My computer kills USB removable drives

I just built a new computer. I had a usb removable drive that I wanted to use with it, so I plugged it in and found that nothing happened, and that it would not light up and Windows did not even notice anything had been connected. I figured that the drive had simply died, since I hadn't used it in a long time. Later, I went to a friend's house, where he gave me a file on a usb removable drive. I took it home, and plugged it in, and the light on it flashed on and then off. Windows detected it, but said that it had malfunctioned and it was an Unknown Device. I took it back to my friend, thinking that my computer was simply not reading it, but then my friend's computer gave the same message. He had just put files on this drive an hour before, so I know it was fine until I put it in my computer. At this point, I have decided something must be wrong with my computer's usb ports. I have a usb keyboard, a usb mouse, and a usb Xbox 360 controller currently hooked up and working just fine, so I'm a bit confused. I don't really know much about usb, but I assume something must be wrong, perhaps with my motherboard?

 

If the USB hard drive gets it's power from the USB port instead of from a separate wall adapter, then you may run into corruption problems. I recommend attaching a USB hub ( with separate wall socket adapter) to your computer's USB port and then attaching your USB drive to a port on the hub.

 

So using a usb hub will make my usb ports safe?

 

Oh, and also, is there any way to fix the corrupted usb drive? It's a 1 GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro, by the way.

 

Sorry, Dark_Oppressor
I didn't realise you were refering to a USB Flash Drive. For the Flash Drive you'll be OK hooking directly to the PC's USB port. However, you can glitch them if you just pull them out. You've got to use the "eject" applet ( that little USB drive icon on the toolbar). Failure to "eject" before pulling it out of the USB port can either corrupt the file structure or ruin the device. If the file structure is kaput, the Flash Drive may be formatted, just like a regular hard drive. Typically they use the FAT file system, similar to a floppy disk. WinXP has a USB flash drive formatter, however, I've heard some negative press about that. You'd be better off perusing the SanDisk website for their particular formatting utility.

 

Agree with prometheos that you SHOULD use the eject applet.
Most people, including myself, don't bother.
As long as it is not writing to, or reading from, the USB drive, you should be OK.
As to formatting, I have used the standard format command with no worries.
My $0.02 worth. Bazza

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I have a flash drive that won't format anymore. I transfered a file >100Meg and shortly after the filename showed up in Explorer I yanked it out. Under the office flluorescent lights, I didn't notice the "busy" LED on the flash drive. So, now I eject first, yank second.

 

Fair enough. Bazza

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Ok thanks guys, I'll try formatting it.