You’re using your USB flash drive wrong. Here’s what to do instead

USB flash drives are pretty self-explanatory, aren’t they? All you have to do is plug it into your PC and it’s ready to go, whether you’re using it to transfer files, play media, or launch an app.

But mistakes can happen, and these mistakes can go further than the familiar meme of always needing at least three attempts to finally get that USB connection plugged in. (Less of an issue with USB-C, but I digress.)

Here are the various ways you might be using your USB flash drive incorrectly and the kinds of issues that can crop up.

You’re using the wrong USB port

Many PCs and laptops have multiple USB ports, and many people simply assume that all USB ports are basically equal. When you need to plug in your drive, you might assume it doesn’t matter where it goes so you just stick it into whichever port is most convenient.

But that’s far from the truth. In fact, it can make a huge difference to how well your USB drive performs, and it’s most keenly felt when you’re transferring files. Pick the wrong port — even if your drive fits — and you could be hampering your read and write speeds.

Related: What ports are essential in a new laptop?

USB technology has continued to improve over many years but the shape of a USB-A port hasn’t changed. When you plug in, it could be a slower USB 2.0 port or it could be a faster USB 3.2 port. And it can be hard to tell which ports are which, so don’t feel too bad if you didn’t know.

On most devices, the faster USB 3.0 ports are usually located on the rear side and have a blue inner strip inside the port. (If the port is colored green or red, it’s USB 3.1 or USB 3.2.) Slower USB 2 ports, on the other hand, tend to be on the front and have no special color. If you have a USB 3.x flash drive, make sure you use the corresponding 3.x port.

Your USB drive isn’t optimized

If your USB flash drive feels like it has slowed down and isn’t performing as well as it once did, you can optimize it using Windows.

To do this, use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run window, then type diskmgmt.msc and click OK. This will launch the Disk Management window, where you can right-click on the USB flash drive (make sure it’s currently plugged in) and select Properties.

In the Properties window, navigate to the Hardware tab, select the proper disk drive, then click Properties. Then navigate to the Policies tab and check both “Enable write caching on the device” and “Turn off Windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device.”

If successful, data transfers should be significantly faster. Alternatively, you can also change the file system of your USB flash drive to one that can better cope with large amounts of data. However, beware that formatting a drive will delete all the data stored on it.

Related: Why your USB drive’s file system matters

You aren’t removing your USB drive safely

In a lot of cases, it doesn’t really matter whether you “safely eject” your USB drive before unplugging it. However, if you followed the above tips and optimized your drive, you must start ejecting it safely before removal or else the data on the drive could be lost.

To safely eject a USB flash drive, open This PC in File Explorer and right-click on the USB drive in question, then select Eject. That will properly deregister the drive and make it safe to unplug.

You’re tossing your “broken” USB drives

What do you do when a USB flash drive begins to malfunction? Maybe files can’t be deleted anymore, or maybe the drive itself can’t be formatted. This can happen, especially with older or cheap drives.

But you shouldn’t immediately despair, and definitely don’t throw it away until you’ve tried to recover it. There are ways to save the USB drive, which you can read about in our guide to reviving a broken flash drive.