Got a memory stick for computer...now what do I do?

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:38 pm

Rick decided yesterday I just **had** to have a memory stick for my laptop..so I could store music on it and not clutter up my computer's memory. So, I stick the thing into the USB port..and nothing. I tried to save some of the music from my laptop into the stick and was told I could not because the write protect was on..and I have to disable write protect. Well..there were no instructions with the stick, and the website was useless.

So, here I sit, staring at this thing, wondering how long it will take me to lose it (being so small and all) and wonder what I do now. :yh_monkey

SuzyB · Post by **SuzyB** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:43 pm

Sorry Marie i'm useless with the computer, i have to ask my son what to do :-5

meltonpie · Post by **meltonpie** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:51 am

Marie5656;539678 wrote: Rick decided yesterday I just **had** to have a memory stick for my laptop..so I could store music on it and not clutter up my computer's memory. So, I stick the thing into the USB port..and nothing. I tried to save some of the music from my laptop into the stick and was told I could not because the write protect was on..and I have to disable write protect. Well..there were no instructions with the stick, and the website was useless.

So, here I sit, staring at this thing, wondering how long it will take me to lose it (being so small and all) and wonder what I do now. :yh_monkey

Marie if it is telling you it is write protected, you should look at the side of your stick. There should be a very tiny switch somewhere to just slide along to "unlock" it. If you are using XP (or Vista), it should then show up when you stick it in the socket, and eventually tell you it is enabled. If you have 98 you will need to install the driver, which should have come with the stick, or it tells you a web site to go to.

Post by **spot** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:11 am

From what I remember, Marie, you've got a recent Compaq with an XP operating system. A memory stick isn't supposed to behave the way you describe on that. If you can tell us a brand name and model code it would be a good start.

Craig James · Post by **Craig James** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:25 am

Marie5656;539678 wrote: Rick decided yesterday I just **had** to have a memory stick for my laptop..so I could store music on it and not clutter up my computer's memory. So, I stick the thing into the USB port..and nothing. I tried to save some of the music from my laptop into the stick and was told I could not because the write protect was on..and I have to disable write protect. Well..there were no instructions with the stick, and the website was useless.

So, here I sit, staring at this thing, wondering how long it will take me to lose it (being so small and all) and wonder what I do now. :yh_monkey
Your memory stick (a.k.a. Flash Drive) shouldn't require any formatting or drivers, unless like meltonpie said you are using Win98. Both my Flash drives have the write protect on the back edge of the sticks. It can ONLY be there, or on one of the 2 sides of the stick. It would NOT be on the top or front of the stick. Look closely, because some of the levers/sliders are really small.

Even with the write protect enabled, your system (Vista,XP,2K, or Millenium) should have still seen the stick once plugged into USB port. You may need to go to the Add/Remove Hardware in your control panel and have windows do a search for it.

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:10 am

spot;559348 wrote: From what I remember, Marie, you've got a recent Compaq with an XP operating system. A memory stick isn't supposed to behave the way you describe on that. If you can tell us a brand name and model code it would be a good start.

Craig James;559351 wrote: Your memory stick (a.k.a. Flash Drive) shouldn't require any formatting or drivers, unless like meltonpie said you are using Win98. Both my Flash drives have the write protect on the back edge of the sticks. It can ONLY be there, or on one of the 2 sides of the stick. It would NOT be on the top or front of the stick. Look closely, because some of the levers/sliders are really small.

Even with the write protect enabled, your system (Vista,XP,2K, or Millenium) should have still seen the stick once plugged into USB port. You may need to go to the Add/Remove Hardware in your control panel and have windows do a search for it.

Spot..you are right at what I have. Craig, I have xp. And there is nlo little switch anywhere on the thing. It is from Dane-elec and I went to thier website to no avail. I may just bring it back to the store and ask for help.

Thing is, it is fairly easy for me to learn new things, if I can actually SEE what I am learning. I get frustrated when it is something seemingly simple and I cannot figure it out.

