Hi,
Any thoughts on why a flash drive with photos on it would stop working on my computers (3 of them) but it works when plugged into my TV? I can view the photos on the TV but my computers no longer can read the drive.
Thanks.
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No ideas, but that sure is odd. Usually it’s the other way around: works on a PC but not on a TV!
What are the ages of the Computers, TV, and drive?
Andy
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TV is about 5 years old. One computer is about 6 and one is about 1 year old.
Drive is older probably, but I don’t really know.
It used to work on my computers, for years, as well as the TV.
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Hi RB. I can’t address the TV issue but I can comment on the flash drive. I have a thumb drive that I’ve used for years every weekend to backup various files off the PC. It was typically placed in “E:” drive. A couple of years ago the PC stopped recognizing E “E:” drive. I don’t remember what I did to change it (something off of Google) but now my thumb drive uses “N:” drive. Same thing happned to an SD card I use for backups. It now uses “M:” drive.
The wonders of PC’s. It’s a wonder they work sometimes.
Good luck with your issue.
ImAGolfer (retired '03)
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Are all the Computers updated to Windows 11? I am thinking it has something to do with a driver update for your usb drives. The TV’s usually do not update. Some computers have different USB’s like 2 and 3. Does it recognize the drive when you plug it into the computer? It should tell you something has been plugged in and ask you what you want to do. If it doesn’t recognize it have you tried all your usb ports on each computer?
Andy
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Here is a good tutorial on how to fix some of the common problems with windows 11. I wouldn’t bother doing the registry portion.
Golfer gave another good thing to try. Changing the drive letter can sometimes help.
Andy
I don’t have Win 11.
And I don’t know how to change a drive letter, especially since the flash drive doesn’t show up in Explorer at all.
And yes, I did try a number of USB ports.
Ok could you tell me what windows you are running?
Andy
Win 10. I don’t bother upgrading Windows until I buy a new computer whereby the newest one is preinstalled.
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Ok give this one a try. It seems it could be a problem with the power and going to sleep. If you can get it working on one computer it should fix the others. This is pretty easy to follow.
Andy
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The USB ports work for other drives. Just the one flash drive fails.
So you have other flash drives that work? This specific one fails?
Andy
Yep. Plus external HDD’s work
Ok what brand of TV do you have?
Andy
Samsung Smart TV is too short of a post for the Fools, so I had to type these extraneous stuff to please them.
Ok thanks, It looks like Samsung has their own operating system which is Tizen. Your PC’s are windows 10 operating system. The flash drive, I assume is formatted for either Fat, NTFS or Ex Fat. Since the TV can read it but the PC’s cant here are the only options I see.
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I would follow that windows 10 video I gave you on one PC to see if that helps solve your problem. It’s the cheapest and easiest.
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Or the flash drive is corrupted and while the TV can read it, it is linux based, it might not have as strict security as Windows. The only hope is either you have the flashdrive information saved somewhere else or you can take it into to a best buy or somewhere else to get it fixed.
That is the way I see it. Hope that helps.
Andy
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Thanks, Andy. I’ll try that video when I have a chance.
Thanks for your help.
Rick
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Your welcome Rick.
Andy