[qkslvr]

Everyone, I need an answer QUICK.

Just today I've used my Emprex PD 330 2GB Thumbdrive on both my Powerbook and an iMac at one of the labs here at school. I'd been flipping back and forth between the two with no problem, and saving from Photoshop and the desktop of the iMac with no problems.

Then, later on tonight, I plugged it into my Powerbook, and the red light lit up on the actual drive. However, it never mounted on my desktop. I tried opening it through the toolbar in the Finder window, too, but it didn't show up there either. I was in another lab, and immediately next to me was a Windows box, and I tried plugging it in there. The Windows PC recognized it instantly and opened up, no problem. Trying to eliminate more possibilities, I tried plugging my girlfriend's USB drive into my Powerbook, and that mounted no problem. I also tried my drive in the Macs at the lab, and they didn't recognize it either.

I then tried to reformat it in FAT on the Windows PC, and replug it into my Powerbook, but nothing. When I got back to my room, I also tried my external hard drive, and that mounted no problem either.

So obviosly it's something between OS X and my USB Drive. Anyone have any idea what happened?
But, the more important question is, how do I get my drive back? I can't run it through Disk Utility since OS X won't mount it, right?

I rely on this drive all the time, so I need to get it back ASAP, and would not like to get another since 2 gigs run pretty hefty wiithout the rebate I got on this one. What can I do?

[qkslvr]

Nothing? I really need to figure this out.

[Cadaver]

Did you reboot your machine??

[qkslvr]

Originally Posted by Cadaver 

Did you reboot your machine??

Yes I did, but still nothing. I figured that wouldn't do much tho, since the other Macs didn't recognize it.

[Zarqawi's Eye]

What version of the Mac OS are you running?

[qkslvr]

Originally Posted by Zarqawi's Eye 

What version of the Mac OS are you running?

10.4.8. I just updated on Wednesday, but know for a fact it's worked since I updated. As said, I used it earlier that day. And plus, the eMacs in the lab are running Panther, and not updated all that well either, and the iMacs in the other lab are running an older version of 10.4.

[qkslvr]

Still nothing?

[qkslvr]

Ok all. I really need an answer soon. I tried the tech support from the Drive manifacturer, and they don't know OS X at all. They just suggested I do the same stuff I would in Windows.

So I really need your help now. No one has any suggestions?

[qkslvr]

134 views and 2 responses by people other than myself...

[Railroader]

Try formatting it with a different format on a windows computer. Perhaps with the UNIX file system.

[ghporter]

If you've already formatted it, it's obviously not an issue with "I gotta get what's on it!" How about plopping down another $20 and getting a new one instead of agonizing over a relatively disposable consumer item?

[qkslvr]

2 GB isn't anywhere near $20, and I'm a college student, so dropping ~%$70 on something I already have and can try to fix isn't too appealing to me.

I'll try the reformat with UNIX, but if I remember correctly, the only option I had were FAT and FAT32. Should I try FAT32? Or is that a problem?

[ghporter]

FAT32 is what almost all thumbs are formatted for. It provides cross-platform accessibility and is almost always really simple for everything to see and write to.

You've said you restarted your Mac. Have you done anything to permissions? If it's only giving you problems with YOUR Mac, then it's obviously something to do with your Mac, so I'd think permissions is the first step to look at.

And if you look you CAN find 2GB USB flash drives for around $20. Or how about a 4GB thumb for less than $30 (before shipping)?

I'm in college too and I do understand costs and budgets. But there's also the time and energy you're using worrying about this drive. It could be worth skipping a few weeks worth of sodas to get a new drive if that's the core of the problem.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by qkslvr 

2 GB isn't anywhere near $20, and I'm a college student, so dropping ~%$70 on something I already have and can try to fix isn't too appealing to me.

I'll try the reformat with UNIX, but if I remember correctly, the only option I had were FAT and FAT32. Should I try FAT32? Or is that a problem?

Um...I'm not sure where you're getting your flash drive prices from, but you could pick up two of these excellent Kingston 1GB drives from Newegg for a grand total of like $30.

Or, get an offbrand drive for under $20.

I would recommend a Kingston drive. They have a five-year warranty, so if this happens again, you'll be covered, at least financially.

As far as troubleshooting goes, usually when a flash drive starts acting flaky, it means it's on its last legs, and there's not a lot you can do. You might try mounting the drive through the UNIX terminal. Perhaps there's something that is keeping OS X from thinking it can mount it.

If you've never mounted a drive from a terminal, it's pretty easy. The "$" symbol in the following commands represents your command prompt. Just type what comes after the "$ "

First, before you plug in your drive, see what drives are connected:

[codex]$ ls /dev/rdisk?[/codex]

You'll see a list of drives. My iBook, with only one physical drive, is seen as rdisk0. When I plug in a USB drive, it sees it as rdisk1. So, plug in your drive, wait a minute, and then run that same command again.

Once you've got the rdisk number for your thumb drive, try mounting it:

[codex]$ hdid /dev/rdisk1[/codex]

If it fails, you'll see an error. You can possibly get a more researchable error by using the mount command. First, get a list of existing partitions:

[codex]$ ls /dev/disk?[/codex]

You'll probably only see two items: disk0 and disk1. Disk0 is your hard drive; disk1 is your USB drive. Try to mount disk1:

[codex]$ mount /dev/disk1 /usbmount[/codex]

You might get an error. Google that error and see what you can find out.

If you want another error to aid in your googling, try mounting the disk with an "r" before the disk number:

[codex]$ mount /dev/rdisk1 /usbmount[/codex]

FWIW, I have a 1GB thumb drive that doesn't work on my iBook. I've never figured out why. Maybe I need to reformat it - I've never messed with it, because I haven't needed to connect it to my iBook before.

Good luck!

[shifuimam]

Also - FWIW, I went ahead and checked out the drive I have that quit working in OS X. It said that it had an incorrect super block, and it looked like that error couldn't be fixed without reformatting it. The drive could be seen in the Disk Utility, but with no valid partition table. I reformatted it in the Disk Utility in "MS-DOS" (aka FAT32, since OS X uses its own names for standard filesystems... ), and it now works on both Windows XP and OS X. Hope that helps!

[shifuimam]

I just got this thing from TheTechGeek.com in my email inbox, including this:

$5.99 After $20 Mfr. MIR until 02/28/07 SimpleTech BonzaiXpress 2GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) Model STI-UFD/2GB - Retail

'Tis indeed a 2GB thumb drive for $6. Buy two.