# NOMAD fail to format 16GB pen drive



## bennasar (Oct 5, 2010)

Hi, I just got a 16GB pen drive for my Nomad, and it fails to format it. I was able to format the drive with my computer (Windows XP).

Any ideas of what could be happening ?

Suggestions?

Thanks!
Miiguel


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

It can take a few minutes for it to pop up on the web interface.


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

What kind of a pen drive? Does it have any security software on it that is trying to load first (e.g. U3 Launchpad that is on many SanDisks)?

EDIT: Just curious, but why a 16GB pen drive? The nomad has 16GB so you're not gaining any additional storage space.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

trh said:


> What kind of a pen drive? Does it have any security software on it that is trying to load first (e.g. U3 Launchpad that is on many SanDisks)?
> 
> EDIT: Just curious, but why a 16GB pen drive? The nomad has 16GB so you're not gaining any additional storage space.


Nomad will combine it so he'll have a total of 32.


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

Good news. I wasn't aware that it would use both internal and external.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

I'm assuming the "pen drive" is a USB Flash Drive (aka thumb drive).

As posted a couple of posts above, yes this works...and the capacity is "merged" with the onboard 16GB for transcoded (preparing) file storage.

It's a good idea to format it on a PC at first, and then nomad will reformat it once detected as connected. You may have to power down nomad and allow it to restart the device as to "see" the new storage added.

Since the first of the two steps (preparing) takes the longer time...it is stored in this memory repository. The second step (downloading) is the file build to the mobile device - this executes generally very fast in minutes.


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## bennasar (Oct 5, 2010)

Yes, it is a thumb drive and I formatted it on my PC first, and the Nomad recognizes and asks to format it, after a while it displays an error in formatting. It works perfectly on my PC.
I have not been able to use it.

I am sure it doesnt have anything, even formatted it with the error checking (no the quick option) on my PC.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

bennasar said:


> Yes, it is a thumb drive and I formatted it on my PC first, and the Nomad recognizes and asks to format it, after a while it displays an error in formatting. It works perfectly on my PC.
> I have not been able to use it.
> 
> I am sure it doesnt have anything, even formatted it with the error checking (no the quick option) on my PC.


Hmmmm...

I have heard of a few off-brand USB thumb drives not being able to properly format...but I've used 4 different name brand ones here without any issue.

Are you formatiing NTFS or FAT32...becuase Fat32 is the only way to get it to work with nomad....try formatting that way with your PC first.


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## bennasar (Oct 5, 2010)

Yes, its formatted fat32.

I tried another thumb drive (2GB) and it worked properly, so is not the usb connection of the Nomad.
Still... the 16GB works on the computer! (bought it for Nomad)

Any other ideas ? I know there is not much to do.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

bennasar said:


> Yes, its formatted fat32.
> 
> I tried another thumb drive (2GB) and it worked properly, so is not the usb connection of the Nomad.
> Still... the 16GB works on the computer! (bought it for Nomad)
> ...


If another thumb drive worked...then it's the non-working thumb drive thats the issue. Sorry.

Some off-brand (or "bargain" brands) units simply don't work well. I typically stay with Kingston, Patriot, Sandisk, or other brand.

If your unit is one of those - you have a bad one and should get it replaced. If its another off-brand - regrettably - it likely won't work.


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## bennasar (Oct 5, 2010)

Well... To close this topic... I ended up returning the generic 16gb pen drive and got a Kingston one and works like a charm, my Nomad is now 32gb !

So I would suggest not to get generic ones for the Nomad, the generic worked perfectly on a computer, the Nomad could never format it.

Thanks for the help!

Miguel


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## Combat Medic (Jul 27, 2007)

bennasar said:


> Well... To close this topic... I ended up returning the generic 16gb pen drive and got a Kingston one and works like a charm, my Nomad is now 32gb !
> 
> So I would suggest not to get generic ones for the Nomad, the generic worked perfectly on a computer, the Nomad could never format it.
> 
> ...


One thing that would have been interesting to test is to see if the old thumb drive was actually 16gb. Some of the really cheep ones will report that capacity but you can't actually use all of it.


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## retrax (Jan 26, 2012)

How much memory is used on Nomad when shows are stored on it? Is one hour of a converted show about 1 gig per hour? Just curious how many hours the onboard 16gb memory would hold before adding to it.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

retrax said:


> Just curious how many hours the onboard 16gb memory would hold before adding to it.


The press packet says 20 hours (800Mb/hour).


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

retrax said:


> How much memory is used on Nomad when shows are stored on it? Is one hour of a converted show about 1 gig per hour? Just curious how many hours the onboard 16gb memory would hold before adding to it.


Probably depends on the content. I just transcoded a CBS _Mike and Molly_ re-run, and it's 292,092,300 bytes on disk @ 31.5 minutes long. That's over 27 hours for 16GB, which is nominal. It's actually around 15.3 GB.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

And for those wondering...

The Nomad has two USB ports and you can put a thumbdrive into each port as well. 

(I had two extra 4GB thumbdrives and put one in each USB port so I now have 24GB of storage on my Nomad.)

- Merg


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## retrax (Jan 26, 2012)

Thanks for the posts on this. I followed the instructions here and bought a Sandisk 16Gig USB drive. It is one of the tiny low profile ones and barely sticks out a quarter inch. It was on sale for seventeen bucks so I figured I'd try it out. I reformatted it on my PC to FAT32 and then put it into the Nomad and let Nomad do its thing. I now have just under 31 gigs of usable space.

I don't think I have the bandwidth to use a Slingbox (DSL with 10mbps down and about 750kbps up) but I am really happy with the Nomad. Sure, it takes a little bit of planning due to the length of time for conversion, but I can set up everything to transfer to my Ipad the night before and in the morning, I am good to go. I have been out of college for 23 years, so I am definitely technologically challenged, but there is so much good info here. Thanks to members for taking the time to explain things in simple terms!


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

If anyone is looking for more storage, I noticed this Kingston 16GB stick is on sale today for $11 shipped.

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/294497?source=dealalert&subSource=10/11


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