USB-key failing?

[Kasper_MC]

Hi there!

Any advice on how to "check smart stats" or something, on a USB device? 

I've done Crystal Disk Mark, but I have no clue what I'm actually looking for. 
I've also tried the first 10 things on Google that's not "download this random programme"... 
youtube is my next go to, hut I'm just gonna throw a hook out here aswell? 

Thanks in advance for any pointers or hints  

[Kilrah]

What kind of device?

Flash drives typically do not provide any diag info. 

[Kasper_MC]

Erh, it's a Corsair Voyager X1 64gb...? 

[Kilrah]

Yep, wouldn't expect that to provide anything.

 

[Kasper_MC]

Alright... but then, how do I check if it's dying or I'm just doing something wrong when using it? 

It works fine for normal file transfers. But installs (Windows install media, steam and epic installers and so on), it's bugging out on - no error codes, just failing installs. 

[TomChaai]

USB key drives do not support SMART, you need manufacturers tools to read drive engineering parameters. 

[Mark Kaine]

On 2/14/2023 at 11:46 PM, Kasper_MC said:

Alright... but then, how do I check if it's dying or I'm just doing something wrong when using it? 

It works fine for normal file transfers. But installs (Windows install media, steam and epic installers and so on), it's bugging out on - no error codes, just failing installs. 

i think at this point you need to start giving more info instead of being vague. 

why are you trying to install steam from usb for example?

 

and you said you dont know what to do with the crystaldiskmark results... 

and we do neither since you didn't post them? 

On 2/14/2023 at 10:53 PM, Kasper_MC said:

I've done Crystal Disk Mark, but I have no clue what I'm actually looking for. 

 

[Kasper_MC]

On 2/16/2023 at 1:54 PM, Mark Kaine said:

i think at this point you need to start giving more info instead of being vague. 

why are you trying to install steam from usb for example?

 

and you said you dont know what to do with the crystaldiskmark results... 

and we do neither since you didn't post them? 

 

Sorry if you find it vague. Thought I covered it with: "(...) installs (Windows install media, steam and epic installers and so on), it's bugging out on - no error codes, just failing installs"
 - but I can list them all if you like: Trying to install drivers, steam, epic, windows 10, Aida64, Cinebench, CPU-Z, HardwareInfo 64, Google Chrome, MSI Afterburner.. 

I said I have no idea what I'm looking for in Crystal Disk Mark, I know how to read the stats, but which stats should I look at to see if the drive is failing? Or what button do I press to get the right stats? Is what I meant... 

[Kilrah]

12 hours ago, Kasper_MC said:

I said I have no idea what I'm looking for in Crystal Disk Mark

Well if you did get something out of it post the screenshot.

[Kasper_MC]

Sure, but am I testing the right numbers - that's why I wanted some input before posting. There's 28 sets of data I can set, it's only showing 8? 

 

 

[Kilrah]

Ah CrystalDiskMark... Yeah that's useless, just a performance test, it's CrystalDiskInfo that would give health info but usually not for a flash drive.

[Needfuldoer]

Unfortunately, USB flash drives are disposable commodity items now. (No matter how fancy or expensive they are.)

[Kasper_MC]

4 hours ago, Kilrah said:

Ah CrystalDiskMark... Yeah that's useless, just a performance test, it's CrystalDiskInfo that would give health info but usually not for a flash drive.

See, that was the kind of answer I was looking for. But then, for a normal SSD or HDD, what data am I looking for in CrystalDiskInfo?

[Kilrah]

What's available will depend on manufacturer so you'll have to improvise a bit.

But it's not as useful for SSDs as it is for mechanical drives. On consumer SSDs it tends to be the controller that just dies out of the blue so you don't necessarily get warning signs and once it's gone it's gone...