[Coco] off-topic: USB drives scam?

[Aaron Wolfe]

I've fixed every usb flash drive that i've personally screwed up using
this tool:

http://downloads.pcworld.com/pub/new/utilities/peripherals/SP27608.exe

ymmw...
-Aaron


On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 1:46 PM, Roger Taylor <operator at coco3.com> wrote:
> I've been looking into this for months now and am baffled by how there are
> so many of the same questions popping up on the web, yet no answers.  The
> only answers you see are from those quasi-experts who just keep repeating
> the same garbage: "reformat the stick", "use HP Key", etc.  I guess some
> people have too much free time on their hands to solve problems without
> really trying it themselves.  None of that works on these mysteriously
> locked out sticks.
>
> The problem is that a *LOT* of USB Flash drives are randomly becoming Write
> Protected, and there seems to be no way to recover that I'm aware of.  I've
> looked and looked.
>
> Here's just one blurbs page showing the common problem:
> http://www.fixya.com/search/p454525-sandisk_1gb_cruzer_titanium_usb_flash/write_protected
>
> I've got about 4 brands here (some were $40 or more) and all of them became
> write protected or locked out when I inserted them in my home DVD player
> that has a USB port on the front.  Now the player can't access the sticks,
> nor any Windows system I have.  They all report only 8MB of space and can't
> format using any tool.
>
> Also, recently I've noticed a spike in the availability of USB drives in
> Wal-Mart and other dept stores.  Hmmmm.  Tons of them hitting the clearance
> racks for $5 and new ones stacked in bulk makes me wonder what's going on
> here, really.
>
> For this reason I've given up on USB sticks until I can fix the ones I have.
>  If they can't be fixed, I'll have to put this one on my bamboozle list.
> --
> ~ Roger Taylor
>
>
>
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