USB Flash Driver producing...nothing!

[Adela]

(WinXP Home SP2; OE 6; IE 6; Dell Dimension XPS T450MHz Pentium III; Free Version 7.5.503; spybot S&D; ad-aware; cable modem; WordPerfect8; Lexmark Laser printer "Optra E310")

Hello, I hope I'm in the right forum. I searched for this problem but wasn't lucky.

I just plugged in my newly purchased "USB Kingston Data Traveler 4GB Flash Driver" to backup my computer...but instead, I get strange messages, mostly on "how to safely unplug the hardware device", or "stop it", etc. (???)...before even I can start, and nothing happens!

Also, a popup msg says to use a certain name (dont' recall) because it is faster...

I thought all I had to do was plug it in and wait to see what appeared on the screen in order to follow the steps to backing up...

Would a kind soul please help me by telling me HOW to back up with it? Thanks ever so much! Adela

[bigH2O]

The "use a certain name because it's faster" is most certainly USB 2.0... because it *is* faster. It indicates that your computer doesn't have the latest USB technology. The "how to safely unplug the hardware...." messages are normal anytime you plug a USB device in.

Just plug the thing in, launch explorer, and look for a new drive. From what you're telling us, the system is seeing it fine. Don't get confused by the messages, they aren't errors.

[Adela]

Thank you bigH2O! You are right, I bought this flash drive without knowing what 2.0 meant, and apparently I'm learning, my USB computer is only 1.1. Too bad I didn't know this before as I recall having seen other flash drives with 1.1 that I could have boought.

I just wonder, if I exchanged the flash drive for a 1.1, would it slow down its backup job? And by the same token, if I used it the way it is, as you so kindly suggested, would it also slow it down because fo my computer?

Dealing with hi tech items ain't like buying a loaf of bread or oranges. Each step I take to solve one problem comes with detours to do other things. Big sigh!... :)

Thanks again, I'll try it and will report the results. I hope that when this is resolved and I begin to backup my computer...I won't have to take yet another detour. LOL! Adela

[Adela]

Hello again, I'm sorry to be so dumb, but I see now the Drive F in My Computer, so how do I start backing up to the flash drive? Thanks so much! Adela

[bigH2O]

USB 2.0 devices are backwards compatable with USB 1 so there's no need to take it back. At some point you'll upgrade your computer and a new one will most certainly have USB 2 technology, so just hang on to what you have.

Drive F is your flash obviously, so just copy the files from C: D: or E:, whatever you want to back up to F:

It's pretty simple, and you can make a batch file to do it for you

"copy c:/mypathtobackup f:/". Of course, change "c:/mypathtobackup" to your actual path you want to back up.

Paste that to a file called "backup.bat" and run that file from a command window, or use the windows scheduler to run it at a specific time every day.

[don]

I didnt know that there was a difference at all!

[Dave420]

As Bigh2o said you can direct backup to use that drive or just open the F: drive and drag and drop the files you want to back up to it(it will copy the files not move them so they will still be on your hard drive as well)