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USB flash drive issue plugged into 360

post #1 of 24
1/12/12 at 6:19pm
Thread Starter 
I don't know if this is by design or not, but I have a 32GB USB flash drive that has had 16GB configured to work with the Xbox 360. Everything works fine and I'm able to store save data on it.

The problem is that if I turn my Xbox on with the USB drive already connected, the Xbox will read it as an unconfigured flash drive. I have to disconnect and reconnect it every time I turn my Xbox on.

Anyone know if there's any way around this or if it should even be happening at all?

Thanks
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post #2 of 24
1/12/12 at 8:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AutoWobble View Post

I don't know if this is by design or not, but I have a 32GB USB flash drive that has had 16GB configured to work with the Xbox 360. Everything works fine and I'm able to store save data on it.

The problem is that if I turn my Xbox on with the USB drive already connected, the Xbox will read it as an unconfigured flash drive. I have to disconnect and reconnect it every time I turn my Xbox on.

Anyone know if there's any way around this or if it should even be happening at all?

Thanks

It simply is what it is and that is how it has always worked.
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post #3 of 24
1/12/12 at 8:32pm
If you have to plug and unplug them each time, I'm glad I never bothered buying two 16 gig memory sticks to expand my system's memory. More trouble than it's worth.
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post #4 of 24
1/12/12 at 8:32pm
I tested out your scenario (normally, I don't use flash drives).

I formatted a 16 GB Corsair drive for the 360 and copied files to it. And then rebooted the Xbox. It still fully recognized as a device and it shows how much space I have left. I didn't have to unplug and replug in the drive. Maybe of note, the drive originally was formatted as NTFS. When the Xbox prepares the drive for use, I don't think it actually formats it. When I plug the drive back into a PC, I see unique Xbox components but it's not readable on a PC of course.

I don't know what the issue with your setup is.
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post #5 of 24
1/12/12 at 9:56pm
"It simply is what it is and that is how it has always worked."

No. That is not how it is, and that is not how it works.

"Anyone know if there's any way around this or if it should even be happening at all?"

Normally the 360 will treat a USB drive just as it would a memory card or installed hard drive. You should never have to shuffle it around to get the 360 to recognize it. Now, being that the setup is super-simple, there really isn't anything for you to do. The 360 just doesn't like your drive. Try a different one, or live with shuffling it around.
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post #6 of 24
1/12/12 at 10:07pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the helpful responses. I'm glad to know its irregular. I'll try some things out!
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post #7 of 24
1/13/12 at 5:42am
I think everybody missed the obvious difference. He's using a 32GB flash drive, not a 16GB drive. I think that may be he's actual problem. He may want to just use a 16GB drive instead of the the 32GB.
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post #8 of 24
1/13/12 at 5:51am
Nobody on this thread has commented about your setup yet, using a 32 GB flash drive.

I use 16 GB for myself and my son and the Xbox comes up fine with them plugged in to start. I haven't ever tried a 32 gig'er.
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post #9 of 24
1/13/12 at 6:03am
Sounds like the console is detecting the non formatted portion of the drive on boot and is requesting to take action (not that it can, it just thinks it should).

No proof of this, but it sounds good.
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post #10 of 24
1/13/12 at 7:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ogbuehi View Post

I think everybody missed the obvious difference. He's using a 32GB flash drive, not a 16GB drive. I think that may be he's actual problem. He may want to just use a 16GB drive instead of the the 32GB.

Good catch, I thought the same thing reading all the other responses...and was amazed nobody picked up on this. Maybe back up all the stuff on your thumbdrive/transfer back to your xbox, and see if there is a way to format two partitions?
I have not done a larger drive either, but use an 8 gig regularly for my son's GT bouncing between two 360's.
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post #11 of 24
1/13/12 at 10:24am
Thread Starter 
Dang, now that just seems so obvious!

I'll try a 16GB or smaller drive and see if that fixes things. Or maybe Microsoft could just increase the allowed size for flash drives! Pipe dreams, I know.
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post #12 of 24
1/13/12 at 12:49pm
Let us know what you find.
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post #13 of 24
1/13/12 at 1:25pm
Put X360 viewable files like jpeg picture on the non-X360 format area of the FAt32 free space area using a PC. Even your 32GB flash drive X360 formatted area isn't readable after booted up, see if you can view the jpeg picture store on the FAT32 area.

That at least will tell you if your 32GB flash drive itself isn't readable after boot up or it's the X360 formatted area.

FYI: Every USB drive formatted by X360 will always have 512MB reserved. So, it's best to use the largest USB drive you have because you always loose 512MB.
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post #14 of 24
1/13/12 at 2:51pm
on a side note, I was transferring stuff via flash drive from my 120 GB drive to my 250 GB drive.

in the process, my ESPN app and content stuff was still on the flash drive. So I went to load ESPN from the dash and it was WOW so fast. I didn't have ESPN on my 250 GB hard drive yet. So it was loading off my 16 GB Corsair (and not their cheapy models) and WOW. the loading was so much faster than off the Xbox 120GB hard drive.

I really hate how long ESPN takes to load off the hard drive. The first version of ESPN was pretty darn fast but the current version off HD was slooooow for me.

Made me think about keeping a fast 16GB flash drive on the Xbox for stuff I want to load really fast. Like having an SSD (but not quite).
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post #15 of 24
1/16/12 at 10:34pm
Thread Starter 
So I tried an 8GB flash drive instead. I formatted it, everything worked fine, copied some saves over, no problem.

