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8GB Survivor GT problems


ChalkTrauma

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About a week ago I bought a 8GB Survivor GT, upgrading from a really cheap 4GB flash drive.

 

The speed of the Survivor GT has been great, but I have had some really annoying problems.

 

I'm running Windows XP sp2 on a IBM T40 Thinkpad. I have the drive formatted FAT32.

 

I have had problems on both my USB ports as well as with the included extension cable..

 

I run a lot or apps from the drive as well as store some data on an encrypted volume on the drive..

 

What happens is I'll be working on something and Windows will start popping up balloons telling me a write operation has failed:

 

Application popup: Windows - Delayed Write Failed : Windows was unable to save all the data for.....

 

or

 

FastFat will log an error like the following:

 

{Delayed Write Failed} Windows was unable to save all the data for the file . The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.

 

This then leads to my encrypted volume being corrupted...

 

If I go into MyComputer or if I'm working at a command prompt I can still see the drive letter (E:). But it I double click on it or try to CD into it I get nothing. It is like the drive is there, but the volume is missing.

 

A reboot solves the problem.

 

I don't see anything in the event viewer leading up to the problem, and I don't see any kind of pattern with what I am doing. It seems very random.

 

I practically live off the flash drive ( I back up weekly ), so having it crap out like this is just not an option. I bought the Survivor for just this reason, to protect my data.

 

My old flash drive never had this problem, so I don't know what is to blame..

 

Any ideas?

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Hello, I dont have any such problems described by you. My stick works fine. (I cant find any encryption soft, though. So i formatted (under Windows2000 GUI) it several times with FAT32 and NTFS to see if i gain more storage space. It displays 7.70GB of available storage. I guess this is a correct number.

 

No, i have a different problem, better said, a concern:

 

Using the stick as a keyring pendant for three days only, the two keyholes already show appreciable signs of wear and tear. The keyholes look deformed (from circle to ellipse, not by deformation but by abrasion caused by the attached keyring) and since both holes (on each end of the stick) are not 100% exactly placed in the 'middle' of the 'triangled-corner', i fear that sometime soon (1-2 years) the thinner aluminium 'wall' (the aluminium triangle with the hole has theoretically two 'walls' which could break. The thinner side will break first, of course.) will break through, so that my keyring (with its keys) cannot be attached to the stick any longer.

 

I dont hope that this material failure (due to wear and tear at the keyholes) will ever happen.

 

Dear Sir, but *if* it happens, is there then a chance for a free replacement? Or would the 10years-warranty not cover this case?

(I reside in Germany, and I dont know how...etc..)

 

Thanks for your service and outstanding products!

Regards, Andrey

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I would think twice before formatting the drive NTFS. NTFS is a journaling file system and will greatly reduce the life of the drive. FAT32 should be good enough for most uses, only use NTFS if you have a specific need for it.

 

BTW Still experiencing the missing volume syndrome.. Damn.. I really wanted to trust this drive, it was off to such a good start.. :mad:

 

Anybody ever seen this problem.. any advice on how to solve it.. or am I looking at a hardware failure and a RMA??

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thx for your advice. i ll copy the gigas to my external mini and then format to fat32, no problem. btw, we have 10years of warranty, so such stick life shouldnt worry the user too much.

 

nice notebook you have. thinkpads are top-notch products, congratulations!

Sorry, still no idea. Some Corsair person will soon help you i guess (and me).

 

May i ask you, what can you tell us about the centricity of your holes in that triangles? Are your resulting wall thicknesses (of the drilled holes) more or less exactly the same? *IMO* wall thicknesses should always be even, anywhere: house walls, tube walls, insulation thicknesses, etc.

 

If the hole was drilled in the perfect ("centric") position on the triangle surface, the wall thicknesses would have resulted equal. And i wouldnt have to wonder about the quality of the USB stick production/assembly/manufacture.

