Transcend 4 GB Thumb Drive: Alive or Dead?

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I inserted this dumb drive into my MBP. The thumb drive loaded, the little light on it went on and I was able to open the files on it. When I attempted to copy the files onto my MBP hard drive, something happened. Briefly, I got a message that I think said something about ejecting the thumb drive incorrectly (although I did not eject anything). Now, when I insert the thumb drive, the MBP does not recognize it, and I get no icon.

Is there a way to salvage this thumb drive and access its contents? The light on it still flickers when I plug it into the USB port, but nothing else happens.

Thanks. :)
 
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Well hownisnit formatted and does it appear in Disk Utility when inserted?

Thumb drives often have a very short lifespan.
 

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Hi Mark, and thank you for posting.

I suspect that what happened was that, through no fault of your own, the USB Drive lost its connection to your Mac; hence the message about Ejecting Incorrectly.

I have a simple mind, but this is how I understand the situation: in order for a Drive to be recognised and accessed in the future, before Ejection, it creates a "Contents Page" (entirely my words) so that on remounting, the Mac recognises the "Contents Page" and allows you to see and recover the contents.

In many cases, an incorrect ejection does no harm, but if the Drive was in active use at the time - as was yours - then there is a problem.

May I ask: was your USB Drive connected to your Mac directly or via a Hub? If via a Hub, that might account for the loss of connection.

Try this:

Attach your USB Drive directly into the Mac.

Reboot the Mac.

Now go into Disk Utility (found in Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility) and see if the USB Drive is recognised. If so, click on the indent, and then choose First Aid and let it repair the Drive.

Then try to access the contents in the usual way.

Please post back. We are here to help.

Ian
 
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It was plugged in directly (not through a hub).

I can see the thumb drive in Disk Utilities, but only for a few seconds. Then, it disappears. Then, it reappears. Over and over. I have tried each of my two USB ports. Same result.

Strange, huh?
 
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I went to Time Machine backup drive to retrieve the files, but all my files that are not recent are Locked. Something is screwed up because I did a Restore from Time Machine about a month ago. There must be some way to Unlock these folders, but in Command-I, the Sharing and Permissions are all set to Read and Write.

I'm confused (even more).
 
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What did you restore from Time Machine? Was it a file(s), or a folder(s)? Was it a User, or was it everything?

I would try the Command+I (get Info) and change the Permissions, then at the bottom of the window, select “apply to all files and subfolders”, and see if that helps. In fact, I would probably, do this with my “User” folder, to make sure the Permissions worked across all of my files and folders.
 
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What did you restore from Time Machine? Was it a file(s), or a folder(s)? Was it a User, or was it everything?

I completely erased the hard drive and Restored from Time Machine. Then, I Updated the OS to Mavericks.

What did you restore from Time Machine? Was it a file(s), or a folder(s)? Was it a User, or was it everything?

I would try the Command+I (get Info) and change the Permissions, then at the bottom of the window, select “apply to all files and subfolders”, and see if that helps.

I did this.

In fact, I would probably, do this with my “User” folder, to make sure the Permissions worked across all of my files and folders.

How do I do this?
 
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Before you do that, did you use Disk Utility to repair the drive and permissions? See this article, http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/15/repair-user-permissions-in-mac-os-x-lion/, and if this doesn’t help, post back.

I did a Verify and then a Repair on the MacBook HD. Then, I was able to attempt a Verify on the Transcend drive, but it stopped short and gave an error message that the Transcend drive was damaged and that I should save off the files (which I could not do because the Transcend drive icon will not mount on the Desktop).

Hope that makes sense.
 

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If Disk Utility says it can not repair the 4 GB flash drive, it's probably damaged beyond what Disk Utility is capable of doing. The fact that it ejected by itself is a clue that something is not right with it. Unless you have some important files you need off it, I would throw it away. If it won't mount, you can't even attempt to format it.
 
