Print USB Sticks
As a brand-new type of storage media, USB flash drives and flash memory cards become a growing number of helpful in our modern world. Nevertheless, have you ever came across the cases that you could not open the files saved money on a flash drive or memory card, even if you can see the file names in windows explorer? Windows would tell you that the files were corrupt and refuse to load them. This thing is not weird because the flash chip installed inside your USB flash stick has its life process. For instance, a TLC flash chip can just be written about 500 - 1,000 times prior to it goes bad. A MLC flash chip can last longer, around 10,000 write times. When the flash chip begins to spoil, it creates some unstable memory blocks called bad blocks, and your files will corrupt if they utilize the bad blocks on the flash chip.
Big Issues
You can't inform whether your flash chip is still in good condition or not! Let's picture the following cases:
You saved a great deal of essential files on it. Few days later on, you found the files could not be opened, while you didn't have any backup file. Could you inform me your feeling?
You copied some service files to your flash drive, and after that went out for a discussion with your customers. Regrettably, you discovered the files were corrupt and you could not continue your discussion. What could you do?
You find some bad blocks on your flash drives, are you going to trash them? It will be a huge waste because they are not low-cost, and a variety of good blocks are still available on them.
2 Ways To Test The Health Condition Of Your USB Flash Drives And Memory Cards
One option is to do it manually. First, you can copy a test file to the USB flash drive, and then unplug it from the computer in order to clear the cache memory. After that, plug it to your computer system again, and go to the windows command timely mode. Now you can type a DOS command in the command window: "FC filename1 filename2/ b". Please change the "filename1" with the actual file on your flash drive (full course should be consisted of), and replace the "filename2" with the same file on you computer system hard disk drive (complete path should be consisted of). When the comparison is done, windows will tell you whether they have any difference or not. If they are the same, congratulations, the file on your flash drive is OK. Now you can do the comparison for the 2nd file.
However, if you have a lot of files on the flash drive, you have to do the contrasts for each file, which is a bit frustrating, sometimes even difficult. Additionally, if you discover a bad block by hand utilizing the above technique, it's challenging for you to repair it manually, and you may require to trash the whole drive for safety factor.
Another convenient way is utilizing professional software to scan and find out all the bad blocks immediately. Some powerful software can even quarantine the bad blocks for you transparently, so your files will not be able usage these bad blocks in the future. Therefore, you can save your difficult earning money and don't need to buy the new USB flash sticks and memory cards every once in a while.
What Need to You Keep In Mind When Selecting The Software application
Is the software simple to use with hassle-free interface?
Can the software application discover your USB flash sticks and memory cards automatically?
Considering that large-size USB flash drives and sd card utilize FAT32 file system in windows, does the software support them too?
Does the software application included integrated quarantine feature, so it can repair your flash drive immediately when bad blocks are found?
If the software does come with quarantine feature, is this function completely transparent to the user, so the user doesn't need to know anything about windows file system?
Is the software application cost affordable?