I am adding a picture of it. I went to www.dane-memory.com and got no where. It is a 1gb blue NACR

Attached files

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:04 pm

Here is an update. This morning I brought it to Circuit City, even though that is npt where Rick bought it. I wanted help in figuring it out. I knew I was in trouble when all the guys there looked at it and said "Hmm..never heard of that brand." One of them went to the website, and found it just as difficult to maneuver as I did. Anyhow, I ended up buying another, with a name I knew..and I am going to try and return the other one.

meltonpie · Post by **meltonpie** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:31 pm

Marie5656;559698 wrote: Here is an update. This morning I brought it to Circuit City, even though that is npt where Rick bought it. I wanted help in figuring it out. I knew I was in trouble when all the guys there looked at it and said "Hmm..never heard of that brand." One of them went to the website, and found it just as difficult to maneuver as I did. Anyhow, I ended up buying another, with a name I knew..and I am going to try and return the other one.
Please put us all out of our misery Marie - DOES THE NEW ONE WORK/!!

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 3:22 pm

meltonpie;559990 wrote: Please put us all out of our misery Marie - DOES THE NEW ONE WORK/!!

Yes it does. Very well, thank you.

BTW....no little switch on the side of old one. New one neither. But it works.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:11 pm

Marie5656;560101 wrote: Yes it does. Very well, thank you.

BTW....no little switch on the side of old one. New one neither. But it works.

Quoting from Dane-Elec's web site :-

It has a write protect switch that allows to protect the files

recorded in the card. It has a connector composed of 10 pins which

ensures a high reliable data transfer.

But no indication of where the said switch is located.

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:21 pm

Yeah...that is the thing. I mean, there is not alot to the thing, and once you remove the cap, there are no other parts to remove.

I mean, when the guys at Circuit City could not figure it out, I knew it was time to just give up and just buy another. It was beginning to be not worth the headache.

I stll plan to go back to where I bought it and tell them either fix it or give me another one.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:24 pm

Marie5656;560190 wrote: Yeah...that is the thing. I mean, there is not alot to the thing, and once you remove the cap, there are no other parts to remove.

I mean, when the guys at Circuit City could not figure it out, I knew it was time to just give up and just buy another. It was beginning to be not worth the headache.

I stll plan to go back to where I bought it and tell them either fix it or give me another one.

Best of luck with that.

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 6:03 pm

The guys today all said they had never heard of a flash stick being write protected right out of the package.

This new one is great. It is by Sandisk. I mean, as soon as I inserted it a tutorial loaded and popped up..and I was able to start loading stuff onto it straight away.

Craig James · Post by **Craig James** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 8:11 pm

Marie5656;560101 wrote: Yes it does. Very well, thank you.

BTW....no little switch on the side of old one. New one neither. But it works.
Thank GOD. I can sleep again!

J/K Marie....congrats on the new flash drive. Hope you fill it with your favorite music. Iffin ya ever have any other 'puter type questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'm geek through & through, even if I DON'T look like it.

CJ

Richard Bell · Post by **Richard Bell** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:23 pm

Marie5656;559413 wrote: It is from Dane-elec and I went to thier website to no avail. I went to www.dane-memory.com and got no where. It is a 1gb blue NACR

I bought the Dane -elec 2 gb version just after Christmas. Looks just like yours, but it's chrome silver.

I wanted to use it on an old machine loaded with Win98. Went to the same website. It's rubbish. Finally located the right download after three tries, and it works very well now.

I e-mailed the company when the first two downloads didn't work,asking them for advice, and complaining about their lousy web site. No reply.

I googled the company, and found several product reviews. A couple noted the lack of customer support for the product.

Glad you found a replacement.

Richard Bell · Post by **Richard Bell** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:33 pm

Craig James;560396 wrote: I'm geek through & through

Well, then, are ya up for the test, Poindexter ?

http://www.innergeek.us/geek-test.html

WARNING : It's outrageously long. I guess they figure a true geek has a long attention span.

Craig James · Post by **Craig James** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:31 am

Not as much of a geek as I thought.

54.64892% - Super Geek
Juuuuust missed Extreme Geek, probably because I hate Star Wars & Star Trek.

