My USB flash drive won't work

Alt+F4

diabolical globalist
Alt+F4
Joined
Oct 29, 2006
Messages
10,017
If any of you smart computer savvy people could help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it.

My USB flash drive isn't being recognized. I know it's the flash drive and not my computer because I have tried it on several different computers and another flash drive I have works on those computers.

I don't care about the flash drive itself, I just need the Word and Excel documents on it. Is there any way to access these documents or is my flash drive just toast.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
If the flash drive isn't being recognized on several computers which all recognize another flash drive, the problem is with the flash drive itself. When you last used it, did you remove it from the computer before unmounting it?
 
I don't believe I ejected it before taking it out of the port. I put it in but didn't use it, so I thought I didn't need to eject it first. BTW, I did that before with no problems with this drive.
 
If you go into device manager, does the drive show up as hardware, or is it completely missing? If it's showing up as hardware but not as a storage drive, it might be recoverable using standard data recovery software. If it's not being recognized at all as connected, it will be somewhat trickier. Are there any errors that show up when the drive is inserted, like "USB device not recognized"?
 
Alt+F4 said:
I don't believe I ejected it before taking it out of the port. I put it in but didn't use it, so I thought I didn't need to eject it first. BTW, I did that before with no problems with this drive.
Click to expand...

You were lucky before.
Even when you don't save anything on the drive, windows will write to any active disk at any time. Your data may be recoverable if you take it to a pro. (By pro I mean a real computer repair shop, NOT Geek Squad.)
 
Did you plug it into the same port you took it out of? I've found some that won't be recognized unless I use the same USB port all the time.
 
Thank you all for your help.

The drive doesn't show up on the device manager.
The computer doesn't ask to format the device when I insert it.
I've used this flash drive in many ports, at home and at work; no problem until today.
 
You know, you wouldn't have this problem if you used a Mac. Now then, what are we talking about?? :D (Kidding, kidding!!)

Can you plug another USB device into that port and will the computer recognize what's plugged in? Have you plugged the drive into another USB port on your computer?
 
JWideman said:
You were lucky before.
Even when you don't save anything on the drive, windows will write to any active disk at any time. Your data may be recoverable if you take it to a pro. (By pro I mean a real computer repair shop, NOT Geek Squad.)
Click to expand...

Sure about that? I never, ever eject usb drives before taking them out and I've never had a problem. Also, I've never seen the light indicating that it's in use unless I am using it.


OP: How old is this flash drive and how heavily have you used it? They only last for a certain amount of erase/write cycles.
 
dtugg said:
OP: How old is this flash drive and how heavily have you used it? They only last for a certain amount of erase/write cycles.
Click to expand...

I've been using it on about a once daily basis since last September. Ugh, I wish I could access it just one more time!
 
If it doesn't show in device manager, there are two likely candidates:

1. One of the 4 little pins that go from the metal usb plug to the board inside the drive has a dry joint and has lost its connection. You could rule this out by bending it slightly - insert the drive then put a tiny bit of pressure on one side then the other. As a guide to how much pressure: if you snap anything off I'll call you an idiot. Be gentle. If you see any activity in device manager or a light on the drive, that's the problem. You can get stuff off while your beautiful assistant holds your stick.

2. It's buggered.
 
JWideman said:
You were lucky before.
Even when you don't save anything on the drive, windows will write to any active disk at any time. Your data may be recoverable if you take it to a pro. (By pro I mean a real computer repair shop, NOT Geek Squad.)
Click to expand...

What if you have it set for quick remove?
 
A long shot, but I'd check the BIOS settings and make sure your USB ports are enabled.
 
I'd help you, but
1. One time I tried alt+f4 and I didn't like the result. I have great resentment against you for this. Let the healing begin.
2. I don't know how to fix your problem.
3. Ok fine. I'd start with trying it on another computer. This will reveal if its the drive or the computer.
 
dtugg said:
Sure about that? I never, ever eject usb drives before taking them out and I've never had a problem. Also, I've never seen the light indicating that it's in use unless I am using it.
Click to expand...

In my experience windows is pretty damn stupid about flash drives. The default is to optimize your flash drives for maximum possibility of corruption.

If you right click the removable drive in explorer, then select the "hardware" tab, then select ARRAY in the list, then click properties, then select the "Policies" tab. You'll see two options "Optimize for quick removal" and "Optimize for performance". Select the first, it really ought to be the default for flash drives and removable read/write media anyway. The second one really ought to be named "Optimize for data loss". It's really stupid to assume anyone cares more about the "performance" of a removable drive over the possibility of data loss.
 
Try this...
Start>run and type compmgmt.msc, go to storage>disk management, does it show up at all?

if not, open run>type cmd, type diskpart and hit enter, type list disk, does it show up there?
if it does, type list volume, type select volume "x"("x" being the target volume number) and then type assign letter "x"("x" being an unused drive letter).
If you can now access the drive, copy all the files, you shouldn't trust this drive anymore.(Cpt. Obvious reporting)

Before you toss the drive, try a linux live distro:

http://www.knoppix.net/get.php
http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

I've been able to pull data from "dead" flash drives that way.
 
drainbread said:
Try this...
Start>run and type compmgmt.msc, go to storage>disk management, does it show up at all?

if not, open run>type cmd, type diskpart and hit enter, type list disk, does it show up there?
if it does, type list volume, type select volume "x"("x" being the target volume number) and then type assign letter "x"("x" being an unused drive letter).
If you can now access the drive, copy all the files, you shouldn't trust this drive anymore.(Cpt. Obvious reporting)

Before you toss the drive, try a linux live distro:

http://www.knoppix.net/get.php
http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

I've been able to pull data from "dead" flash drives that way.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much, I will try this tomorrow. I left the flash drive at work, was too sad to bring it home.
 
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