# Problem with USB Flash Drive at Picture Kiosk



## kiscold (Jan 5, 2008)

I have not used a picture Kiosk before. Not hard to use but the problem lies here. For work I had to develop pictures for myself and a coworker. We put the pictures on my "Cruiser micro 4gb" flash drive. We use a mac. There were over 400 pictures to develop. Time deadline the whole deal. I went to Kinko's, the machine wouldn't read my usb flash. However the person before me had a picture on a disc and that didn't work for him either so I proceeded to Target cuz the woman said that it didn't work for a couple others ahead of us. However I believe Kinko's machine can't read mac usb flash pictures.

At Target, I had to use a Kiosk as well. The machine I went to was working fine until......I viewed my pictures. They were 1900 photo's that I had taken for various other jobs. I ejected my flash, went down to my car and used my Mac Powerbook to take everything off my Flash except my one folder with our pictures. However I realized what I was deleting as far as photo's didn't even show up when I was in target--it was a total mishmash of pictures from months. I went back up to the store, and again it only read all of the same 1900 photo's from other projects and nothing else. I was so frustrated. I then was told to burn discs. my computer burner was giving me problems and being the large amt of photo's i had to burn multiple discs and well, it didn't finish besides the guy at target that said he wouldn't get all my photo's done by close and it was not much after 7p. 

I went to Rite aid after getting screamed at more than once on the phone from one of my bosses, they couldn't read my Flash cuz they didn't have a usb slot. I went to a 1 hour photo and the only thing that showed up was the original pictures in the folder that that I wanted to print. There was no old 1900+ picutures on it. The gentleman at the one hour tried to figure out the mystery by putting my usb flash into 2 pc's and one new mac and his machine and all that showed up were what I wanted in the first place. They got done but it was harrowing to say the least and think that this problem may have screwed me for other calls from this crew, cuz I am freelance and work is an on call basis. 
I will only go to one hour stores now but if I cannot get to one and the only option i have is target or kinko's i don't know what to do....
How do i get the other 1900+ pics off my usb flash so I can have a clean slate and just print what I want? 
I don't want to buy a gazillion flashs' and well, my burner is on the fritz so that is a whole other can of worms so this is my only viable option. 
I am sure reset it? but where did thos pictures come from they didn't show up when I put it into my computer. 
apologies this is so much to read but It was one problem after another.


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## jbm1991 (Sep 1, 2007)

what format were the photos you were trying to print/were on the memory stick?


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## kiscold (Jan 5, 2008)

.jpg


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## jbm1991 (Sep 1, 2007)

strange, i cant understand that problem at all if theyre that format. erm, your memory stick could be formated for mac's so windows might have a bit of bother reading it. but thats a bit of a shot in the dark. i never use the kiosks, the quality is worse anyway.


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## kiscold (Jan 5, 2008)

i didn't have much of an option at kinko's, target or well, i didn't use them cuz it wouldn't take usb flash but rite aid. they all use the kiosk. 
at the one hour photo place he placed it into pc's too. and it read it fine. 
the only other thing i can think may have happened is that my flash stick may have a back up memory and it selected from those???? and perhaps target has a limit to 1900+ photo's so it quit there. anything is possible.


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## jbm1991 (Sep 1, 2007)

yeah, its a bit bizarre. just stick to the 1 hour places


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## PopPicker (Sep 21, 2004)

_How do i get the other 1900+ pics off my usb flash so I can have a clean slate and just print what I want?_

Flash drives do cause issues for kiosks, primarily because each 'new' drive that's plugged in (and there are thousands of types) the PC has to find and install a driver, this all takes time and on occasion the PC/kiosk will need to be restarted (rare but not unheard of).

Your other problem is related to 'recycle bins', many flash drives contain software that includes a recycle bin, a neat touch that helps save the day when you accidently delete something. However the kiosks don't know this, all they are instructed to do is load all images found. The 1900 limit is quite possibly a setting to prevent the kiosk software from just plain seizing up. Because each image is loaded into the software (not just a folder location) there will be a time when there are no more resources left. This could well be a mb level and 1900 of your images met that level. Interestingly most kiosks are set to load the newest (modified/taken) images first. If the last thing you did was delete your old work then they were the 'last' modified.

To prevent this in the future you'll need to format your flash drive...... twice. This will not only clear the drive of all info, but also clear the software off it. It's your choice.

PP


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## kiscold (Jan 5, 2008)

thank you so much. don't mean to ask crazy questions but do i have to do this every time? format 2 times?


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## PopPicker (Sep 21, 2004)

No ... but formating twice will ensure everything has gone, it won't hurt. 

However once the 'recycle bin' software has been deleted it shouldn't happen again. So once you delete it will not show up in kiosks.

Good luck.

PP


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## kaktex (Jan 7, 2005)

If it's a fairly new SanDisk Cruzer, they come partitioned with a bunch of software for U3 usage. 
This messes with photo printer machines since it has exe and dll files and also looks like two drives to the printer. 

Go to SanDisk's site--they have an online utility to delete all of this junk and the partition, so it'll work like a normal flash drive again. 
Then do your formatting. 
Then put the jpgs back on it and you should be good to go.


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## kiscold (Jan 5, 2008)

Thank You....I will check it out.


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## kaktex (Jan 7, 2005)

Good luck! 
I use the Sony ImageStation&#8482; printer at Kinko's all the time--after trying every other cheap store and kiosk in town and then testing the professional services it just gave the very best results, especially on the 8x10" prints I sell. 
My 2GB SanDisk Cruzer flash drive didn't work at all in the machine at first so I went home and figured out what was wrong, eventually. 
U3 is all about being able to take miniature versions of the programs you might need when travelling for business, and the new Cruzers come pre-loaded with it. 
There are all kinds of files on them already, but thankfully SanDisk has a quick and effective way to wipe that crap off and turn their flash drives into a normal USB storage solution. 

It only takes a little bit of poking around their site to find the fix.


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