash drive. Constant rewrites will, and the microcenter ones handle rewrites incredibly poorly.

 

I delete and rewrite to mine all the effin time. Marathon of Dr Who, Weeds, Rescue me, or CSI.

 

So whatever.