Why do USB thumb drives die all the time?

[stick1977]

I only get like 3 months on average before the thing just stops working.

Today it was "you need to format the disc in drive F: before you can use it, do you want to format it?" Then of course when I said yes it was all "Windows can not format the disc."

Tried mounting in a few different systems but same results. Not a huge deal as i've learned to never keep important docs on these things but geez, they're starting to hurt my wallet!

Is it just me or is this issue widespread?

 

[SilverLeaf]

I don't know....maybe it's just you I can't remember the last time I had a USB flash drive fail, all different brands and capacities. I'm kind of rough on em too...cracked cases, no caps, etc.

I probably shouldn't have said anything though. With the way things are going lately, I'll probably have half of them die tomorrow

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

I have flash drives from 7 years ago that work perfectly fine still. Gotta be something you are doing. Once had a PC with a wonky USB port that did fry a few shop flash drives, so maybe something to look at.

 

[drpcfix]

I've had a few fail.. but most work forever - imo

 

[mr m]

I've had pretty good luck with them over the years. I still have the first thumb drive I ever bought over 10 years ago...a whopping 8 MB! I keep two pictures stored on it! I also have a 2 GB model that failed within months.

Nothing lasts forever but every 3 months seems excessive. The flash memory they use is just like the chips in SSD's. SLC and MLC with the former being able to handle many more write cycles but still a finite number. There is also a controller that can fail and the USB connector itself has a finite life span.

Theoretically, a larger drive should outlast a smaller drive.

 

[NYJimbo]

I've had cheap verbatim or Kingston sticks die on me but so far never one of my write protected Kanguru's and I use them all day.

 

[brandonkick]

I've seen very very few ever die, and only one die on me.


I use a mixture of brands/speeds/sizes and I've had several for years. I've got two kingston micro sd USB card readers that have worked fine for years (had a 2GB micro sd card fail on me), I've got two 16GB Maxell thumb drives that have worked fantastically for me and one 8GB Kingston data traveler that's lasted and lasted.

 

[gikstar]

As the saying goes, Buy Quality gets ya something that lasts.

Whenever I need to purchase another USB thumb drive, I read the reviews on Newegg (as I want quality and speed) and then decide. I notice that Fry's (have one here in our town) doesn't provide customer reviews on their site like Newegg does.

 

[jbartlett323]

Have had 2 thumb drives die on me in my entire career... Both were cheapies from microcenter. The first 1GB died after a solid year of heavy (I'm talked coping 780MB of stuff on and off quite often/daily). The second 2GB died after ~4 months of standard use, nothin to comment on. Just up and died one day.
Few years back, my wife bought me a 16GB (when that was still a huge thumb drive) Sandisk that I have yet to kill, gets fairly frequent use and has been full more times than I can count. Oh and it lives on my keychain, so physical abuse is a must! but we won't count the many trips through the wash, the're unimportant...

Moral of the story: Cheapies dont last, so forget the headaches and buy a decent one!

 

[stick1977]

First I just want to thank all of you for NOT asking me if I used safe removal. I forget to mention that I always do but no one asked, I appreciate the credit!

And okay I agree, it's time to stop buying cheap USB thumb drives

 

[BillMoney]

I have a sandisk from 2004 or 2005, still going. I've had maybe 5 break in 10 years. That doesn;t include the 128 mb ones i just intentionally broke because there is no use for them anymore

 

[Rosco]

i lose them before they go bad.

 

[scott00049]

I have to say that USB's are one category that in my experience you absolutely get what you pay for. The only ones I have had go bad were cheaper ones, and all of the more expensive ones I have had have all worked great.

-Scott

 

[compnet]

First I just want to thank all of you for NOT asking me if I used safe removal. I forget to mention that I always do but no one asked, I appreciate the credit!

And okay I agree, it's time to stop buying cheap USB thumb drives

I never safely remove flash drives.. External HDDs sure, but never flash drives. Never had one die on me.

 

[gunslinger]

I only get like 3 months on average before the thing just stops working.

Today it was "you need to format the disc in drive F: before you can use it, do you want to format it?" Then of course when I said yes it was all "Windows can not format the disc."

Tried mounting in a few different systems but same results. Not a huge deal as i've learned to never keep important docs on these things but geez, they're starting to hurt my wallet!

Is it just me or is this issue widespread?

No offense but I think the problem could be you or you are buying cheap brand flash drives. I have only had two die in the past 10 years. In fact I'm still using 2 that I've had for over 8 years. A 512mb and 128mb. Both have seen almost daily use ever since I got them.

 

[lcoughey]

Here are my thoughts:

1. A lot of people buy a $10 thumb drive at the check out or use the free device that they got in a trade show and use it as their primary storage device. Bad idea.

2. There are a lot of fake knock off devices out there that only have 1 or 2GB of physical memory, yet are made to look like they are 8, 16, 32 or even 64GB devices. Bad things happen when the actual memory size is exceeded.

3. The "Safe Removal" only unmounts the file system and ensures that there are no open files before unplugging the thumb drive. It does not shut down the always live 5 & 12V power from the USB port.

4. Flash is still quite new in the storage device market

 

[brandonkick]

I never use the safely remove feature for thumbdrives.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I'd say 2 things combine to that...
*Hot removal
*Cheap brands

I'm guilty for hot removal a lot....but I don't keep valuable stuff on it, only a tool for shuffling data.

We usually stick with Crucial Gizmo drives...I've had good luck with them.

 

[nlinecomputers]

i lose them before they go bad.

This or I break them by accident. Never had one "go bad" on me.

If the OP is having that many issues it sounds like he may have a shorted front panel on his main PC. Lots of those cloner white box chassis have crappy front USB ports.

 

[Jsch38]

Here's my opinion

Microcenter brand USB flash Drives-Bad news, Had good luck with Verbatum brand.