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If Disk Utility says it can not repair the 4 GB flash drive, it's probably damaged beyond what Disk Utility is capable of doing. The fact that it ejected by itself is a clue that something is not right with it. Unless you have some important files you need off it, I would throw it away. If it won't mount, you can't even attempt to format it.

Sounds good.

How about those locked files in Time Machine? How do I access those?
 

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Did you have Time Machine open to a specific restore date you selected when you noticed the locked files? If you were viewing the files from a Time Machine backup when using the Finder, they will appear locked.
 

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Yes I want to know that too. Are you accessing the TM files via the Interface, that is, by going to the Menu Bar Icon and clicking on Enter Time Machine or are you trying to access the files via a Finder Window because you can't do that? The files saved by TM are not accessible like "normal" files stored by the Mac.
 
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Did you have Time Machine open to a specific restore date you selected when you noticed the locked files? If you were viewing the files from a Time Machine backup when using the Finder, they will appear locked.

I just Enter Time Machine and then click backwards. The earlier files are unlocked. Then, I reach a date where they are Locked.
 
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Yes I want to know that too. Are you accessing the TM files via the Interface, that is, by going to the Menu Bar Icon and clicking on Enter Time Machine or are you trying to access the files via a Finder Window because you can't do that? The files saved by TM are not accessible like "normal" files stored by the Mac.


I am accessing Time Machine via the Menu Bar Icon. I am clicking on "Enter Time Machine."
 

Rod


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Okay, just trying to visualise what you are seeing. I would not have thought permissions would be an issue here but that is what it sounds like.
The annoying thing here is that you seem to have done all the right things.
Your USB drive may well have died, they do that but not being able to access your backup is unexpected.
This is one of the reasons many of us have more than one type of backup. I find TM is good for incremental backups in case something becomes damaged or lost but as an archive it is or can be unreliable. That's not fair of course, as a native backup app it should be enough, goodness knows it's hard to get many people to backup at all.
I had a look at Disk Drill just recently purely by accident while looking to download the version of Disk Maker X for High Sierra. It may have some possibilities in your situation but I have never used it myself. Others might like to chime in with their opinion on this.
 
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Thanks, Rod. This is, indeed, a head-scratcher. :)
 
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Just reading over this thread and my thought is on using Diskwarrior if you know of anyone with a copy they could use in that drive.

It's too bad that they don't have a trial version one could try:
https://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/...LMp3Wq7s9UI9UB_SpL0cJ5fvEaXk3P2kaAs7zEALw_wcB


PS: It almost sounds like the flash drive has a loose connection internally which I doubt is even fixable.

PPS: Best not to rely on most flash drives for critical storage. For future use or warning to others. :Grimmace:




- Patrick
======
 

Rod


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Okay Marrk, I have downloaded the free version of Disk Drill and watched the info video on the welcome landing page after installation. I gave the app extension FUSE permission to run via the introductions windows which come up.

It looks as though it might be able to restore a faulty USB drive assuming it can see it so maybe its worth a try. Its well worth watching the instuction/information video to see what else it does but I would advise caution performing any actions on your Macintosh HD until you have a full and reliable backup which you currently do not have.
It is available here; https://www.cleverfiles.com/?utm_so... drill&utm_content=All data recovery mac keys
I am very cautious about anything that can access the file structure of the Mac especially apps that claim to "Clean Up" your HD.
As far as backups go you might like to look into the cloning options. Carbon Copy Cloner which I use will create a working (bootable) copy of your HD as well as creating a Safety Net of changes and deletions. The trial version of CCC is fully functional and free to try for 30 days. Available here; https://bombich.com/
 
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Thanks, Rod. It is very thoughtful of you to devote so much of your time, energy and attention to this.

I will hang on to the thumb drive, but, for the moment, I am not too concerned about it. When inserted, it does not mount an icon, so I think it might be difficult to restore.

My Time Machine back-up is what I want to focus on. The files are clearly there. They are just locked. Maybe I can fiddle with it a little more and figure something out.

Thanks, again. :)
 

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