Solved: USB flash thumb drive not recognized by Windows

So, today I decided to intall the newest build of Chromium OS for my Dell Mini 9.  I didn't have a 4GB thumb drive handy, and so took a risk using the 32GB one I have on my key ring. Needless to say, the install did not work, but what was worse, Windows now only saw 1GB of space.

Using Disk Management the problem was clear - imaging the drive had created a number of linux partitions which were not being seen by Windows. I  could delete them, but not merge them into a Windows friendly format, which is why I then reverted to the good old magic of GParted.

GParted not only saw and deleted all the partitions, it could also format it into a single 32GB NTFS space.

But...

And here is why I am writing the post...

The drive was still not being "seen" by Windows. When I plugged it into a USB port a dialogue would pop up saying that drivers were being installed, and then it would fail. The drive did not appear in My Computer and did not show up in Disk Management either. I was flummoxed. I went into Device Manager and could see that when I inserted the drive it was recognized but the driver installation failed. No amount of forcing a driver update (locally or on the internet) worked as the OS reported that the latest drivers were installed.

So finally I went back to GParted and reformatted the drive, then clicked on "Disk" in the top menu and "Disk label" in the drop down menu. The entire disk was reformatted with a new msdos label. And lo and behold! The key was once again recognized in my PC. Hooray!

A review of the Krussell touch screen pointer

This is a bit of an odd review because I'm discussing an accessory, not some piece of techie kit. But with my new WWAN modem I received a £10 voucher from the 3 accessories store. I had a quick look around, and frankly, a tenner really doesn't go very far, and how many phone socks does one person really need? On the other hand I am indeed a lanyard person. As someone who is clumsy at the best of times, it has stopped my expensive toys from falling onto the floor and smashing into a million pieces on many an occasion. When grabbing the phone from my pocket I also find it gives something handy to grasp onto. I hasten to add that I am not one of those people who like to add dangly bits of jewellery to their phones. I am strictly Corbusier-ian in that sense in that I belive that from is function.

Anyway, to cut a long and not very interesting story short, I decided to go with two Krussell touch screen pointers. The original designers are a company called Triforce based in Sweden, and I remember reading about them quite some time ago. The "triforce" allusion is not to Zelda but to a trangular piece of plastic which is looped through the nylon strap. It is this which you are supposed to pick up and use in lieu of a stylus.

Does it work? Well, yes, and very well indeed. The stylus is durable and sturdy, and the strap itself feels very durable. Do I actually use it? Sadly, given that I have a Touch Diamond which has TouchFlo 3D, an interface designed for the use of fingers, I would have to say no, not very much. If you are the kind of person who prefers to use the stylus, and are constantly losing it, then this would definitely appeal to you. Otherwise my muscle memory makes me reach of the stylus on those rare occasions that I actually need to use one.