Unresponsive flash drive

[Chinaboy]

My flash drive that I have been using for a few years seems now dead. I still have lots of data and documents on if from my work. It is not recognized when i plug it into the USB socket on my laptop or my work laptop or any others.

Can I do anything to get the data documents off of it or is it really dead now?

[Minty]

I think it's dead Jim. T'has happened to me before and now I double back up me important shiznit like any normal HDD.


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[Chinaboy]

Thanks Minty, I think I was expecting that answer... it always happens when you least expect it and have not backed up

[bugeye_bob]

with it plugged in see if it is showing up in Control panel, Admin Tools,Computer management,storage,disc management,
It may have errors but you can sometimes reactivate a drive/storage and copy from it before it dies again.

hth

[Ste]

A possible last hope could be that there's dust or whatever other crud in the USB connection so using a can of compressed air might dislodge whatever it is.

[Chinaboy]

Thanks Bob & Ste.

The first thing I did was clean the terminal strips and tried other USB hardware in the same plugs to be sure the socket worked ok. All ok there.
Bob, I will try what you say, but when it plugs in, you normally hear a beep beep as the flash drive is activated, but I don't even get that now. I will let you guys know if I have any luck.
Thanks for your suggestions guys

[Chinaboy]

Update: I tried your suggestion Bob, but nothing, it never even showed up there. I really think it's dead

[chris-red]

If it is really important data recovery expert can get the data however it will cost £££.
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[panrider_uk]

I used a data recovery firm to recover files from a damaged usb flash drive. Cost was a couple of hundred £.

Mark
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[lllN30lll]

A) stop buying cheap chinese USB sticks
B) end thread.
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[Going]

Could it just be a windows thing. I have a flash drive that windows doesn't know exists but BIOS and Linux does.

[Chinaboy]

I don't think I will spend out £££'s on it.

It was an HP 4Gb flash drive I bought in the Uk about 3-4 years ago, not sure where it was made.
@Going, I'm no expert maybe I can find some data recovery software to try to suck it out.

[bugeye_bob]

your problem is that the PC isnt seeing the drive, if it saw the drive then I agree recovery software would work, but if it has no drive to point it too you will struggle.

[anthony_r6]

I had a similar issue. It would beep and not pop up in the computer. Not sure if the pins had disconnected for the board inside it, but I came across a comment that said bend the USB connector up* (presumably to make contact with the circuit board) - this was a last ditched attempt from me as nothing else worked, but I was able to use. In fact I still get use from it, although I have to be careful how I put it in and it is very intermittent - It's gonna break permanently soon, so I don't put anything important on it.

*This worked for me, but may not necessarily work for you and should only be tried if you've tried absolutely everything else and you're writing off the pen drive.
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[Chinaboy]

It is one like this one, but only 4Gb. I get what you mean about bending it a tad, but it is so small I don't think it will work in that way.

https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg188/Discusboy123/images_zps5b4a2239.jpg

[a3316534]

I hate to say it but the answer here is "Buy a new drive and restore it from your backups". You *do* have backups, don't you? If not, you will now.

I say that as someone who is restoring 2TB of backups as my backup drive died.

[panrider_uk]

[prawny1]

It might just be a drive letter conflict.

show non connected devices in device manager and delete all old drive data and shadow copies etc

(you can delete any old hardware and drivers you know you won't be likely to use again).

to do that,

create a new line under environmental variables named DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES and set it's value to =1,

then log off/on and go to device manager and select show hidden devices, anything greyed out is hardware that is not currently attached to the computer.

Deleting them all will make it easier for your computer to recognise plug and play devices as it has to check less flags from the device list, and will be less likely to miss read a flag from a different device stopping your device from working properly.

changing the drive letter on some of your optical drives and stuff to one's further up the alphabet to free up the more commonly assigned ones might help too.

Sometimes if you are lucky linux based o/s can sometimes see drives that windows is being stubborn with, try a live cd and see if you can transfer over the contents of the bad stick to a different drive that windows does recognise.
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[prawny1]

most usb slots have the contacts on the lower side so lifting the usb stick up will aid a bad contact to the slot.

Removing the case of the usb stick and getting the heat gun in it for or sticking it in the oven for a while might cure any bad solder joint as a last resort.
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hellkat wrote:

Some people are only alive cos its against the law to kill them.

[stinkwheel]

I have found that puppy linux is happy to recognise and allow you to manually mount drives that other OSs will not.
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[Chinaboy]

Sorry for the late reply Prawny, I will see what happens.
Thanks for the time replying