We have 3 computers, 2 HPs and 1 Compaq. All have WindowsXP and all are P4 with about the same amout of RAM memory. The flash is a 16gb USB and worked fine for several weeks. Now it will only work on the Compaq. I reformatted it to FAT 32 and still only works on the Compaq. Thanks for any replies and suggestions.

I wouldn't think it had anything to do with update.microsoft other than it ran file checking possibly with the monthly virus/error check - the Malicious Software Tool thing. Or something else triggered the error check, like an improper shut down on your computer and it automatically included all drives in the drive error check. If it continues to do it at every boot, then I'd be concerned - possibly the drive has reached the end of its life cycle and is getting ready to die... or it simply has a loose wire or poor plugged connection. Which happens with age and a bit of bumping.

There are partition size limits, and your new drive exceeds these limits for some formats. Did you first format the drive? Your earlier drives may have be pre-formatted. If the new 160 GB drive has been formatted as one partition, it is either formmated as a NTFS drive or used special extentions for a FAT32 drive. You will loose this special formatting if you format the drive again as a FAT32 system. Refer to instructions that came with the drive. If the drive has not been formatted, then you can not write to it until it is formatted. NTFS or FAT32 ? NTFS provides greater partitions and more reliable disk operation. NTFS uses log files to keep track of all disk activity. Win XP can use this journal to repair files after a system crash. Windows 95, 98, ME can not recognize NTFS volumes. You need a FAT32 volume as the boot volume for these operating systems. This restriction does not apply to files on a network. The boot record must be on a FAT32 partition for these earlier Windows sytems. On partitions greater than 8 GB, NTFS manages the space more efficiently than FAT32. The maximum partition size for a FAT32 drive created by Widows XP is 32 GB; A single NTFS volume can be up to 16 terabytes (16,384 GB) using default settings. The Fdisk utility in Windows 98/ME can make a partition greater than 32 GB on a FAT32 disk. Use a bootup disk from one of these two systems to do this. After formatting the extra large partition, Win XP can use it. The main reason for using FAT32 is compatiblity to the older system and/or software. If you are constructing a multi-boot system and one of these sytems is the older Windows system, the FAT32 system is needed for the older version of Windows. If you have only Windows XP or Vista, I recommend NTFS. Its a good idea to scan a new disk for bad sectors before using. Presumably, the manufacturer has already scanned and marked off the bad sectors, but I did have one 80 GB external disk where this had not been done. It gave me trouble until a complete scan was performed. A few bad sectors were found and marked off. After that, the disk performed flawlessly. So first, format the disk and then scan for bad sectors. This will take some time for a 160 GB disk, but it well worth the effort. If the disk is already formatted and is what you want, scan it before using. With a disk of 160 MB, I suggest that you break this into 2 partitions of approximately 80 GB each. The partitions will not be quite as large as 80 GB because part of the space is used for file management and directories. Put the operating system on the first partition and use the second for data. The next question: Do you at any time have two hard drives connected to the computer? If so, the hard drive with the operating system must have its jumper set to "master" and the other disk to "slave" (assuming that both drives are connected to the same cable). While setting up a new drive using the existing computer, you may find it necessary to switch the jumpers a few times depending on the job at hand. Hopefully, your computer's BIOS is capable of auto-recognizing the hard drives and can make settings accordingly, else this has to be done manually. Please let us know if any of this information was useful.

Luis it would appear that your hard drive is formatted in Fat32. As your error message notes, it can only create a backup up to 4 gigs making it useless for you. To check your computer click Start, click My computer the RIGHT click on the C:\ drive and click Properties at the bottom of the new window. Now look near the top and you will see whether your drive is Fat32 or the more Efficient NTFS. If your internal hard drive is either Maxtor or Seagate you can download free back up software from their site. This is a modified version of Acronis True Image and is a large file.