Jump drive...

[BedtimeStories77]

Okay, I feel stupid. I just bought a new jump drive to store my writings on. Problem is, how do I use it? lol I didn't come with instructions, per se. It says "plug it in and use it". Cool.

How do I access it when trying to save a MS Works file?

 

[silverwhisper]

you should have a USB cable that came w/ it. connect one end to a USB port on your computer and the other end to the jump drive. that's assuming of course it doesn't plug into the USB port directly.

nice to see you here, hallowed. it's been a while. :>

ed

 

[MagicFingers]

Yep, good to see ya

And, after you plug it into any available USB port, it will be recognized as another "Drive" and have a letter assigned to it. Look at "My Computer to see which letter it assigns. Then treat it like any other disk drive: Copy or save files to it, or read files from it onto your hard drive. (C)
When you save something, try "Save As" and navigate down to the new thumb drive letter, "E" or "F" or something similar.

Be sure you "Eject" it by the computer before removing it, or some of your files may get damaged. You can right-click the drive letter, and select "Eject", or there may be a thing in the lower right of your Task bar that lets you eject things.

Good luck. They are wonderful and useful little things to have for transfering files, and making files and programs portable.

PS: Oh, if you happen to have Windows 98, you will probably have to load a driver for it to work. With Win XP, you won't.

 

[BedtimeStories77]

Well, hello there. Yes, it has been a while.

As for the jump drive, it plugs directly into the computer via USB. I did that. I was told by a friend that if I opened My Computer I'd see something along the lines of a "removable drive" yada yada to open. The computer runs WIN XP, by the way.

I have my "A" drive, hard drive C, the CD rom, and the network shared files folder. No removable drive.

 

[BedtimeStories77]

And hello to you, too, MagicFingers. So far there's no luck guys. Like I said, this HP runs WIN XP but it does not recognize a new "drive". I know the USB port I have it plugged into works since I use that one for my digital camera cord all the time.

 

[Weird Harold]

And hello to you, too, MagicFingers. So far there's no luck guys. Like I said, this HP runs WIN XP but it does not recognize a new "drive". I know the USB port I have it plugged into works since I use that one for my digital camera cord all the time.

It's possible that you have a defective drive and need to exchange it for one that works -- do you have access to another computer to try it on to isolate whether the problem is your computer or the drive?

One possible problem is that your computer is simply not seeing the drive as "new" hardware -- it might think you've pugged in your camera but have it turned off, for example.

Try plugging the drive in and going to Add/Remove Hardware. That should force windows to do a more thorough search for new hardware that the "automatically detect new hardware" function uses.

 

[TBKahuna123]

Well, hello there. Yes, it has been a while.

As for the jump drive, it plugs directly into the computer via USB. I did that. I was told by a friend that if I opened My Computer I'd see something along the lines of a "removable drive" yada yada to open. The computer runs WIN XP, by the way.

I have my "A" drive, hard drive C, the CD rom, and the network shared files folder. No removable drive.

It's entirely possible that it is trying to gab a drive letter that is reserved for something else. I have this trouble on my work computer as it tries to grab a letter reserved for a network drive. I have yet to find a fix for this.

I do the following, which is a bit complex, but works:

1.) Right Click on My Computer and select Manage
2.) Select Drive Management from the left hand tree.
3.) On the right there should be a removable drive. Right click on it and click change drive letter.

This will either work or it won't. If you don't see it here, I'm at a loss. I doubt it's a bad drive as it works on your friend's computer. Maybe go to the manufacturer's website for an update or a driver.

 

[Ast87]

What brand is your jump drive? That might help us out a bit.

Mine is a Lexar, and when I first bought it, it automatically recognised it as new hardware. I thought this is what they all did the first time you plug a jump drive into a computer for the first time...it takes a few seconds to recognise it and you're good to go.

Maybe do a seach on google about the brand you are using?

 

[MR.GGG]

Damn

and I thought the Secret of Interstellar Travel was about to be reveeaaled here.

Just another HD question.

Bummer !!

 

[ordkwi]

Eve, it should be "plug & Play".....try placing it in your USB while your PC is off and then power it up....as indicated earlier, it might be defective?

 

[OneLustyWench]

Techies to the rescue

Eve,

Follow the instructions on drive management as posted. If it doesn't immediately recognize it when plugged in you may have to go through the device manager to find it or to map it to a drive.

Each manufacturer will also have a troubleshooting guide on their site. If the mapping directions don't help and you can't find the directions online, you can call me. I'll pm my number.

Wenchie

 

[ShinigamiSama]

jump drive is a lexar media name
go to the lexar site and download the drivers for it if its not getting recognized

chances are your HP didn't include the drivers for it cause HP is a POS OEM distributor

gl hun

 

[MagicFingers]

You know, they are also called "Thumb Drives"

and I thought the Secret of Interstellar Travel was about to be reveeaaled here.

Just another HD question.

Bummer !!

YOUR special way to stellar experiences!

 

[BedtimeStories77]

It's possible that you have a defective drive and need to exchange it for one that works -- do you have access to another computer to try it on to isolate whether the problem is your computer or the drive?

One possible problem is that your computer is simply not seeing the drive as "new" hardware -- it might think you've pugged in your camera but have it turned off, for example.

Try plugging the drive in and going to Add/Remove Hardware. That should force windows to do a more thorough search for new hardware that the "automatically detect new hardware" function uses.

I'll give both a try. We do have a second computer here, and I can try the Add/Remove Hardware too. Thanks WH.

