New Thumb drive dies while formatting?

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Level 1

29 points

New Thumb drive dies while formatting?

I just brought home a thumb drive. PNY 32GB 3.0. I tried to reformat it for mac via a 2011 iMac using High Sierra. I used os journaled extended and the disk just died. I threw disk warrior at it and I am told that the directory is badly damaged and can't be recovered.

Has anyone ever had this problem. I also got a sandisk 3.1 128 GB thumb drive. I want to format it as well, but I am afraid something will go wrong.

Is there anything I did wrong? I have have formatted many disks via disk utility with no problems.

Cheers!

Posted on Apr 8, 2021 5:12 PM

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Answer 1

nelsonmay Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 10, 2021 7:43 AM in response to MrHoffman

It was just a "bad drive" I returned it and both a 3 pack for the same money. They all formatted without a problem.

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Answer 2

Apr 8, 2021 5:14 PM in response to nelsonmay

Wouldn't be the first failed flash drive, and won't be the last. Try the flash drive on a different system, as a test. If the problems persist across systems, see about returning the drive for an exchange.

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Answer 3

Jack-19

Level 8

46,188 points

Apr 8, 2021 5:14 PM in response to nelsonmay

Hi nelsonmay,

This is 100% the reason why I don't like/use flash drives. I always use external hard drives, or external SSDs.

But, please try this:

Go to Disk Utility.
Select "View" > "Show All Devices".
Select the top, non-indented, flash drive.
Click Erase
Pick a name, use Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and GUID Partition Map.
Click Erase and test again.

Cheers,

Jack

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Answer 4

den.thed

Level 10

90,982 points

Apr 8, 2021 5:36 PM in response to nelsonmay

Not sure if it’s part of the problem or not, but your 2011 iMac only has USB 2.0 ports.

If jack-19’s formatting advice doesn’t get it working, then return it and try a different USB 2.0 FlashDrive or external Hard Drive.

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Answer 5

nelsonmay Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 10, 2021 7:45 AM in response to Jack-19

I have never used the GUID Partition map option. It worked on the other drives. I just had a bad one. I buy them cheap so I can send things to my parents and friends. I also send my files to my accountant who can never seem to be able to download them from cloud apps.

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Answer 6

babowa

Level 9

78,562 points

Apr 10, 2021 8:13 AM in response to nelsonmay

I buy them cheap so I can send things to my parents and friends

As long as you don't rely on them for a backup, I guess they are ok. I do not trust them and do not use them - you usually get what you pay for.

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New Thumb drive dies while formatting?

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