Flash memory drives, pen drives or thumb drives (you pick the name) are compact drives that were developed to safely and securely transfer and save data. With these small devices you can take your data with you on the go without the inconvenience of carrying large floppy disks, diskettes or portable hard drives in the past. As with any form of technology a USB flash drive can have technical problems that could lead to a loss of data or a corruption of your files. If you assume that there’s nothing wrong with the hardware then doing a re-format of the USB flash memory drive could be the solution to your problem.

How To Do It

Formatting a USB flash memory drive is easier than you think. All you have to do is 1. Insert the drive into your computer 2. Click on the drive 3. Choose the format option. If the format option isn’t available then choose the ‘FAT” and or “FAT32” options if they are available. Once you choose the “FAT” option the format utilities will be revealed and then you should choose the quick format option. Once you do this all of the data that the USB flash memory drive contains will be deleted but this should also wipe out any errors on the device as well.

How Do Errors Occur?

The average USB flash memory device gets errors during file transfers or data storage. If you scan and reformat the drive this usually should correct the errors and make the drive function like new. If formatting doesn’t solve your problem and the errors persist you can download a free program from the Internet that will format your USB flash memory drive for you and if this option doesn’t fix the problem then you should consider asking the manufacturer for a refund if it is still under warranty.