What causes a flash drive to go bad?

[raccoon]

I see it happen occasionally.

[BarenakedLady]

1. Their peers

Or drugs.

:shrug:

[dem629]

2. Setting it on fire, putting it in water, driving over it....

:)

Sorry. I have no idea, really. I just know how to use mine and I have no idea how it works or what would make it stop. (Other than what I mentioned.)

[Zuiderelle]

3. Online porn.

:shrug:

[trotsky]

4. Static shock.

It takes less than you can even feel to destroy a lot of electronics. Flash drives are somewhat protected since they usually have a nice grounded housing around the actual connector - but shit happens.

[skygazer]

5. Unhappy home life

[Deja Q]

6. The materials used have a limited re-write capacity...

They're best used once and read afterward.

Those SSD hard drives: They incorporate algorithms to write in a more uniform manner, so some areas don't get overwritten and burned out more quickly than other sections, and higher quality materials are used too. How that works when combined with Windows' habit of fragmenting everything is going to be interesting... :popcorn:

[Sub Atomic]

7. Forgetting it in your pants pocket

and then doing the laundry.