SanDisk Ultra Fit USB Drive Gets Extremely Hot and Keeps Disconnecting

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1

I bought a SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.1 flash drive a few months ago, and I’ve been having ongoing issues with it. Hoping someone here has experienced this and found a fix.

When I plug the drive into my computer and start transferring files, it works for a few minutes but then:

  1. The drive becomes extremely hot to the touch – almost burning hot

  2. It suddenly disconnected and disappeared from File Explorer

  3. The transfer fails and I have to unplug and reconnect it

  4. Sometimes Windows gives an error saying “USB Device Not Recognized”

This tends to happen particularly when transferring large files or when the hard drive is in continuous use for more than 10–15 minutes. It sometimes works fine when transferring smaller files, but the hard drive still gets very hot.

Is this level of heat normal for this drive? It seems way too hot.

Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks!

2

Stop using it, as it may have been damaged by overheating. First, try connecting it to another computer to test it. If the problem persists, back up your data and contact SanDisk to request a replacement under warranty.

3

You might want to try using a different computer to test it—there might be an issue with your computer. Check out this link for some possible solutions.

https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/sandisk-extreme-external-ssds-what-causes-the-overheating.1485083/

4

This is abnormal overheating; stop using it to avoid data loss, back up files immediately, and request a replacement from SanDisk under warranty.