Patriot Axle USB 32 GB not working on Windows 7 64 bit

[DSperber]

After sending my "failing" 32GB and 64GB AXLE drives to Ben for testing on his Win7 x64 system (where they both worked fine, so they were not physically defective nor were they formatted improperly so it would appear), I requested that they pre-test the RMA replacements they were going to send to me to ensure that they were not defective. With no explanation as to why the two drives I'd returned to them were unusable on my own Win7 x64 systems but were perfectly usable on Patriot's Win7 x64 system, I was willing to accept an RMA replacement and see what happens.

Also, I requested that they first pre-format both RMA AXLE drives to NTFS for me, rather than FAT32. I would then see if they could be accepted successfully in my Win7 x64 systems (which presumably they would be).

If I could see the drives as NTFS, then I would try to re-format them on my own Win7 x64 system to FAT32 using the absolutely reliable GuiFORMAT program.

If all of this went fine, I would then eject the drives and then reinsert them to see if they could now be recognized properly FORMATTED BY ME (rather than Patriot) AS FAT32.


Ok. The two RMA replacements arrived today, both pre-formatted by Ben to NTFS.

Sure enough, I could instantly see them both on my Win7 x64 systems.

And sure enough, I could re-format both of them to FAT32 using GuiFORMAT. Allocation units of 16384 for the 32GB drive, and 32768 for the 64GB drive.

And sure enough, I could then eject and reinsert them and have Win7 x64 SEE THEM BOTH PERFECTLY!!!!!


Conclusion: assuming the RMA replacement AXLE drives are physically identical to the two originals that failed on my Win7 x64 systems with the Patriot factory FAT32 formatting, whereas the RMA replacements drives were formatted to FAT32 by me, on my own Win7 x64 system using GuiFORMAT, and are 100% usable, I suppose I would conclude that it is something about the Patriot factory FAT32 formatting which is somehow at fault.

So... if (a) you have an AXLE drive that you can't use on your Win7 x64 system, but (b) you do have access to a 32-bit OS such as WinXP or 32-bit Vista or Win7, my recommendation is to re-prepare the failing AXLE drive using the following simple steps:

(a) boot to the 32-bit OS where the drive can be seen as Patriot factory-formatted FAT32

(b) re-format the drive to NTFS while still in the 32-bit OS, and "safely remove hardware"

(c) re-boot to Win7 x64

(d) insert the now NTFS AXLE drive, where it should be seen perfectly

(e) re-format the AXLE drive to FAT32 using GuiFORMAT (allocation unit 16384 for 32GB and 32768 for 64GB), and "safely remove hardware"

You should now be able to use the drive perfectly in both WinXP 32-bit and Win7 x64 with it formatted to FAT32 using GuiFORMAT by you yourself (rather than by Patriot).

At least that was my own experience.

[Brian10962001]

After sending my "failing" 32GB and 64GB AXLE drives to Ben for testing on his Win7 x64 system (where they both worked fine, so they were not physically defective nor were they formatted improperly so it would appear), I requested that they pre-test the RMA replacements they were going to send to me to ensure that they were not defective. With no explanation as to why the two drives I'd returned to them were unusable on my own Win7 x64 systems but were perfectly usable on Patriot's Win7 x64 system, I was willing to accept an RMA replacement and see what happens.

Also, I requested that they first pre-format both RMA AXLE drives to NTFS for me, rather than FAT32. I would then see if they could be accepted successfully in my Win7 x64 systems (which presumably they would be).

If I could see the drives as NTFS, then I would try to re-format them on my own Win7 x64 system to FAT32 using the absolutely reliable GuiFORMAT program.

If all of this went fine, I would then eject the drives and then reinsert them to see if they could now be recognized properly FORMATTED BY ME (rather than Patriot) AS FAT32.


Ok. The two RMA replacements arrived today, both pre-formatted by Ben to NTFS.

Sure enough, I could instantly see them both on my Win7 x64 systems.

And sure enough, I could re-format both of them to FAT32 using GuiFORMAT. Allocation units of 16384 for the 32GB drive, and 32768 for the 64GB drive.

And sure enough, I could then eject and reinsert them and have Win7 x64 SEE THEM BOTH PERFECTLY!!!!!


Conclusion: assuming the RMA replacement AXLE drives are physically identical to the two originals that failed on my Win7 x64 systems with the Patriot factory FAT32 formatting, whereas the RMA replacements drives were formatted to FAT32 by me, on my own Win7 x64 system using GuiFORMAT, and are 100% usable, I suppose I would conclude that it is something about the Patriot factory FAT32 formatting which is somehow at fault.

So... if (a) you have an AXLE drive that you can't use on your Win7 x64 system, but (b) you do have access to a 32-bit OS such as WinXP or 32-bit Vista or Win7, my recommendation is to re-prepare the failing AXLE drive using the following simple steps:

(a) boot to the 32-bit OS where the drive can be seen as Patriot factory-formatted FAT32

(b) re-format the drive to NTFS while still in the 32-bit OS, and "safely remove hardware"

(c) re-boot to Win7 x64

(d) insert the now NTFS AXLE drive, where it should be seen perfectly

(e) re-format the AXLE drive to FAT32 using GuiFORMAT (allocation unit 16384 for 32GB and 32768 for 64GB), and "safely remove hardware"

You should now be able to use the drive perfectly in both WinXP 32-bit and Win7 x64 with it formatted to FAT32 using GuiFORMAT by you yourself (rather than by Patriot).

At least that was my own experience.

Good luck, my Axle 32gb drive will work 2 or 3 times, then randomly show nothing but a folder labeled I and some type of file (it doesn't say what it is and ask me what program I wish to open it with). It's done it twice now. The 16gb Swing drive I just purchased from NewEgg went bad as well. I'll try what you said above, but I've went through this twice and my bet is it happens again.

[wrecknoble]

Good luck, my Axle 32gb drive will work 2 or 3 times, then randomly show nothing but a folder labeled I and some type of file (it doesn't say what it is and ask me what program I wish to open it with). It's done it twice now. The 16gb Swing drive I just purchased from NewEgg went bad as well. I'll try what you said above, but I've went through this twice and my bet is it happens again.

Brian10962001 I am having this EXACT same problem with my Patriot Rage XT 64gb USB drive. The worst part is that it will randomly decide to stop working during file transfers. This has occurred on my Windows 7 64bit system and also on other friends' Macs when trying to transfer some files that WERE successfully transferred from my computer to theirs.

This has NOT been resolved using guiFormat, which I used to format the USB drive to Fat32 with allocation of 32768.

I feel like I just wasted a LOT of money as I haven't found ANY solutions to this online and unless there IS some kind of fix that doesn't require sending in a faulty drive and getting a new one, Patriot will NOT be getting any more of my hard earned money.

Does ANYONE have any insight into how to stop this error from occuring????????