USB Memory Stick problem

[711]

Can anyone explain this? I have a USB memory stick (Transcend 8 GB), on which I have several folders of photos. Suddenly, a couple of the folders have somehow become `corrupted` in some way. The photos have disappeared, and in their place are a number of sub folders and loose files. The cursor shows the folders to be empty, although they won`t open, The cursor also shows the loose files to be huge - some several GB`s, though this can`t be true, otherwise the memory stick would be way overloaded. The folders and files have names like "*¡0ü╚┬ö.ßCå", or "´JSÝã3ïq.sú", or "öêôVÆ▄A.½×Æ, and others similar. They won`t delete - a message states "The file name you specified is not valid or too long - specify a different file name". I`ve tried changing the name but it doesn`t work. Any ideas as to what`s going on, and can the situation be reversed? Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

[dr b]

Did you "safely remove" the stick, or just yank it out of the USB port? It is not unheard of for data to be corrupted on a stock that was not safely removed. (I get that excuse from students occasionally, anyway - it is the modern "my dog ate my homework".)

[northernmonkey]

You have not safely removed the device from your usb port's and have (in a short and simple manner) fu*ked ur device up. You don't stand a chance of getting the files back, sorry. Hopefully you will learn from now on...

[squarebear]

It's an urban myth that you need to safely remove the device. You can pull it straight out.

More likely is that you removed it as it was still copying data. When you copy to a USB stick, always leave it for a while after it appears to have finished copying before pulling it out.

[Old_Geezer]

I do not believe it is an urban myth as otherwise the provision to safely remove the device in the lower right box would not be provided. However some set ups are less prone to problems than others. The less risky write data to the flash disk as soon as possible. Much of the time you can get away with it, I know I take risks I ought not, and have been ok so far, but there again I don't pull the drive while the LED is flashing, which helps.

One other possibility, if you didn't buy from a reputable source, is that large flash drives can be bought which appear ok when you first use them, but the upper memory addresses are not "real", and trying to use them corrupts the rest of the drive. I'm not saying that is what happened to you but it is worth knowing. It happened once to me.

Corrupted folders are corrupted folders. It is possible your best bet is to shrug and pat yourself on the back for having backed up all the important stuff on the flash drive elsewhere (you did back it up didn't you ?)

Alternatively you can search the web for disk repair applications. Some are free, the best are not. And of course you may find not all are able to look at flash drives. Have a look at R-Studio, which is good, but not cheap. Consider ANYTHING you salvage as a bonus.

And *** when you have salvaged all you can, or have given up *** then use a flash drive test application. Again there are many on the Net and are worth using to check any new flash drive you buy. I have used FlashTester in the past. It is free from vconsole.com, but be aware the test is destructive so you should not run it where you still have valuable data.

[squarebear]

The "safely remove hardware" feature is included to ensure any files have finished copying to the stick. If the stick is not in use, it is perfectly safe to pull it out without click on the safely remove icon.

[ChuckFickens]

Though if you just pull a stick out from a windows machine it won't mount on a linux machine until you plug it back into a windows computer and safely remove it.

[711]

Thanks guys - the consensus seems to be correct - I was guilty of `not safely removing` on occasions. It seems that removing while still open on screen causes the problem. Closing all aspects first, then removing, seems to be safe. However, I shall be cautious in future by `safely removing`. I was lucky this time - most of what I lost was backed up.
I have noted and logged all your comments for future reference.
Many thanks again.