The next time I booted up the Xbox, not only did I have to unplug it and replug it, but now the Xbox doesn't recognize it whatsoever. I didn't remove it at all in between uses either. I'm going to keep trying. The 32GB never had an issue like this so I can't be sure as to what's happened. I suppose I can try formatting the flash drive and then configuring it on the Xbox, but if that doesn't work, I'm at a loss.
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post #16 of 24
1/16/12 at 10:52pm
Try a different USB port. Maybe the one you've been using is going up.
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post #17 of 24
1/17/12 at 7:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AutoWobble View Post

The next time I booted up the Xbox, not only did I have to unplug it and replug it, but now the Xbox doesn't recognize it whatsoever. I didn't remove it at all in between uses either. I'm going to keep trying. The 32GB never had an issue like this so I can't be sure as to what's happened. I suppose I can try formatting the flash drive and then configuring it on the Xbox, but if that doesn't work, I'm at a loss.

It does sound like you're having continued troubles, but as others have noted, this is not the normal behavior. Most folks plug the USB stick into the Xbox 360, it does some initial configuration/formattnig, and they can leave it plugged in indefinitely without having to do any further manipulation. This includes multiple power cycles, etc.

Sadly, you may have an issue with the USB port(s) on your Xbox 360.
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post #18 of 24
1/17/12 at 11:13am
Thread Starter 
I've tried multiple USB ports, and I don't think that's the problem, since other USB flash drives are able to work and are recognized by the 360.

Searching online, it looks like this problem happens with relative frequency, and it may be by brand of the USB drive. The 32GB drive I have (and have to unplug and replug) is the Lexar 32GB Jump Drive (Amazon link). The 8GB drive that I started using but now has stopped being recognized by the 360 is a Rocketfish (Amazon link).

My theory is that the 8GB Rocketfish just doesn't work well with Xbox and so the Xbox no longer wants to recognize it. The 32GB Lexar works fine as long as it is plugged in after the Xbox has powered up, and most of the solutions I found online when people had USB problems were for you to plug it in after power up. So it may be that the older models of Xbox don't work as well as newer models. I have a mid-2007 model (20GB HDD (hence the need for a flash drive ), no HDMI).

I haven't tried this solution yet (will this week), but for anyone else who comes across this thread needing help, the best instruction I've found online is at Xbox360Achievements.org at this thread
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post #19 of 24
6/30/12 at 11:25am
I cannot help you with your issue but I want to thank you for mentioning removing and reinserting the flash drive. I just transferred my data over to a 16 GB partition on a 32GB flash drive and thought it was lost because it was saying it wasn't formatted. So thanks again! biggrin.gif
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post #20 of 24
7/22/12 at 7:34am
Try Formatting your USB Flashdrive on the Computer the configure it on the xbox.
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post #21 of 24
2/20/13 at 4:16pm
I ve been having the same issue with my 16gb usd, and im not sure how i should go about fixing it. It is pretty frustrating to have to reload it everytime i wanna play halo for cause of the massive amount of multiplayer data that has to be somewhere on one of the drives, any suggestions?
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post #22 of 24
2/21/13 at 11:07pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by felnight View Post

I ve been having the same issue with my 16gb usd, and im not sure how i should go about fixing it. It is pretty frustrating to have to reload it everytime i wanna play halo for cause of the massive amount of multiplayer data that has to be somewhere on one of the drives, any suggestions?

I feel your pain. I've never found a solution, although sometimes the Xbox recognizes my USB drive without me having to replug it in. It remains a mystery to me.
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post #23 of 24
3/11/13 at 1:22am
I have recently suffered the same problem.

I needed space to download an 'on demand' game onto my hard drive, so I moved my 'on demand' version of Dead Space onto a 8gb Strontium (cheap as **** brand). All was fine, I played the game from the USB straight after I'd moved it. The next day I load up my xbox and go to play Dead Space and my xbox tells me that the usb needs to be configured to use with the xbox and Dead Space was no where to be found. I tried removing the USB and putting it in another slot, restarting the xbox and putting the USB in and nothing. I had to reformat and reconfigure the USB and in the process losing Dead Space and all my 7hrs of gameplay!!!!.

I re-downloaded Dead Space directly onto the USB and the next day when I booted up the xbox, SAME PROBLEM. I wondered if it was the cheap USB, but I'm a bit hesitant to go out and spend $$ on a good one only to suffer the same problem.

I have now given up on Dead Space and will read the wiki on what happens and start from Dead Space 2 I think lol frown.gif
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post #24 of 24
3/11/13 at 1:45am
you probably have a bad flash drive.

first use a program like Check Flash. that will test out every sector of the flash drive. the issue is most people don't realize their drive has bad sectors until they actually hit the bad sector and most people never hit them because they never fully fill a drive. they add and remove files during normal usage. the very first thing I do when I get a new flash drive is I run it through a program like Check Flash. Cheap flash drives will often report numerous errors. Drives that would've hit the garbage bin at more reputable companies but pass inspection from the cheap Chinese companies like Patriot.

when you first use a flash drive on the Xbox, assuming you decide to dedicate the whole drive as Xbox storage, is it creates a file that takes up the entire storage space. and then within that single file is your Xbox contents. this is much more likely to hit the bad sectors quickly because the whole space is taken up right away.
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