Xp does not recognize a disk in the drive

[viv]

Hello,I have inserted my MUT USB into the drive and the flashing light indicates that it is working properly. When I plug it in my Computer shows 2 new drives (CD Drive I: and Removable Disk J

However when i click on either of these a pop up box says (Please Insert Disk into Drive J: or I: depending on which one I fix

 

[viv]

Drats... just what I needed.

Any Ideas how to recover my information from the USB???

 

[dontblameme]

Hello,I have inserted my MUT USB into the drive and the flashing light indicates that it is working properly. When I plug it in my Computer shows 2 new drives (CD Drive I: and Removable Disk J

However when i click on either of these a pop up box says (Please Insert Disk into Drive J: or I: depending on which one I fix

OK, recently I've been having this problem a lot too on my XP laptop. As usual, none of the answers I've found online anywhere actually resolve the problem.
PROBLEM SCENARIO: Once the laptop is running, I insert a USB flash drive. The drive shows up when I do Start--> My Computer, but when I double click on the flash drive to open its file system it says "Please Insert Disk into Drive E:"
SOLUTION (sort of): If I shut the computer off and start it up with the USB flash drive already inserted there is no problem at all. Everything works just fine.
However, I think this is a lame solution. I want the flexibility to insert and remove the drive as it was designed. Does someone have another solution that works better than my lame solution?

Additional info: When I try the drive letter change solution (*) my 32GB flash shows up as 100% free, but I know there is significant data on it. The file system field in the Computer Management window is blank. This happens on several of my Patriot brand flash drives (USB2).

* Drive letter change solution (mentioned elsewhere as a solution on various sites) - Start--> Control Panel--> DC (Double Click) on Administrative Tools--> DC on Computer Management--> DC on Storage--> DC on Disk Management--> RC on the flash drive letter and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths" --> LC on [ Change ] button and select your choice of letter. Note: this doesn't work for me.

Another question - Why do we put up with this nonsense? Do we expect to have to hack any other consumer product? I would expect some strange operation if I was in there messing around with the drivers or formatting the flash, but I have done nothing of the sort. This is supposed to be plug n play.