 

From a production engineer's standpoint, these drillings/holes have an unacceptable quality of realization, this is sure.

 

BUT, if free replacement is given (in case of keyhole fracture) within the time span of granted warranty, then i would stop talking about this production imperfection and simply enjoy their product and service.

 

Regards, Andrey

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ChalkTrauma- it's likely, in order to update the USB drivers for full support of USB devices greater than 4GB, you'll need to download, read the instructions pdf, and run Lenova's "System Update x.x" utility for your exact model version of the T40 and operating system. Just plug this infomation into the following linked to page.

 

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/product.do?brandind=10&familyind=117057&operatingsystemind=49979&template=%2Fproductselection%2Flandingpages%2FdownloadsDriversLandingPage.vm&validate=true

 

ps: For the straight T40 notebook, the utility is called "System Update 3.0" dated 2/20/2007.

 

ps2: if the above link doesn't work, you'll need to get to Lenova, then "Notebooks and Handhelds", then the downloads section. Some customer usage tracking software on websites is so poorly written that they can't handle direct linking.

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Well right now it seems the download section of levnovo/ibm site is down ( it is giving me a 500 error ), so I will have to wait on that.

 

In the meantime I tried to backup what was on the flashdrive to my harddrive on my desktop system.. and the exact same thing happened, about 98% of the way through the copy, the volume disappeared, the drive letter is there, but no files are being listed...

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  • Corsair Employees

ChalkTrauma

I would try using an externally powered USB HUB, I have seen many systems especially Note Books can not provide enough power and might be causing this.

But if you continue to have problems, let's get it replaced please use the On Line RMA Request Form and we will be happy to replace it.

 

Andrey

You can get the security software from http://www.truecrypt.com and yes if the key hole breaks we will replace it.

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and yes if the key hole breaks we will replace it.

Hello RAM GUY, this is so cool from you / your company. I begin to appreciate CORSAIR as a brand :) Thanks for replying and giving me hope, so i wouldnt be worried any longer!

Let me begin now to toss the stick around, in my room, in the park, outdoors. It has already some scratches (because Aluminium is "soft" compared to hardened stainless steel, or compared to diamonds) but as long as nothing breaks, i am happy. From now on i wont be worried again about keyhole breaks :D: So all my problems solved, i dont need any further assistance regarding the product!

 

Thanks again for all, especially the service!!!, encryption soft not needed (when i format it ll be dead again anyway, hehe), best regards from Germany

Andrey

 

PS: i like your biceps. I am about to build up such muscles too. Looks cool. Like the Survivor stick. :cool:

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Thanks for the response RAM GUY, you know I suspected the power requirements, because I used USB Device Viewer to look at both my old 4GB and my new 8GB Survivor and noticed that the Survivor was listed as having

 

MaxPower: 0x32 = 100 mA

 

Which was a bit higher than my old 4GB drive...

 

I also changed the FastFat start setting from 4 to 1

 

We'll see how it goes over the next few days before I take the RMA route.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just bought a powered USB 2.0 hub, same problems..

 

I can duplicate the problem almost every time. I have about 4GB on it, and if I try to xcopy the entire contents to a folder on my HD, it gets to random points in the copy and the volume disappears leaving me with just the drive letter. I do not have to reboot I can just unplug and then plug it back in and the volume comes back...

 

UPDATE: Just happened again this AM and corrupted the main volume ( not truecrypt ) during a write operation, I can't trust it anymore.. I'm headed to the RMA form now..

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I'll let you know.. I just got the RMA letter in my email. Funny thing is I got two of them about 30 mins apart. I only clicked submit once.. Did you issue a RMA for me?? Anyway I'm just going to use the one that came in last with the higher RMA number...
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry it took so long to respond.. Life has a way of getting complex.. :)

 

On a good note.. I've put the Survivor through some rigorous testing. My laptop hard drive started it's death spiral ( AGAIN ), those TravelStar HDs are worth their weight in pocket lint, and I've had to move huge amounts of data around with the Survivor and it worked flawlessly everywhere. So it looks like my problem is solved..

