Member Avatar for Andrew_45

I just bought a 32GB USB stick to store 15.7GB of video on. When I get about halfway, any more video files I add will not play, or in most cases will not even show up. I've tried reformatting a few times.

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reported a 32GB stick that accepts some large video files but then additional files either do not appear or will not play. Several replies have already flagged filesystem and counterfeit/drive-failure possibilities (see , , , , , ). The short, practical checklist below aims to isolate whether the problem is file corruption, player compatibility, filesystem limits, or a defective/counterfeit device.

An effective isolation sequence:

  • Copy a suspect video from the USB back to the main computer and verify playback there; that separates file corruption from playback-device limits.
  • Produce cryptographic hashes of original and copied files to prove integrity. Examples:
Windows:
certutil -hashfile "C:\path\video.mkv" SHA256

Linux:
sha256sum /media/usb/video.mkv

macOS:
shasum -a 256 /Volumes/USB/video.mkv

To reveal a false/overstated capacity or write-over behavior, attempt a full-volume write and watch for failures or disappearing data. Example commands:

Windows (admin):
fsutil file createnew E:\test32.bin 34359738368

Linux/macOS:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/media/usb/test32.bin bs=1M count=32768

If the large file completes but earlier files later vanish or hashes no longer match, the controller is likely lying about capacity (overwrites will produce exactly the symptoms described). For a thorough scripted check, use the F3 suite (f3write / f3read) to write and verify the whole device.

Other practical notes: filesystem choice matters for cross-platform playback; exFAT is a common way to allow single files larger than older formats while keeping mac/Windows compatibility. Run a filesystem scan/repair if directory entries look wrong (example: chkdsk /f E: on Windows). Always use "safely remove" to flush cached writes. If tests show mismatched capacity or corruption, preserve logs/screenshots and pursue a refund/replacement; inexpensive unnamed-brand sticks are a common source of this failure mode.

Recommended Answers

All 7 Replies

Member Avatar for pty

Which filesystem are you using?

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

You can also do a quick check with diskmgmt.msc, or, if you are willing to do a little reading you can use diskpart.exe.

Member Avatar for Siberian

What kind of USB stick ?

Member Avatar for jessicaaustin

you must formate your usb with NTFS file System

Member Avatar for Kevin_32

If you use it to transfer data between Mac and PC, then it is FAT formatted, and FAT only supports files up to 4 GB.

Member Avatar for David_50

Testing takes time, but one simple test can find a lot of problems like fake sticks. Just write the three byte pattern 0x55AAFF over and over, and then verify it. If it is a fake stick, the 3 byte pattern will go wrong. To speed writing an checking, you can extend the 3 byte block to 24 bytes so 8 byte writes can be used.

If that works, do again with a 1 and then 2 byte stagger in the pattern, so all bits are tested both ways with adjacent bits opposed.

Writing and reading a 32G stick 3 times takes quite a while. Frauds depend on this to mask their faking!

Edited by David_50
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