Flash drive no longer accessible

Makiba

New Member
I have a Patriot, 4 GB X-mini drive that has worked for nearly a year. However, when I tried to access it yesterday from My Computer, it gave me the following message:

[FONT=&quot]Please insert a disk into removable disk (F:)[/FONT]

I went to properties through My Computer, and the drive came up as:

Nameless
File System: Unknown
Used Space: 0 bytes
Free Space: 0 bytes
Capacity: 0 bytes

I tried to run an error check, but it keeps giving me this message:

[FONT=&quot]The disk check could not be performed because Windows cannot access the disk[/FONT].

I don't have any idea where to go from here, but due to the nature of some of the files I cannot access, it is important that I recover the data as soon as possible. Any help would be appreciated.

If this is relevant, I was operating an HP laptop with OS Windows Vista Home Premium at the time, and the error occurred shortly after a driver update proceeded to pop up on my screen.
 

My Computer

Have you tried the drive on another computer?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Compaq/SR5130NX
    CPU
    AMD AthlonTM 64x2 3800+
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE
Yes, on two others. Both of the computers have XP, but other than getting a slightly different phrasing of the error message, there was no change.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

When you remove your flash drive do you click safely remove?
I think the Flash drive is corrupt.
Are there any important files on it?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satellite Pro l300
    CPU
    Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 550 @ 2.00GHz
    Motherboard
    Intel Corp. 88395664Q
    Memory
    DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 1024 MBytes, Hyundai Electronics,DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 2048 MBytes, Ap
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Matte screen
    Screen Resolution
    1024 x 768 x 4294967296 colors
    Hard Drives
    120gb SATA 2.5inch FUJITSU MHZ2120BH G1 ATA Device
    Case
    Notebook
    Cooling
    Fan cooled
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Optical
    Internet Speed
    256Kbps
    Other Info
    I like Spore,Rabbits and I'm a Computer Freak.
Yes, I always safely remove the drive (not doing so corrupted an older one of mine.) And, yes, the files are important- I need to recover them; whether or not the drive is salvageable is not really important.
 

My Computer

Makiba:

No great hope to offer here. You should carefully check that no lint etc. is blocking the contacts.
In my reading, one person pried open his USB and fixed some bad connections and was successful. That seemed to be a real fluke though.

A couple of others were able to read their 0 byte (according to Windows) drives with
Linux systems. I've successfully retrieved files from HDDs with Ubuntu Live CD but have
never tried it on one of these 0 byte flash drives.


Ardneh
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Compaq/SR5130NX
    CPU
    AMD AthlonTM 64x2 3800+
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE
I know how to fix the drive ,but that would include destroying all data.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satellite Pro l300
    CPU
    Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 550 @ 2.00GHz
    Motherboard
    Intel Corp. 88395664Q
    Memory
    DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 1024 MBytes, Hyundai Electronics,DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 2048 MBytes, Ap
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Matte screen
    Screen Resolution
    1024 x 768 x 4294967296 colors
    Hard Drives
    120gb SATA 2.5inch FUJITSU MHZ2120BH G1 ATA Device
    Case
    Notebook
    Cooling
    Fan cooled
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Optical
    Internet Speed
    256Kbps
    Other Info
    I like Spore,Rabbits and I'm a Computer Freak.
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