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Delayed Write Fail


Jay Campey

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I bought 50 USB Padlocks, 25 of the 2gb and 25 of the 4gb.

 

Upon testing the first 4 devices I picked out of a stack, each one of them failed to copy files from my hard drive (on two separate machines). Within a few minutes of the copy, I get the eternal Delayed Write failure message.

 

When I refresh the contents of the drive (without removing it) the directory structure is blank, yet the green UNLOCKED led is still lit.

 

If I remove the drive and stick it back in, I can see the files that DID copy, however a second copy attempt provides the same results.

 

I got this failure using 3 different 4gb models, and one 2gb model, each chosen at random. This test was performed using two separate machines of different makes. (One generic C2duo and an IBM P4 thinkcentre)

 

The only time I can actually get halfway through a copy (or send-to) is if I format the drives first. They still eventually fail.

 

We bought these drives because they provide a little security, and are compatible with many of our cross-platform machines. (servers, macs, linux, windows, etc)

 

The windows error I get is

Cannot remove folder whatever: Cannot find the specified file.

Make sure you specify the correct path and file name.

The error box is titled Error Deleting File or Folder

 

Any insight as to why this is happening with every device I have tried thus far? I bought one and tested it thouroughly before buying 50 of these. Never have I seen an issue like this.

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The machines that don't have USB 2.0 copy all files correctly and don't lose connection. The machines that ARE 2.0 compliant seem to lose connection intermittantly.

 

I tried it on an old HP desktop in the front, and had no issues. (usb 1.1)

 

Is there a way to "dumb down" a 2.0 USB port so that it communicates slower? I would almost rather a 30 minute copy time as opposed to not knowing whether or not it's going to maintain connection.

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  • Corsair Employee

The description of the problem you're having seems to suggest that your USB ports aren't providing enough power to meet USB 2.0 spec which can cause these problems.

 

My recommendation would be to try a powered USB hub and see if you continue to see problems. If you do, we can certainly get the flash drive replaced for you.

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Sorry it took so long to respond, I took the time to thoroughly test the theory in question. Please understand that the following is not an arguement. I just have difficulty understanding your diagnosis:

 

In an effort to troubleshoot and keep this fair, I have used a total of 7 different PC models to copy both (many small files) and (one large file) to these USB devices. For testing, I chose 6 random USB Padlock drives, 3 with passwords, and 3 without.

Additionally, using Microsoft Virtual PC, I loaded a SUSE virtual machine on each of the USB drives so I would know the moment that it dies by watching the console. Each of these 7 machines have 2.0 USB and have consecutively failed during copy and/or VM test:

 

1. Clone C2Duo (XP Pro32) (failed after 1.7 minutes)

2. IBM ThinkCentre 8148-33u (Server 2003 32) (failed after 5.2 hours)

3. Dell PE2950 Server (Server 2003r2 64) (failed after 7 minutes)

4. Compaq NX9420 Notebook (XP Pro32) (failed after 12 minutes)

5. Sony VAIO VGN-AR650U (Vista 32) (failed immediately upon copy)

6. Macbook Pro intel (xLeopard) (passed in mac mode, failed in xp mode)

7. Acer Veriton M661 Quad (SUSE 10.1) (failed after 12 seconds)

 

The only machine that consistently transferred data to and from is an IBM x3550 running 2003 Server x86, the machine that I copied the virtual machine file from in the first place.

 

Do you mean to tell me that all of these machines have inferior USB 2.0 controllers? And one question regarding the corsiar padlock USB drives:

Are they 2.0 compliant or not? I thought in order to be compliant with USB 2.0 a device must not depend on external power in order to function optimally.

 

Another clue in this mystery...

After the 3.5gb virtual machine file was loaded onto the drives, I was able to erase the file, and copy files onto that same usb drive using 5 out of the 7 failed machines, but never actually RUN the VM.

 

Still hoping for answers...

JC

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UPDATE

 

It seems if I format the drive, fill the drive to capacity, erase it, and format it again, it does not fail on previously failed machines. Formatting alone does not help, filling the drive and erasing it does not help, but the aforementioned order does.

 

I'm not a drive guy, so perhaps someone can explain why this workaround seems to work. (and why something like this wasn't done during manufacturing)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I returned 4 because that was the limit of the web application. The 4 I received back had no issues whatsoever on any of the testing machines.

 

I have since tested 3 more from the original supply and they also have failed. Just to save myself time and heartache, I would like to have them all replaced.

 

I have 21 4gb models and 25 2gb models.

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  • Corsair Employee

Any quantity over 4 should be arranged by calling our 888 number above and working with customer service. They'll be able to work with you on this.

 

Let me know if you need any further assistance.

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