I've been having a strange issue where my computer seems to be 'eating' my flash drives. It's really frustrating because I plug in a drive that was perfectly fine, and then it just stops working. I'm still a minor, and my parents suggested I try installing an antivirus program (like ESET), but I need some more ideas on how to fix this issue without breaking the bank. For context, I'm running an AMD Ryzen 5 7600 with 32GB of RAM on Windows 11 Home (version 24H2), and I had problems trying to install Arch Linux using BalenaEtcher because the drives wouldn't work anymore. Any help would be appreciated!
2 Answers
It sounds like a hardware issue. Are you using the USB ports on your case or directly on the motherboard? If it's the case ports, it might be worth checking inside the case for any broken or loose wires that could be causing a bad connection.
Are you sure it's not the motherboard causing the problem if it's corrupting the drives?
Before making any system changes, always back up your data! If you think there's malware at play, check out some malware removal guides to help secure your PC. Just a heads up, playing with BIOS settings can lead to more issues if you're not careful.
I've tried all the ports, but it seems like the ones on the case are where I'm having the most trouble.