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If I format my Sandisk Cruzer 16GB will I lose all of the information on it?

Discussion in 'Storage and Networking' started by ostoughton, Jul 13, 2011.

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  1. ostoughton Newcomer, in training

    I am running windows 7 on a laptop at work. I would like to use my cruzer micro 16GB but when I put it in it wants me to format. I have information on it that I want kept. My question is will it be wiped out if I format? What can I do? I originally formatted it on a windows vista laptop a couple of years ago.
    ostoughton, Jul 13, 2011
    #1

  2. lopdog TechSpot Maniac Posts: 378

    It sounds like something is wrong with your USB drive. To answer your first question: YES, if you format your drive everything will be wiped out.
    I found a similar post, http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic161141.html, it's about an external usb hard drive, but I guess the answer applies to your problem too.
    lopdog, Jul 13, 2011
    #2

  3. LNCPapa TS Special Forces Posts: 3,945   +120

    It wouldn't happen to be an encrypted drive, would it? Sometimes those show up as drives needing formatting unless loaded in the decrypting tool.
    LNCPapa, Jul 13, 2011
    #3

  4. Rabbit01 TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 763   +12

    Rabbit01, Jul 13, 2011
    #4

  5. LookinAround TechSpot Chancellor Posts: 7,677   +39

    Have you also tried plugging it into a different computer to see if same problem?

    If same problem on different machines, is also possible the filesystem is corrupt. (can happen if you ever remove a flash drive without using the Safely Remove Hardware icon to first stop the drive)

    Try the EASUS recovery tool (never used it. In fact just noticed it! but i like all the other EASUS tools. they make great stuff :) ). see if it might recover the partition/files
    LookinAround, Jul 13, 2011
    #5

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