I think this is where this goes? I, once again, accidentally removed my flash drive from my computer without ejecting it. Only once in my entire life of disregarding the "safely eject" things have I had a flash drive get messed up from it, however the embroidery machine is another story. I'd say that it's about 50/50 whether or not it will read the drive after unsafely removing from the computer. I bought a 32gb flash drive literally like a month ago specifically for embroidery files and now it doesn't work. It works fine in computers but my machine says "This USB media cannot be read". This is the second time I've done this...

I to use a 32gb but*** on my sewing machine i can only have like 10 designs or it won't read it :(:( when i delete some no problem Sew i bought a cheap one at the dollar store for my sewing machine which works great***

Something like this happened to a friend of mine just recently. She had bought the 500E Janome machine on line so didn't get a demo at a shop.
As I had bought the same machine she asked me to do a run through with her of the basics. All went well she was embroidering away happily when left. Next day frantic pone call she can't get a design onto the machine. She wanted to do another of yesterday's design which was already on USB. So I went over 3 hours later after trying everything we discovered the USB had become corrupted it would accept a design going onto it from the computer but machine would not read it. Replaced it with a new one same gig which was 8 and all was well. Sometimes we just have to slow down as I think she pulled it out before she should have.

2 comments

by smokeythecat 17 Sep 2016

ah finally. i knew there probably isnt an easy way to un corrupt them but was worth a try. maybe i shouldnt have said the size because its kind of irrelevant and ended up making the whole thread irrelevant

by rescuer 18 Sep 2016

As I said in my comment earlier.... The flash drive is not corrupted, it is damaged. It may work for you in the computer, but it will not work consistently. It will probably never work in the embroidery machine again.

I agree with the others, the size might be the issue. I can use a 8 Gb one in my Ruby but it should not contain more than 2 Gb of data or it won't work. The one that came with the machine is 1 Gb.
I usually use a very old 256 Mb one which cost more at the time than a 16 Gb one now, so I don't want to ditch it. those high capacity ones I use for storage and back-up (as well as CDs and external hard drives) just in case my laptop crashes or is stolen again.

1 comment

by marianb 17 Sep 2016

Thanks Martine for the idea of another backup I have a 4gb card I bought by mistake for my machine.

I only use 2gb for my sewing machine. I guess the 32gb is just too large for the machine to read. The 2gb is what the sewing shop recommended. They are hard to buy though, so the last time I saw them I got 2 extra ones. Try a smaller one. Best of luck. Shirley

Wow, I can't even imaging using a 32gb USB stick in my embroidery machine...to store designs, yes...but not actually plugging it into my embroidery machine...Personally, I do not think any embroidery machine is set up to use a 32gb USB stick...If this USB works in your computer, perhaps you should transfer your photos onto it and use the USB that you photos are on for your designs...but I still would not use a 32gb USB in my machine...

I never knew this could happen. So your post is a cautionary tale for me! THanks for posting.

It is my understanding that you need to format the flash drive in your embroidery machine. If you've done that , then you need to check to see if your embroidery machines USB drive is ruined. Think of it like I'm unplugging something that is running like a fan or maybe vacuum cleaner and it Sparks from the wall because it's on and current is flowing... you can actually bump a breaker or shock yourself. This is the same thing that happens in a USB drive. A current is still running through it when you pull it out and you can damage the drive itself or you can damage the embroidery machine.

2 comments

by Smokey12 16 Sep 2016

I have a Brother and all I do when I buy a new USB is load designs on it and stick it in my machine. I don't have to format it in my machine.

by smokeythecat 16 Sep 2016

thankfully it was the computer i pulled it out of so it didn;t hurt thr machine. that thing was more expensive than my computer

I was told to have a 1 gig memory stick to use in my machine. I have a Brother PR machine and that works best with a few designs. I have larger memory sticks as well but they get used just in my laptop. Hope you can sort out you problem quickly and painlessly too

I have heard, if you have too many files, on the flash drive stick (no matter how many gb) the machine has a hard time reading them....this may be the case. Your machine can only 'read' so many stitches.

I'm sure you put it back in the computer & looked to see if the files are on it. If they are, then this must be that its too many stitches/designs for machines to read.

I have no personal experience with this, but it does make sense. I hope that is your fix. Good luck-Toogie

I've been using the drive for a while and I know the size isn't the problem. It got corrupted from me not taking the time to click the eject button, and I already erased and reformatted it, and it still isn't fixed

Depends on what brand machine you have as to what the problem might be. My Janome "wants" a 2GB flash drive, but will read an 8 or 16 as long as they are relatively empty - about 100 files, maximum. Brother has no problem with 16GB and I'm told I can have folders within the flash drive. What's your machine brand? Maybe someone can tell you what to do.

1 comment

by smokeythecat 15 Sep 2016

it's a brother innovis 3500d. this doesn't just happen with big drives, the other one i did it to was only 8gb

Some machines like the smaller USB sticks. I actually take my laptop to my sewing room and plug it into my machine and not using a flash drive or USB. I realize many of the newer models of machines you can not do this. KAY

Some of the machines do not recognize the larger flash drives. Maybe that is the reason. I buy them rather inexpensive at Amazon but never go higher then 8 gb. Embroidery files are so small you can put a whole lot on it.