USB ??9 Mystery Files

[niski]

Hi,

 

I recently put an Ubuntu.iso on a Seagate 5.0 GB Pocket USB for transport (not for booting) and the file would not copy onto Windows. The USB drive was not recognized by Windows (but it was formated in Windows) and an attempt at file rescue with an old copy of FileScavanger threw a lot of sector errors so I wiped the drive with HDD FreeWipe Tool and reformatted to FAT32 with HP USB Disk Storage Tool (because Windows format froze) and it still won't accept any file into the volume. I scanned with Recuva and I find 224384 zero-byte files all listed as ??9. Are these remnants of a botched format or perhaps a corrupted Ubuntu.iso? Any opinions will be appreciated. Included is a snap of Recuva showing ??9.

 

Thanks for your time, and thanks to Piriform for the opportunity to join this forum.

 

niski

[redhawk]

These are not genuine files Recuva probably made the assumption because of the way data appears on the flash drive.

 

I'm surprised about the freezing problem it quite possible the device is having communication problems at USB 2.0 speed.

If that's the case then you may have to format your flash drive in another PC or force USB 1.1 mode by temporally disabling the "Enhanced" USB controller in Device Manager.

There's a tool called "Flash Memory Tool Kit" designed for flash drives which you could download and try out

Perform an "Error Scan" read test this shows the device performance with your USB port, a poor speed or device reset would confirm you have problems.

 

Richard S.

[niski]

These are not genuine files Recuva probably made the assumption because of the way data appears on the flash drive.

 

I'm surprised about the freezing problem it quite possible the device is having communication problems at USB 2.0 speed.

If that's the case then you may have to format your flash drive in another PC or force USB 1.1 mode by temporally disabling the "Enhanced" USB controller in Device Manager.

There's a tool called "Flash Memory Tool Kit" designed for flash drives which you could download and try out

Perform an "Error Scan" read test this shows the device performance with your USB port, a poor speed or device reset would confirm you have problems.

 

Richard S.

 

Redhawk,

 

Temporarily disabling the "Enhanced" USB controller did the trick. I'm on an HP Vectra 800 running XP-SP2 with an upgraded USB card. Transfere rates are as expected but it's always been too slow formatting large volumes. Now I know how to work around that lag thanks to you're good advice. I'll download the trail version of "Flash Memory Tool Kit" for some diagnostics.

 

Thanks for the concise and timely reply, Richard. My first Piriform post leaves me with a smile:)

 

niski