 

Thanks again for the help..

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well.. this is it.. I'm finished with this product for what I need to do with it anyway.. :mad:

 

Same old problem has now happened three more times. Since I really need to rely on my encrypted volumes to store sensitive data from applications running on the Survivor, and it has a tendency to just wink out of existence and cause my encrypted volumes to become corrupt as well as applications that are running to crash and possibly corrupt files they are saving, I'm finished with the Survivor.. It was a nice idea but it is just too unreliable to be practical.. I won't be throwing it in the trash any time soon.. I'll use it as emergency backup or dump a bunch of mp3s on it to listen to while working..

 

So.. does anyone have a reliable alternative for carrying around my portable apps??

 

Too many TravelStar HD crashes are what brought me to the Survivor.. and I still have the same reliability problem.. <sigh>... I just need something that works..

 

I'm not thrilled at going back to storage media with moving parts but the eGo seems like an option..

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  • Corsair Employees
What you have posted might suggest some other problem, if you want to call us tomorrow after 9:00 AM Pacific time and ask for me I will be happy to talk with you about this and give you some things to check that might help you have a more stable flash drive. 800-205-7657.
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Thanks.. but I don't much see the point.. I had been using this Survivor on multiple systems, many of which I don't have control over their setup. If I can't plug in the device and have it work reliably on an OS that supports it, it is really no use to me in the capacity I need it. The whole idea is that it is portable to any system I'm at. I can't go in and tweak the bios or registry settings on every system I sit down at, it is just not a practical solution. I've had this problem on multiple systems, on multiple USB ports, including powered 2.0 hubs and I have gone the route of reformatting the drive ( as suggested in other parts of this forum ) only to have the problem happen again and again.

 

If you are saying that it has something to do with my usage habits than maybe I can change that, but simply copying large amounts of files from the drive has caused it.. or starting FireFox portable from and encrypted volume has killed it, as well as just starting up Trillian, which most times ends up corrupting the settings files for these programs if not corrupting the TrueCrypt volume. How I am utilizing the drive is how I need it to be used, so if it can't handle running simple apps like FireFox from an TrueCrypt volume on a standard WindowsXP machine that does not need to be tweaked to support the Survivor I can't use it, and I have to find something that does work because my job requires it.

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  • Corsair Employees

I have never suggested that anyone modify the registry to make one of our drives work. Like I stated the problems you have stated yes might suggest the issue might be the way you use it. However the only way to know for sure would be so find our more details and see what we can do. However, from what you have suggested and reported I would suggest using a USB 1.0 Flash drive with your systems, as they will have less power requirements and that may be part of the problem from what you have posted.

 

Bottom line its your choice I will be happy to help you either way.

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Using USB 1.0 is not an option, because the transfer speed is not fast enough. Are you saying every system I have tried this on has had underpowered USB ports? I have tried this on 4 separate systems, in all their ports, most of which are pretty high end systems with tight requirements.

 

I have also tried using a powered USB hub ( plugged in ) and had the same problems. Are you also saying that the hub is underpowered?

 

I own another brand 4gb USB 2.0 flash drive that has never had this problem, but I needed the Survivor for more space and the increased transfer speeds.

 

I regularly have had to use an USB to IDE bridge to mount external laptop hard drives through my USB and transfer the entire contents of the drive and the problem never happened, and the USB port was powering the drive.

 

If you are saying that the power requirements are not being met by every port I have tried with this device then again I can't use it because degrading to USB 1.0 would be too slow, and I can't rely on any system having the ability to properly power the Survivor..

 

If you would like more details on the setups I deal with or how the Survivor is used, just let me know. I can provide you with that info.

 

If you have some tips, then post them here and I will try them out..

 

I would love to having it working and reliable..

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