Solution of Files damaged in USB

[Zaina jee]

whenever I save any word, html or pdf document in my USB it is converted into a document having different alphabets. I have format my USB but it was not resolved. I have also scan it but no virus was found in it. I cannot understand why it is happening and how can I resolve this problem?

[BigPaw]

The documents you are writing, are they in English, or a different language?

What programs are you using to write these documents? Is it just Microsoft Office 2010?

When you say USB, are you referring to a USB memory stick (Pendrive), or an external Hard drive connected using USB?

[Zaina jee]

These are in English. I have used Microsost Office 2010 and notepad ++ to write these documents. I am referring to a USB memory stick.

[BigPaw]

Does this happen if you save the file to your Hard Drive and then copy it to your USB memory stick? Could you try this as an experiment, please? It is quite a good practice to do it this way in future, but this is only a recommendation.

Can you format this Memory Stick?

[rubberman]

As far as I know, the only way this can happen is if there is some software running on your system that takes data stored to the USB/thumb drive and converts it on the fly before it is physically written to the device. This sounds very much like a virus to me. What AV scanners have you used to check your system?

[Zaina jee]

Yes, I can format this memory stick and I have formatted it many times. I am using avast antivirus but no virus is detected. I format it from my university computer and save documents in it. After sometime when I inserted USB flash again some of the documents were damaged.So on whichever computer I insert it same thing happens and only with my USB flash.

[BigPaw]

Can you describe how you are using it, please? You write a document on the University Computer, and then you save that document directly to the memory stick? Do you wait until the document has finished being saved before removing the memory stick?

When you have saved the document, what do you do next?

[extr3mex]

Sounds like a virus. Please do the follwing:

1. Format the USB and safely remove it.
2. Plug in the USB in any of your friends laptop which has its antivirus updated.
3. Safely remove it, plug it back into your friends laptop and check if you are able to read it?
4. Now, plug the USB in your computer and check if its showing another language. If it does, then its probable that your PC is infected with a Virus. Either install a good Anti Virus Software and update it or reinstall your OS.

[Zaina jee]

I do not save my documents directly in USB stick. I save them in hard drive before. Not all my documents are damaged but some of them are damaged. Different language is shown when these are in Word. But when these are of pdf or powerpoint these cannot be opened. Sometimes Word or Powerpoint documents are not damaged. That's why I m confused its due to virus or something else....

[faroukmuhammad]

I once had a pen drive that behabes this way, it capacity is 1GB but then I notice my files get corrupted if they exceed 100MB only. So I had to buy another one.