Calling Tech Wizards! Need Help with Flash Drive

[Phae Nymna]

HELP!

Last night, I was finishing up some avatars for miscellaneous people, and when finished, I saved and shut down Inkscape and removed my USB flash drive from my computer. Inkscape was the only thing running, and I shut it down prior to removing my flash drive.

I slept late today, and woke up around 11:30 AM. Looking to finish my personal seasonal avatr and make a Matthew Shepherd for Three08, I took my flash drive and plugged it into my computer. Here's where the rpblem starts.

When I plug it into a USB port on the back of my computer, it usually sounds a chime and a prompt from Photoshop pops up asking if I want to download the photos. THis time however, nothing happens. There is no chime, no recognized hardware notice, and, when I check the My Computer list in Explorer, my flash drive is not there. I think, okay, it just doesn't map the drive to this port. I move it and the same thing happens. Or doesn't happen I guess.

TL,DR: Flash drive not being recognized by computer, Admiral Walrus is freaking out.

My questions to all of you blessed tech wizarss out there is:

How can I get my computer to recognize a flash drive which is not being recognized by any computers right now?

Is there any way to send out or bring in my flash drive to be repaired without a loss of data if there is not one already?

Am I completely, totally boned?

All help is greatly appreciated! Anything that works will be rewarded with avatars and banners galore!

[Ashtar]

A) Try it on a different computer / Using a different port on the same computer
B) Visually inspect key, could the contacts be broken / dirty / obstrued?
C) Hunt for a Demo of a data recovery program. Usually you can find a demo which shows recoverable files, then you might have to shell out to get your data.
D) There are specialist companies that do data recovery, I used one in France for a crashed hard drive, I know they do also USB devices. Very pricey though.

[TSGames]

How can I get my computer to recognize a flash drive which is not being recognized by any computers right now?

Is there any way to send out or bring in my flash drive to be repaired without a loss of data if there is not one already?

Am I completely, totally boned?

All help is greatly appreciated! Anything that works will be rewarded with avatars and banners galore!

Let's see. I had a flash drive with the same problem once. I was zero writing the drive and I pulled it out of the computer(EXTREMELY BAD IDEA). It seemed to have the same symptoms as your flash drive. If I had to guess, it sounds like the memory in the boot sector of the drive has been corrupted. This is not a serious problem, as it should mean that all the files on it are recoverable.

*Note* that there still is a possibility that there is a serious problem with the drive. It is also possible that the hardware has simply hit its limit.

That aside, assuming it is the first, non-serious problem, here's what you need to do:
1-Download free trials of data recovery programs)As a previous poster said, this will help you pull the data off the drive. Here's some (http://free-backup.info/data-recovery-software.htm), and some more (http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/01/24/top-10-free-data-recovery-software/). Unfortunately, I don't remember which program I ultimately used or I would recommend it. Please be warned that some of these programs will not be user friendly, and some will simply be a waste of space.

2-Wipe the drive)After you have everything off it, you may able to use the recovery program that you have to erase the drive. This should fix the corrupted data, and make the drive usable again.

The only alternative(not necessarily easier) advice that I can give you, is to search for a way to restore the boot sector/partition table of the drive, but I highly suspect that it is not possible without wiping the data in the process.

Good luck, and I hope this helps.


OK, I think that this (http://www.newfreedownloads.com/Windows-Utilities/File-Management/DiskInternals-NTFS-Recovery.html)program may be a good one for recovering data from the drive, I remember it's one that I've used, but I can't recall how useful it was. I think it may also allow you to erase the drive when you're done. If it doesn't, google search something like "secure delete files windows" and it should bring up some programs that will allow you to delete the data.

[Phae Nymna]

Let's see. I had a flash drive with the same problem once. I was zero writing the drive and I pulled it out of the computer(EXTREMELY BAD IDEA). It seemed to have the same symptoms as your flash drive. If I had to guess, it sounds like the memory in the boot sector of the drive has been corrupted. This is not a serious problem, as it should mean that all the files on it are recoverable.

*Note* that there still is a possibility that there is a serious problem with the drive. It is also possible that the hardware has simply hit its limit.

That aside, assuming it is the first, non-serious problem, here's what you need to do:
1-Download free trials of data recovery programs)As a previous poster said, this will help you pull the data off the drive. Here's some (http://free-backup.info/data-recovery-software.htm), and some more (http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/01/24/top-10-free-data-recovery-software/). Unfortunately, I don't remember which program I ultimately used or I would recommend it. Please be warned that some of these programs will not be user friendly, and some will simply be a waste of space.

2-Wipe the drive)After you have everything off it, you may able to use the recovery program that you have to erase the drive. This should fix the corrupted data, and make the drive usable again.

The only alternative(not necessarily easier) advice that I can give you, is to search for a way to restore the boot sector/partition table of the drive, but I highly suspect that it is not possible without wiping the data in the process.