 

[BedtimeStories77]

It's entirely possible that it is trying to gab a drive letter that is reserved for something else. I have this trouble on my work computer as it tries to grab a letter reserved for a network drive. I have yet to find a fix for this.

I do the following, which is a bit complex, but works:

1.) Right Click on My Computer and select Manage
2.) Select Drive Management from the left hand tree.
3.) On the right there should be a removable drive. Right click on it and click change drive letter.

This will either work or it won't. If you don't see it here, I'm at a loss. I doubt it's a bad drive as it works on your friend's computer. Maybe go to the manufacturer's website for an update or a driver.

I'll give this a try, too. Right now I'm just getting through messages before work though!

 

[BedtimeStories77]

By the way, Imation is the brand. I'll try some of these suggestions when I get off work tonight.

 

[Weird Harold]

I'll give this a try, too. Right now I'm just getting through messages before work though!

Re: changing the drive assignment.

You might look in your help menu for "Lastdrive" -- I don't now if Win XP uses the "LastDrive" enviroment variable or not. I know that under Win98SE, I have to change it from LastDrive=F to LastDrive=Z because I have six HDD partitions, two CD/DVD Drives and a floppie -- when My camera is connected it shows as two additional drives, letters K and L.

If Win XP does use the LastDrive variable, it will not detect or assign a drive letter to any additional drives past the LastDrive setting, which probably still defaults to F: If this drive is pushing you past four drives (C: D: E: and F: with A: and B: reserved for floppies only) then you don't have a drive letter available to assign to it.

 

[ShinigamiSama]

Re: changing the drive assignment.

You might look in your help menu for "Lastdrive" -- I don't now if Win XP uses the "LastDrive" enviroment variable or not. I know that under Win98SE, I have to change it from LastDrive=F to LastDrive=Z because I have six HDD partitions, two CD/DVD Drives and a floppie -- when My camera is connected it shows as two additional drives, letters K and L.

If Win XP does use the LastDrive variable, it will not detect or assign a drive letter to any additional drives past the LastDrive setting, which probably still defaults to F: If this drive is pushing you past four drives (C: D: E: and F: with A: and B: reserved for floppies only) then you don't have a drive letter available to assign to it.

no
XP goes all the way to Z
and actualy supports mount points so if you ever get passed Z you can just mount them in a new folder rather than an entire drive

XP does have some problems sometimes with them..
Email lexar and see if they know whats up
they'll beable to explain better than us, cause I'm a lazy douche as my excuse

 

[rydia57]

You might also try to see how old your computer is. A few months ago I got a jump drive from CompUSA. It wouldn't work, and I went thru everything, til I found my USB connection was 1.1 and the jump drive was 2.0 so I would have to find drivers for it that were 1.1 or get a new USB card.

 

[Weird Harold]

no
XP goes all the way to Z
and actualy supports mount points so if you ever get passed Z you can just mount them in a new folder rather than an entire drive

Thanks, I wasn't sure about that.

Sometimes, Legacy features from MSDOS and the very beginnings of Windows cause problems because most people forget about them.

I was pretty sure that Windows XP doesn't NEED to reserve static buffers for each drive letter, but I wasn't sure if it DID.

FWIW, "drive mounting" is not really something new for Windows, it just wasn't called that in MSDOS or earlier versions of Windows. The ability to "alias" a drive as a folder -- or a folder as a drive -- was always there with the SUBST (substitution) command.

 

[Mazuri]

You might also try to see how old your computer is. A few months ago I got a jump drive from CompUSA. It wouldn't work, and I went thru everything, til I found my USB connection was 1.1 and the jump drive was 2.0 so I would have to find drivers for it that were 1.1 or get a new USB card.

This may well have a great deal to do with the drive not being recognized. You can check if you have USB 2.0 enabled in your bios. If your system isn't USB 2.0 capable, and the jump drive is, they simply not be compatible without an upgrade to your computer (or try to find a USB 1.1 drive).

 

[ShinigamiSama]

Thanks, I wasn't sure about that.

Sometimes, Legacy features from MSDOS and the very beginnings of Windows cause problems because most people forget about them.

I was pretty sure that Windows XP doesn't NEED to reserve static buffers for each drive letter, but I wasn't sure if it DID.

FWIW, "drive mounting" is not really something new for Windows, it just wasn't called that in MSDOS or earlier versions of Windows. The ability to "alias" a drive as a folder -- or a folder as a drive -- was always there with the SUBST (substitution) command.

that was fake mounting...
it now supports full mounting
my MS teacher seemed to want to make a big deal about that
then again in our next AD course

but yeah legacy feature my be the problem as well

though I'm still thinking your HP is the problem
HP still sucks imo...
to many issues, like dell

 

[cycleman]

I have a USB adapter that adds 5 more ports to my system. The jump drive wont work in any of those. It has to be plugged into the port right on the computer or it wont work.

 

[BedtimeStories77]

Thank you all for replying to this thread to help me. I noticed last night that this computer was acting up (something different) so I rebooted it. Today, I plugged in the jump drive and right away it said "new hardware found"! lol I guess the problem was the computer needed rebooted.

 

[ShinigamiSama]

Thank you all for replying to this thread to help me. I noticed last night that this computer was acting up (something different) so I rebooted it. Today, I plugged in the jump drive and right away it said "new hardware found"! lol I guess the problem was the computer needed rebooted.

its windows
you should do that every few days. but yeah, I had that problem once. Welcome to windows hun