Thumbdrive Recommmendation

I buy most of mine from Sandisk direct. Unlikely to get fakes that way.

Also Mymemory.

The problem right now is that there seem to be shortages.

I think many people, like me, are now on microSD cards with adaptors, good names like Kingston, Sandisk etc. Stick to reasonable sizes e.g.

You might try Ventoy if you haven't already:

I would not drive to the store today, and expect to see a USB stick.

I checked my computer store online, and while it has products listed like Cruiser Glide and Ultra, the "stock check" shows zero in the system. I would expect then, that the peg board at the store is a "wipe out".

The DDR5 web page was much better, as ALL the products had the same consistent and easy-to-see status of "do be pissing off now". They do have stock, but it is well hidden. You cannot order their DDR5 via the web. There is no DDR5 in the glass display cases. It's probably "locked in the cage" at the store. That's to prevent a B&E at the store, from getting the DDR5. I overheard one customer, who was trying to build a computer from parts, and the clerk says "that much DDR5 will cost you $1200", then the sad panda look on the customers face... Good times.

There are some things at the computer store. Ethernet cables. Sata cables. Wall adapters. I'm already excited.

Paul

Paul

Local supermarket has 37 products in stock matching "USB stick", mostly SanDisk.

I need to re-build my Ventoy drive, the last couple of times it has failed to install which is why I had to resort to a Thumbdrive.

I haven't tried an SD card holder with an adaptor, something new for next time :-)

Oh dear, a couple of problems have come to light :-(

My Ventoy drive wasn't corrupt but the Inateck caddy it was in was, it was only making intermittent connections, I wonder how that relates to my spate of SSD issues....

I connected the Ventoy on a direct cable and it seemed OK so I proceeded with a new install of Linux Mint xfce on my Gen8 Microserver. After a while the installer said it had a problem writing to the drive whereupon I discovered problem 2, I hadn't pushed the sled for the home drive in properly so Linux was semi installed on my Ventoy drive.

After backing out my Ventoy drive is definitely fscked. t least I know what will be keeping me out of mischief this afternoon.

Oh f*ck. Like my ISP tech support saying 'is it possible you have a router that isn't connected?' And finding the Ethernet cable with the snapped off latch had fallen out...

I always make a point of cutting such cables in half and chucking them in the bin (whether they're mine or someone else's).

I used to be permanently short, but I have now ordered half a dozen more. Your solution appeals

In message snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net>, Jeff Gaines snipped-for-privacy@outlook.com writes

I had an interesting Inateck USB caddy issue a few years back. A brand new SSD was inserted into it, but when trying to format it, it only appeared to see half of the disc (e.g. .5TB of a nominal 1TB disc). I assumed that the disc was faulty and returned it. It was sometime later when I worked out that the problem was the caddy.

Adrian

It's probably a limit in the SATA to USB chip, which has to translate from ATA commands on the SATA protocol to SCSI commands over USB. Because the two command sets are different they sometimes don't translate, eg if the chip doesn't support the commands for reading/writing blocks over a certain size. Typically that's because the chip is old, perhaps designed in the USB2 era.

Theo

Thanks for the explanation.

Adrian

The pegboards just seemed to drain here, as if a giant tap had been turned off. I just don't understand what is going on. If it was tariffs, the price would just go up. But if it is a supply issue, your peg board should drain too.

Paul

I've got a drawer full of connectors, and a crimping tool.