[Plutox]

I have no password on my 4G memory stick and always could Open it straight away. Recently I used it on a friend's well maintained laptop where it opened as usual.

Then on the first reuse on my computer I got the message 'Access Denied' on right clicking 'Open'. My friend could offer no explanation why this occurred after being used on his computer.

I then found I could access the file I needed by opening up 'Search' on the stick and entering the file name.

Can anyone please explain why this has happened and how I can dispose of the 'Access Denied' glitch?

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Re-format the memory stick

[phillipcorcoran]

Re-format the memory stick

[Digerati]

Before reformatting, I recommend putting it back on your friend's notebook and try to access it. His system may not be setup to simply yank out USB devices and your device may think it is still in use, or it still has open files on it. MAKE SURE you go through the steps to properly remove the USB device with the icon in his system tray. If that does not work, then I think a reformat may be your best bet.

[Plutox]

Thanks for the advice.

The stick was removed properly but one other thing did happen - I dropped it onto a tile floor - nothing broken but could this have the effect? - I hear you can put them into washing machines and worse and still work, but..

If I can transfer all my files on it somewhere else then a re format would be worth a try.

Unfortunately my friend's laptop is far away - just met up for Xmas.

[Digerati]

They are pretty rugged so dropping it should not have affected in this way. There are no moving parts inside to get knocked loose.

[Plutox]

Yes that's what I thought but a problem after dropping it was worth mentioning.

I've just transferred everything on the stick to a new folder so ready to put back on the re formatted stick.
A least I haven't lost everything.

[Digerati]

Keep us posted.

[Plutox]

Forgot to mention:-

With my computer running I pushed the stick back in and the screen had stationary zig zags across it and all was frozen - this happened twice (removed stick, rebooted, replaced stick)until I connected stick on switched off computer and then rebooted.

Does this indicate anything? - probably not.

I'll leave it till tomorrow or so to reformat in case someone comes up with a fix not to do so.

Edited by Plutox, 03 January 2011 - 11:24 AM.

[Plutox]

Couldn't wait so re-formatted - no joy-still access denied by Open or Explore!

I've checked for viruses and spyware - all clean.

Perhaps another clue is that I cannot 'Safely Remove'this stick although another I used to transfer to from that new folder could be Safely Removed OK but then that can happen quite often.

What next I wonder? Googling this problem brings up some varied solutions but no definitive ones IMO. Other suffers say that opening is blocked but explore opens but both are denied to me.

The search goes on!

[Digerati]

Maybe it was damaged when dropped. A format should have fixed it, if it could be fixed.

[Plutox]

Yes it could be damaged but I can still send files to it and open them through 'Search' so not all use is lost.

[Digerati]

If you can send (write) to it, then it seems like it should be working. You might try to run Error Checking on it then.

[Plutox]

Yes that's an idea - I'll do that later after dinner for 'operational reasons'. Will let you know the result.

[Plutox]

Error checking revealed nothing so it remains a mystery.

Thanks for your attention on this matter - if I turn anything up that solves this I'll post it.

[Digerati]

Sorry I could not be of more help. Please do keep us posted.