Scored HUGE on the Techie & Computer stuff! :wah:

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:24 pm

So, here is the last word. I brought it back, had a nice little girly hissy fit...show them it did not work. They determined that yes, indeed, it was defectiv e. The manager offered me a replacement...same type. I said, fine..but I want to see that it works before I leave. It works. So, now I have two of them. Yay. :-6

Richard Bell · Post by **Richard Bell** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:41 pm

I've been using my new 2gb flash drive for work related projects.

I got to wondering what keeps all that data in there when it's not connected to the computer ? It seems logical that it would need a power source, being a microchip 'n' all...

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:48 pm

Richard Bell;562722 wrote: I've been using my new 2gb flash drive for work related projects.

I got to wondering what keeps all that data in there when it's not connected to the computer ? It seems logical that it would need a power source, being a microchip 'n' all...

Being flash memory I presume it's EPROM chip - takes a higher voltage to write it but it's fixed from that point without power.

DRAM Needs to be refreshed constantly

SRAM Holds it memory for as long as it's powered

EPROM Holds its memory until overwritten

ROM Permanent

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:55 pm

Wow, Richard, I never thought of that. Thanks bryn for the answer.

This is my first experience with the flash, now I think it is great..since I now have two that work and all. I am just using them for music but plan to buy more. I bring my laptop to work, putting stuff I need to print will be easy..then I can bring the flash home and hook it to the PC. Plus, we have alot of forms and documents we want to store in the computer, may as well just use a flash for it.

meltonpie · Post by **meltonpie** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:26 am

Memo to Marie and Richard.

There is one thing that is not very often mentioned about memory sticks. Yes they are wonderful to use; so easy to put files and and so easy to get the gen back, no matter what computer you use. BUT - remember that this wonderful, tiny storage medium is so easy to lose!! Instead of looking down the back of the sofa for lost coins, we shall soon be doing the same trying to find our memory stick. So............... don't forget to back up your material on to your main machine.

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:00 am

meltonpie;563265 wrote: Memo to Marie and Richard.

There is one thing that is not very often mentioned about memory sticks. Yes they are wonderful to use; so easy to put files and and so easy to get the gen back, no matter what computer you use. BUT - remember that this wonderful, tiny storage medium is so easy to lose!! Instead of looking down the back of the sofa for lost coins, we shall soon be doing the same trying to find our memory stick. So............... don't forget to back up your material on to your main machine.

You are so right. I am famous for losing things. I never plan to put anything life or death important on mine..but as a means of transferring info from laptop to PC and back, they will be ideal. The only thing Of any importance I plan to put on one is a big batch of old family pictures, which I also have on a CD. I plan to then give the flash stick to my cousin, who is basically the family historian. Just want her to have them for her geaneology stuff.

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:11 am

Those memory sticks are for the computer? Dang I thought they were tough to chew.:-2

Richard Bell · Post by **Richard Bell** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:45 am

Bryn Mawr;562723 wrote: Being flash memory I presume it's EPROM chip - takes a higher voltage to write it but it's fixed from that point without power.

DRAM Needs to be refreshed constantly

SRAM Holds it memory for as long as it's powered

EPROM Holds its memory until overwritten

ROM Permanent

Thanks!

Every time I hold that thing and think about what it can do, I wonder what the world would have been like if that UFO hadn't crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.:yh_alien2 :yh_alien

Richard Bell · Post by **Richard Bell** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 11:52 am

meltonpie;563265 wrote: Memo to Marie and Richard.

There is one thing that is not very often mentioned about memory sticks. Yes they are wonderful to use; so easy to put files and and so easy to get the gen back, no matter what computer you use. BUT - remember that this wonderful, tiny storage medium is so easy to lose!! Instead of looking down the back of the sofa for lost coins, we shall soon be doing the same trying to find our memory stick. So............... don't forget to back up your material on to your main machine.

That is good advice. I do have everything backed up.

My Dane-elec unit has the silliest, flimsiest little wire key ring attachment that looks like it would last a few hours, if you were careful.

The reviews I read about the unit before I purchased it warned me about it.