I’ve been using this Sandisk Ultra USB 3.0 32GB flash drive for about 2 years semi-regularly with disappointingly frequent issues. Half the time when I would plug it into Windows it would make me scan and fix, and recently my Linux machine just stopped recognizing it. I figured it was time to repurpose it since it’s just not cutting it for my usual uses, so I reformatted it today. My plan was to format it to FAT32 and use it for some temporary storage.
However, I would format it as FAT32, have it working right after formatting, eject it properly, and then plug it in somewhere else just to have it not be recognized. At first, fixing it was just a matter of Windows having mediocre storage management so I just hopped on linux and reformatted on gparted with no problems. However, at this point I can’t get the drive to show up on either machine.
Device manager on Windows says “Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)” No mention of Sandisk under properties. On linux through hardinfo, it actually gets recognized as Sandisk, but the device is unknown. It doesn’t appear in the file manager on either operating system.
This isn’t a matter of drivers or registry or something similar. I have tested on a Windows 10 Laptop, and my Arch Linux desktop. Two separate machines with two separate operating systems. I’ve also tried both USB 2.0 and 3.0 to no avail.
I’ve had similar issues with previous Sandisk drives and microSDs, but the difference was I actually still had the receipt and could get a refund. This time, it’s been so long since I’ve purchaed it that I no longer have the receipt or packaging.
I’d like to try get this working again before I write it off as just another failed Sandisk drive.
