MP4 Movies that are on iCloud and play on my Mac won't play when copied to a USB flash drive

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Level 1

5 points

MP4 Movies that are on iCloud and play on my Mac won't play when copied to a USB flash drive

I have a lot of MP4 movies that are currently stored on iCloud and play perfectly on my Mac. I want to reduce my storage on iCloud so I purchased a 1TB USB flash drive. When I copy them to the USB flash drive sometimes they will play perfectly and other times I get an error message on the flash drive stating that the file is not compatible with Quicktime which is clearly nonsense as it play fine on my Mac. I have tried converting them from MP4 to MOV format before copying them but it is hit or miss as to whether it will playback on the flash drive. I have copied a whole folder of movies to the USB drive that all play okay but then I copy another movie over and the I get an error message again and for every file that I transfer after that I get the same error message therefore have to wipe the drive, run disk utility and first aid which states that it has fixed the problem but it doesn't. I have the drive formatted to ExFAT. Please help!

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 14, 2023 8:51 AM

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Answer 1

dialabrain

Level 10

136,127 points

Jul 15, 2023 4:06 AM in response to ConfusedBrit

You're welcome. Just to add, Amazon is no doubt the largest and most popular source of fake large capacity drives. Any USB flash drive or SD card claiming to be 1TB or larger for under $50 USD is fake.

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Answer 2

Jul 15, 2023 7:40 PM in response to ConfusedBrit

ConfusedBrit wrote:

Its an unbranded drive sold on Amazon with lots of very good reviews. It is the size it states that it is.

"Unbranded" 1 TB flash drive? In 2023?

That's the kind of drive from which I would run far, far away.

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

136,127 points

Jul 15, 2023 2:31 AM in response to ConfusedBrit

FWIW, there are a lot of fake large capacity flash drives on the market that aren't the size they claim to be. What brand is the Flash drive?

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Answer 4

dialabrain

Level 10

136,127 points

Jul 15, 2023 2:44 AM in response to ConfusedBrit

You may want to read this article: How do fake USB sticks work?

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Answer 5

Jul 15, 2023 7:39 PM in response to ConfusedBrit

ConfusedBrit wrote:

I purchased a 1TB USB flash drive.

A search on Amazon suggests that there are 1 TB flash drives these days. A trip to the Western Digital / SanDisk site confirms that they actually make two models of 1 TB flash drives.

https://www.westerndigital.com/products/usb-flash-drives?filterByCapacityValues=1+TB

However, that is an extremely large capacity for a flash drive. I hope that you bought from a well-known or at least honest seller, who sent you a real drive (e.g., a SanDisk, not a SomeDisk or a ScamDisk…). You hear horror stories about fake, counterfeit memory cards that have much less flash storage than they claim to have. Once you fill the cards past a certain point, they begin overwriting existing files – whch you may not realize until you go to offload a huge batch of photos and videos, and find them gone.

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Answer 6

Rudegar

Level 10

180,576 points

Jul 15, 2023 4:10 AM in response to ConfusedBrit

if it was me then I would try using vlc player

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Answer 7

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,494 points

Jul 14, 2023 10:15 AM in response to ConfusedBrit

First, please remember a Flash Drive is designed to make data transportable. However by today's standards they are VERY VERY outdated due to the ability to move things electronically rather than mechanically , for example the use of Flash Drive, CDs, DVDs, diskettes, and the like. Also, please remember the Flash Drive is fragile and they like to fail. The most reliable method for long term storage is the good old tried and true external HD. However when shopping for one, please don't buy a cheap enclosure such as a Seagate, WD, etc invest a few bucks in a good quality enclosure (I like the OWC Mercury Elite Pro) and put a HD inside of it.

Just food for thought.

Finally as a suggestion you did not mention how the Flash Drive is formatted or the version of Mac OS installed on your Mac. These details can make the difference.

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