Rob Chartier ~ Contemplation...

Rob Chartier: "A week later the drive went dead. 0 bytes free, 0 bytes in size, etc.. [...] Less than...

@si: My Cruzer became very sloooow... I had to return it. It didn't fail though.

I have a toughdrive that I bought for similar reasons. Mine went dead after a few days as well. Unfortunately I don't have access to the store where I bought it. The thing is pure junk.

I run 2 groups one in Call of Duty and one in Flight Simulator. My ATP Tough Drive always says Not Found USB DISK

I had the same problem.  I was able to format the drive and load 2 files (~100 MB total) on the 8GB toughdrive.  But when I went to deliver the files to another computer the drive showed 0 bytes free and 0 bytes in size.  It would ask if I wanted to format and if I said yes it showed only 3.96GB space and would later fail anyway.  I saw in a later communication from the originator the company had shipped some bad lots.  Why didn't they go and collect the bad lots from the retail stores???

I've had a 2gb ToughDrive for over a year and it's the fastest most reliable drive I've owned - no failures, no hesitation.  I had a 1gb titanium Sandisk before this.  It wasn't too bad once I got rid of the U3 software.  Not nearly as fast as the ToughDrive though.

I've had a 1GB ToughDrive since October 2006, and it's still working. Maybe I just got lucky...

Hmmm,

I have a 4 GB tough drive thats worked flawlessly for the past 18 months...

I have purchased an OCZ ATV 32gb.  These ATV drives are ruggedized as the Tough Drive but have a good record for both speed and reliability.

These drives as many other OCZ USB drives, use dual-channel memory.  Virtually everyone else uses single-channel.

I have also owned Sandisk CruzerMini, PQI 8gb.  They were not ruggedized but operated nearly flawlessly, even after the Sandisk went through the wash and dry with my laundry!  ANd that was a normal drive, not a 'tough" drive.

The one person who said they heard some bad lots were shipped by ATP sounds the most plausible.  Hopefully ATP will get on the ball and get you replacement drives.  I didn;t know about this drive until after I purchased the OCZ "tough" drive.  It arrives tomorrow.  Can;t wait to have all that room.  I sold an older and smaller USB drive for $30 and there was a rebate on the OCZ drive for $40.  Its price was $130.00 on Newegg.  WIth my return of $30 for a previous drive and the rebate, I ended up paying $60 for this 32gb high-speed, super-tough monster.

Wish I would have seen this earlier.  Recently purchased an 8 GB Toughdrive ~ 1.5 months ago.  About a week ago it went bad.  Memory maxed out and files became unreadable.  (ie #$%!*^{} type names) which MS didn't recognize.  Ran scandisk and defrag (took forever) and able to get 6.4 GB back but files gone.  Having a friend run some recovery tools on it to see if there's any chance I'll get any of my files back.  Fortunately, I had most of it on my desktop but some important files I only had on the 8 GB -- learned my lesson there :(  I liked the security feature, which is the remaining 1.6 GB I was testing out and hope to be able to open up again so I get the full 8 GB use I paid for.  Noticed files were taking some time to copy/move to the toughdrive.  This should have flagged that something was up.  Wrote it off that it was slow due to the design and the security feature.  Have I mentioned how much time has been wasted trying to fix it, which doesn't include the RMA process I'm sure I'll be doing in another 1-2 weeks after calling no joy on recoverying the old files.  Will still see if I can work w/it but so far Toughdrive won't get my recommendation for a reliable secure technology.

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Gary...got the same NOT FOUND USB DISK when I tried to run the security utility on the certain computers.  Could never figure out why I would could open it on one desktop but not on another, on one laptop but on another.  Assumed it had to be something w/the configuration or my profile's access level.

This is an update to my previous entry on the 8 GB I own. Was able to get the files back after running some system recovery tools on it. Recovered 28 GB from all the files I've moved/copied back and forth over the few months I've owned it. ATP sent me the USBDiskUtility file again to unlock the secured partition. Definitely plan on keeping a backup someplace else but going to give the toughdrive another try but be on the lookout for any symptoms previously noted.

Had a 512k Cruzer on my keychain for a few years.  Flawless.  Just upgraded to a 2GB for 23 bucks.

"This is an update to my previous entry on the 8 GB I own."...

can you tell us which system recovery tools you used and how you did it please?

I bought a 2GB toughdrive in september 2006, and it has been tossed around, has been bent multiple times, and still works perfectly.  The best USB key I have ever had!

I have a ToughDrive 4GB that is over a year old.  It is fast and reliable.  I was thinking up upgrading to the 8GB, but I guess I'll wait based on your findings.  Always make sure you have backups, because the media itself only has a limited number of write cycles so even in the best case, it won't last forever and when they do go, usually everything is lost.

Hey there, I have had a 4gb toughdrive and an 8gb toughdrive, i've been using them both for over a year.  I WASHED and DRIED the 4gb toughdrive with the cap OFF.  I was heartbroken.   I let it sit for another day or two to be sure every last bit of moisture was out of the device and plugged it back into the computer.  100% of my files were there, it was as if nothing had happened.  

Both devices continue to work perfect to this day, although I admit I cannot get much higher than 8MB/sec transfer speed, which isn't nearly the advertised rate.  I'm sorry to hear about your drives though, man.

Guess I'm a lucky one. My 4Gb toughdrive drive has 2 years old, 7 washing machines wash and it's still working great!

I have 2 toughdrives a 4gb camo version and a 2gb....the 2gb is 2 years old with having been bent and through the wash and dryer twice...still works perfectly...the 4gb is the fastest usb i have worked with....have tested numerous friends with other versions, still faster...maybe i am lucky..???  sorry to hear some poeple have had a bad experience....I also have an mvix and the toughdrives are not recognized there...so compatibility may certainly be an issue...

ATP 4GB Toughdrive= Best USB I Ever Used. Fast And Super Reliable.. For Now Anyways

ATP ToughDrive 4Gb - the best of the best!

Have been booting an OS on it for now 2 years and this thing rocks.

I've got two tough drives.  2gb and 8gb.  They have never failed me.  The 8gb accidentally went through the wash last week.  Worked fine after.  These drives are always recognized by every machine I put them in.  Pull 'em out, put 'em back in, always recognized.

I bought a voyager years ago, but it was so fat it was impossible to use the second usb port on the back of my laptop.  Then the connector bent and connection broke.  Dead drive.  

I bought two 4gb patriot drives, that are much more finicky.  Usually recognized by my machines when I put them in, but if I pull them out without the "safely remove hardware" step, the machine won't recognize them again until I reboot.  What a pain.

Tough Drives are the best in my book.