CFEZ/MSEZ does not recognize some USB Flash Drives Follow

FAQ: “I am writing to you concerning a strange behavior with the Thumb Drives used with the MiniScan EZ/ColorFlex EZ. The ‘issue’ is that the ColorFlex EZ/MiniScan EZ doesn’t recognize correctly some kind of thumb drives.

In fact, after the first ‘double beep’ of the instrument, clicking on the right arrow of the button pad I can see the settings of the Thumb drive, but all the ‘Flash drive information’ are zero. So, I can’t export any data from the unit into the flash drive. (P.S.: this happens with the ‘Scandisk flash drive’).

Another case: using a Kingston 8GB model “DataTravel 101 G2”, the MiniScan EZ doesn’t make the first double beep and the unit doesn’t find the flash drive (no information are showed).

So, my questions are:

Is there a particular kind of Thumb Drive that must be used with the MiniScan EZ/ColorFlex EZ instruments? The memory of the flash drive, if too big, could be a problem?”

I know that everyone is used to putting any flash drive (any manufacturer, any size) into a USB port of a PC and having it read, this is not the case with the ColorFlex EZ or MiniScan EZ.

While both instruments are smart sensors with processor boards, they do not have the versatility and all the drivers loaded to support the large variety of flash drives available in the marketplace today.

The MiniScan EZ/ColorFlex EZ firmware supports only USB flash or thumb drives that use the FAT16 format that has a maximum capacity of 2 GB. Two (2) GB is many times the size needed for any datalog or setup transfer from the ColorFlex EZ/MiniScan EZ. Anything larger than 2 GB uses a FAT32-format and the ColorFlex EZ/MiniScan EZ will not recognize this format.

Further, not all 2 GB flash drives are the same. Depending on the manufacturer, even a 2 GB flash disk formatted in FAT16 may not function correctly with our ColorFlex EZ/MiniScan EZ instruments if the driver required for that flash drive is non-standard for 2 GB FAT16.

HunterLab helps our customers by sending out a pre-formatted flash disk appropriate for the MiniScan EZ or ColorFlex EZ as standard with each new system. This is how we ensure that customers can output their setups and datalog.

1. The MiniScan EZ requires two parts to output data - a short USB cable and a FAT-16 pre-formatted 2 GB flash drive: A21-1014-375 USB Adapter Cable (Mini-A plug to Standard-A receptacle) (Used for transfer of data records (CSV or ASCII hex) or setups (ASCII hex) to a file on the flash drive.
2. A10-1013-423 USB 2.0 Flash Drive (Data is stored in CSV format with compact date-time name).

The ColorFlex EZ having standard USB ports only requires the flash drive:

1. A10-1013-423 USB 2.0 Flash Drive (Data is stored in CSV format with compact date-time name).

If you are having difficulty with your ColorFlex EZ/MiniScan EZ flash drive downloading data or setups, contact HunterLab (support@hunterlab.com) for a replacement flash drive.

Do you still need more information? Submit a ticket and our support team member will reach out to you soon!