256GB Flashdrive Access issues

[JWR]

Got a 256GB flash drive which claims to be USB 3.0. It was delivered formatted as exFat. Tried copying very large folders of pictures (50GB was one, another 81GB, etc.) It was so slow that the copies ran for hours. Next morning the copies in the flashdrive SEEMED OK, SEEMED to be there but when browsed one was missing about 20% of the files and the other was missing about 5% of the files and subfolders. I have had that kind of disease with cheapy SSD's in the past. Replaced them with "good ones" (e.g. Samsung T7) and they are flawless -- same PC , same Win 10, no overt software changes.

Back to the pesky 256GB flash drive: I reformatted it once using 'quick format' and found no change. Same diseases. Reformatted it again but this time went to the NFTS format. Result was SLOW SLOW, even worse than the original. Deleted part of the contents and tried to reformat it again and the stick became useless -- cannot access it AT ALL. Plug it into the USB port and Explorer will not let you do anything to it/in it/with it. Right click on it in Explorer and get the eternal never stopping circular delay icon. Same if you try to open it. Nothing. Circular do-loop forever. This was all on a Win 10 desktop PC with high end credentials & 2 years old.

OK, pulled out a different gun. Tried accessing it on a Win 11 laptop (very new, very fast, lots of memory, etc.) SAME EXACT RESULT. NO CHANGE.

Has anyone else ever had a USB storage device turn useless and inaccessible before? Renovating the POS versus throwing it in the creek is not my priority right now -- I would just like to know

1. What is the disease?
2. What causes it?
3. Is there a cure?
4. Are some (if not many) cheapcrap drives being sold that are so poorly made & designed that they often have these kinds of issues?
5. I believe it is the drive, NOT the software, right?
6. Does any agency or service (similar to UL Underwriters Labs or whatever that is for electrical stuff) exist that might certify storage devices to be free of such diseases?

Opinions welcome...

 

[Bighorn]

Has anyone else ever had a USB storage device turn useless and inaccessible before?

I did have occasion to work with a 2TB noname drive that would only partition and format at 1TB, client had found a "good deal".

I've been working with an HP 256GB and a SanDisk 128GB last couple of days on both Win10 and Win11, no issues but both did need to be plugged into the USB 3 port on the computers to get the speed, USB 2 is slower.

1. May not be a 'disease'.
2. Don't know.
3. Maybe, maybe not.
4. Have seen issues with unknown brands so I stick with just a few like Verbatim, Lexar, PNY, SanDisk, HP, etc. The Web stores tend to have a lot of different suppliers, names I'm not familiar with.
5. It probably is the drive.
6. Any mention of it on the packaging or instructions?

 

[JWR]

Got a 256GB flash drive which claims to be USB 3.0. It was delivered formatted as exFat. Tried copying very large folders of pictures (50GB was one, another 81GB, etc.) It was so slow that the copies ran for hours. Next morning the copies in the flashdrive SEEMED OK, SEEMED to be there but when browsed one was missing about 20% of the files and the other was missing about 5% of the files and subfolders. I have had that kind of disease with cheapy SSD's in the past. Replaced them with "good ones" (e.g. Samsung T7) and they are flawless -- same PC , same Win 10, no overt software changes.

Back to the pesky 256GB flash drive: I reformatted it once using 'quick format' and found no change. Same diseases. Reformatted it again but this time went to the NFTS format. Result was SLOW SLOW, even worse than the original. Deleted part of the contents and tried to reformat it again and the stick became useless -- cannot access it AT ALL. Plug it into the USB port and Explorer will not let you do anything to it/in it/with it. Right click on it in Explorer and get the eternal never stopping circular delay icon. Same if you try to open it. Nothing. Circular do-loop forever. This was all on a Win 10 desktop PC with high end credentials & 2 years old.

OK, pulled out a different gun. Tried accessing it on a Win 11 laptop (very new, very fast, lots of memory, etc.) SAME EXACT RESULT. NO CHANGE.

Has anyone else ever had a USB storage device turn useless and inaccessible before? Renovating the POS versus throwing it in the creek is not my priority right now -- I would just like to know

1. What is the disease?
2. What causes it?
3. Is there a cure?
4. Are some (if not many) cheapcrap drives being sold that are so poorly made & designed that they often have these kinds of issues?
5. I believe it is the drive, NOT the software, right?
6. Does any agency or service (similar to UL Underwriters Labs or whatever that is for electrical stuff) exist that might certify storage devices to be free of such diseases?

Opinions welcome...

I bought an Amazon Basics (generic) 256GB flashdrive which is $17 and worth a try. It has NONE of the damnable diseases exhibited by the Xinber Chinese POS that started this whole dialog. The new Amazon generic

• uses the FAT32 formatting
• says it is USB 3.1 and speed wise I believe it
• file/folder copies are very fast, well not so bone-crushingly slow
• what a luxury: the # of files and folders in the finished destination copy exactly matches the origin unlike the Chinese POS
• the Amazon generic flashdrive was made in Taiwan, not mainland China

I am still intrigued/puzzled as to whether this flash drive failure is common (among off-brand or whatever) and wonder what the failure mode is.