How do you deltete off usb ???

How do you delete off a usb

 

Highlight the file and delete, same as any other drive... You could also format it if you don't want any of what is on there...


If you need a secure erase you will probably need a Linux utility... There are a bunch of those available for download.

 

format Drive E.. lets hope your hard drive isnt named E..

 

You know... I have never formatted a USB drive before... Always just drag, drop, delete or click delete...

I never actually knew you could format a USB lol... Is it any better than just highlighting everything and deleting it?

Also, USB drives are only supposed to have an expected life of 5 years Can someone tell me that is a horrible lie made up so we have to buy more USB drives?

 

If it isn't allowing you to delete anything, it's possible that the 'Lock' switch on your flash drive is enabled. If there is no such switch, try removing the flash drive from the USB port and inserting it slowly into another, until your PC recognizes the device.

 

I haven't seen a USB with the Switch you describe. None of mine have that anyway.. What brand is that?

I have used Cruzer, Kingston, SeaGate, etc and none of them seem to have that switch. I can't really see a use for that switch, it's pretty obvious if you are overwriting files on a USB, I can't see a fail-safe like that even being needed.

:afro:

 

Any flash device, including SSD's (solid state hard drives) have a limited life span. Flash memory chips can only be written to so many times before their error rate causes them to be useless. If it's new and never used then no it won't die in 5 years, but if they are used frequently they can die in less than 5 years....

 

It is similar to the switch on this.

I have a flash drive with a button like that (bought it from an indian store ).
If you want, I can upload an image :smoking:

 

Most Flash chips have a shelf life/data retention of around 10 years. The data bit transistors are rated to endure 100000 program/erase cycles. If you ever have the flash TSOP chip exposed you can get the model number off the top and look up the datasheet for it.

BTW all DVD players, flat screen TV's and game consoles have these flash chips. After 10 years storage your Xbox or Playstation could be a useless brick. Except people who have modified their Xbox and dumped/extracted the encrypted firmware. My modified Xbox 360 will last a lifetime because of the hack mod and fan cooling mods I have done to it. Original firmwares are for tools!

 

OK, so set up a website and teach us oh master of infinite PS3dom

But that is a depressing thought, of course, most people swap out game systems more often than that..

Wait a second... The PS2, I remember having the PS2 for... aww crap, yeah I guess it was about 8 years... Haven't played any PS2 games in a while actually.. Scarface was pretty good. And I loved San Andreas...

But in 10 years the next new technology will be out anyway, and badda bing badda boom, we won't even be using USBs. Quantum computing, or storing information in DNA will be the norm. :afro:

 

I have been reading up on the DNA data.pretty kool idea.what I want to know is if you can write data onto DNA does DNA already have some type of data incoded on it?

 

DNA is data...

 

Yep... It is...

They are still decoding everything our DNA has encoded into it.. Pretty amazing stuff.

I was fascinated by the thought of using DNA as a storage medium. We live in some interesting times... Makes me wish I were immortal some days just to see how far we get.

 

that is not a usb drive, that is a micro sd card adaptor which has that stupid lock switch on the side.

 

I don't really care if it has a switch lol...

It's still kinda pointless when the USB drives have a shelf life of like 5 years or whatever...

Even the old VHS (where the technology originated) last longer... Some of those are STILL going, and WORK.. Provided you have a working VHS lol.. Hell, Even the old BETAs still work LOL)

 

To OP, the only experience I have with this is at one point I was using a Linux operating system, and inside that OS my computer wouldn't acknowledge that the usb was plugged in, so I couldn't open up the folder to access the files on the usb. If that's the case, you might have to do it in a different OS, or find something in the settings that's causing it to do that.