USB Flash Drive issue

I bought a flash drive from a vendor online. It took over a week to arrive. I asked specifically for a flash drive that would work on Windows XP. When it arrived, it said compatible with Windows 7 and up. The company is not taking returns. The flash drive is a SandDisk 64 GB USB 3.0. When I plug it in, Windows recognizes it as a USB device, but says something about not recognizing the id and there's no drive letter to access it. Is there anything I can do to get the drive working with XP or do I just have a piece of useless hardware?

What flash drives are recommended for use with Windows XP? Are others finding trouble finding compatible flash drives?

Thanks.

 

flash drives need to be 2.0 backwards compatible, most are I have about 20 or so sandisk cruzers , ultra, 32 and 64gb, all say 3.0 but also when I bought them they specified that they were 2.0 backwards compatible, If you are using a desktop then try the drive in the usb ports on the BACK of the tower, sometimes I get that usb not recognized, I just pull it out and plug it back in, if I am using the front ports on my dell dimension 3000, I might have to wiggle it a little, but it gets accepted, now when I first plug a new flash in it will self install its own drive. you might have to see if you can trade your drive for a 3.0 that will go 2.0 also.

 

It is supposed to be backward compatible with 2.0. I tried the various USB ports on the machine hoping one would recognize it, but no luck. Thanks.

 

try in a different xp pc, and/or in device manager ensure all drives are deleted except for your c: drive, then turn off pc, insert drive in usb slot and turn on pc.. if this works , great. One question, does any other usb device work in all the usb ports?

 

I've got several non-branded generic USB 3.0 & 3.1 flash drives in capacities from 32GB to 128GB. They all work flawlessly with XP SP3 and I use them to transfer between XP, 7, 8 & 10.

It could be that your Sandisk was formatted with a file system XP doesn't recognize and therefore won't assign a drive letter e.g. extFAT. If you have a Windows 7 or higher computer plug in the USB flash drive then hit 'Properties'. It should indicate the file system:



I've had this issue with SD cards for Android devices - XP won't read them but Windows 7 & higher will because Windows XP doesn't recognize the extFat file system.

You may have to re-format the flash drive to Fat32 so you can use it with XP. Sandisk drives also come with software so the drive can be encrypted. You can choose to backup the software before formatting it to Fat32 or not if you won't be using it for that purpose.

 

I have one or two thumbs the computer does not recognize till I open 'Device Manager', hi-light 'Disk Drives', right click & select 'Scan for hardware changes'. This typically fixes things, at least till next time. (I have a shortcut to Computer Management in my start menu)

 

Thanks for the info. I wish I could check it in a Windows 7 or higher system, but my Windows 10 machine died and I'm waiting over a month for a replacement. Using my XP machine in the mean time (which is far more stable than the Windows 10 one).

Hopefully at some point I'll try a reformat so the drive isn't completely useless. I'm not interested in any software on it. Just wanted to use it to back up data files.

Thanks again for the info.

 

I think (free) AOMEI Partition Assistant, which runs fine on my XP SP2, can display the filesystem and reformat (if needed).

 

I've started using flash drives, and bought plenty off eBay (including cheapo stuff from China), and none have refused to work, but a few do require a major safari to find the drive letter. I now stick with Lexar, which are the easiest to use. That said, I never tried any USB 3.0. I recall the public library printer would only recognize a few brands, and the solution was to format (or re-format) the drive. I think that DIY is explained here:
https://ccm.net/forum/affich-11038-windows-xp-cannot-detect-my-usb-flash-drive
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...rmat-the/92cb94ae-ec95-417d-9f91-201d5f333f73
Other suggestions here:
https://forums.majorgeeks.com/threads/newer-flash-drives-compatibility-on-windows-xp.297306/

 

Hello folks
if you re format the drive (if) it shows up in "C" it will reformat to windows and may not work on a stereo CD player USB port for example.
before my old 16 year old xp drive went bonkers, as per Elizabeth's instruction, I would right click on (USB DRIVE) and give it a new name, then it always shows up.
I use only 128GB 2 or 3 speed (SP 3) without problem this way, but often it takes 2-3
USB port in and outs before it shows in C, once it shows I rename it ASAP, then it always shows, cause i have reformatted the name to my comp. but not the "read"
system, you can get 128 drives in 2 speed for ten buck from stables on line, without
the counterfeit issues that are a plague on the net.
Rule No. 1 for internet shopping
never buy a spouse or a flash drive from a non branded mortar vender.

 

you can dump your ten (unless you like you private life ransacked) and get a OS 7
which will not die on you as support for xp did and the court cases may still be coming over that and "Googles size" cause MS knows they brought hell fire on them selves for dumping xp, so despite the 7 retirement they are still sending security up dates for 7, got one yesterday as a matter of fact. I have a funny 7 now- brand new 1T hard drive and updates. 7 mach's mostly will have latest hard ware ports etc, as where xp has discarded hardware interfaces.
but I am still pissed about XP being dumped, which would have been illegal 40 years ago.