Good luck, and I hope this helps.

Two questions:

If it has "hit it's limit" is there any way that you know of that I can recover my files?

Also, how can I use a data recovery if I can't locate the drive on my computer?

EDIT: Another question, How can I clean the contacts? Everything I've found seems dangerous or isn't actually related to cleaning the contacts. The drive is pretty dusty.

[TSGames]

Two questions:

If it has "hit it's limit" is there any way that you know of that I can recover my files?

Also, how can I use a data recovery if I can't locate the drive on my computer?

To answer your second question, first:

1)The data recovery programs are usually designed to cope with exactly the problem that you are dealing with.

2)Windows is a simplistic operating system, and if it cannot make sense of the drive, it will choose to simply ignore its existence(there are both advantages and disadvantages to this). This means that the computer knows the drive is there, it just doesn't understand it, and therefor chooses to pretend it isn't there; this software will not ignore the drive.

For your first question. Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_drive#Disadvantages)


flash-memory cells will often wear out after 1,000 to 10,000 write cycles for MLC, and up to 100,000 write cycles for SLC[5], while high endurance cells may have an endurance of 1–5 million write cycles (many log files, file allocation tables, and other commonly used parts of the file system exceed this over the lifetime of a computer).

It could be that you've simply hit the writable limit, although that sounds improbable. It could also be that there is internal failure of the hardware. If it is either of these, you may be able to seek professional help in recovering the files, as there would be nothing else that could help. In a word, you would be 'boned.' Hopefully, and most likely, that is not the case.



Clean the contacts?
Not sure what you mean by that...
If you're talking about the "wipe the drive" advice, let me explain. "Wiping" a drive is computer lingo for erasing/deleting the data on a drive(in this case your usb).

I dunno, I guess physically cleaning it couldn't hurt either. It worked for the N64...

[Recaiden]

If the data recovery programs don't work, you might not have anything you can do. Once my Flash drive broke into pieces without my noticing, until the next time I went to use it.

I would just physically dust it very lightly, but I don't know

[Phae Nymna]

Well ****. I think I'm boned. DiskInternals Recovery cannot find the flash drive.

By "clean the contacts", I meant physically cleaning the small metal strips inside the USB head.

Now I'm off to see if there are any places to do USB repair and recovery.

[TSGames]

Well ****. I think I'm boned. DiskInternals Recovery cannot find the flash drive.

By "clean the contacts", I meant physically cleaning the small metal strips inside the USB head.

Now I'm off to see if there are any places to do USB repair and recovery.

If you're willing to give it one more shot, here's (http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/) a program that may still work. You can download the free trial; it sounds like exactly what you need:


* Hard Drives that have been formatted.
* Corrupt or missing critical file system structures.
* Accidental file deletion.
* File loss without reason.
* Unexpected system shutdown or application failure.
* Computer viruses and worms infection or corruption.
* Boot-up problems.
* Partition structures are damaged or deleted.
* Damage due to a power failure or surge.
* Various kinds of file system corruption.
* Recover files from devices with unknown file systems including Hard Disk, external ZIP/USB drive, removable SmartMedia, MemoryStick, SD cards, etc.

Considering the commercial price of the software is $500, if the demo of the software won't help you, then you are probably boned. If that doesn't help, then I'm out of advice, and I wish you luck in recovering your files.

[The Valiant Turtle]

With flash drives a failure of the electrical contacts inside is possible, but thankfully they are relatively simple devices so if you've got any friends who are good with a soldering iron you might just have a chance.

Links...

http://www.larsen-b.com/Article/288.html

http://diskdrive.wordpress.com/2008/02/21/flash-read-error-flash-drive-not-recognized-how-to-repair-usb-flash-drive/

[Ashtar]

For cleaning electrical contacts: isopropyl alcohol and a soft tissue that doesn't leave particles or simply a cotton Q-Tip.

Also, does the drive rattle if you shake it lightly?
How is the front connector, does it wobble?
Is the case cracked?
Have you tried the USB key on another computer?
Have you tried another USB key on your computer (to check your motherboard hasn't failed the USB port) ?

[Lupy]

What operating system are you running? :smallconfused:

If it's windows 98 or later, in the bottom right hand corner, open the menu. If you see a picture of a gray blob with a green arrow click on it and press "stop."

This isn't the problem if it won't work in another computer.

You're all gonna think it's a stupid idea, but no one's said anything about it yet, so why not try the easiest thing possible? Why not? Is it illegal? Just asking...

[Phae Nymna]

Well, unless the EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard works miracles, I've already gotten a quote for getting repaired with a company in Washington. Unfortunately, this repair would cost me a hefty sum of $250 or more. Maybe I should start up a little fundraiser with my friends... :smallsigh: