Flash Disk Won't Work (Pen Drive)

[Mike_Gore]

hi,

After formatting the flash disk it stopped working. When I connect it to my computer it is visible in My Computer with its volume name and drive letter, but I try to open it, it says that I need to format it. I try to then format it but it then says "Windows was unable to complete the format". In the format menu, capacity is listed as unknown capacity. I tried to create a new volume in disk management,that didn't work either. In disk management, it says Online and Unallocated. It worked perfectly fine before, I had just formatted it with file allocation 1024kb and then, for some reason it stopped working. How can I fix it?

thanks,

Mike

 

[kimsland]

HP USB Disk Storage Format Utility
Http://downloads.pcworld.com/pub/new/utilities/peripherals/SP27608.exe

Will format any USB flash drive
It can be known to recover Flash drives that are un-responsive too.

Please let me know of the outcome

 

[Mike_Gore]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I downloaded the program you mentioned. The program recognized the device with its full name. But said that it is write protected when I tried to format it. My pen drive doesn't have a write protection (at least not that I know of).

My flash disk was working okay before. How can I fix it?

 

[kimsland]

Well confirm there isn't a little button on the drive (I suppose obviously none there)

Also, some Flash Drives have their own Format utility, if there's any name on it, check out the Manufacture's support page.

Oh and possibly confirm there are no other USB devices connected, and that you are selecting the correct drive letter

 

[Mike_Gore]

there isn't any write protect and the flash disk is kingston data traveler. Also I don't have any other usb device attached.

 

[kimsland]

http://www.kingston.com/support/USBFLASHDRIVES/default.asp
Email Tech Support for help with this Reader (on right hand column)

 

[Mike_Gore]

checkdisk says that it is RAW. Why has my this changed from FAT32 to RAW. How can I change it back?

 

[kimsland]

Actually I'm not sure what the Flash Disk system is suppose to be
But this tool can recover Raw drives, not sure on Flash Drives though:
Raw: The volume filesystem type information is unavailable
http://www.z-a-recovery.com/unformat-tutorial.htm

What about the email support option?

 

[Mike_Gore]

sent an e-mail waiting for their response.

 

[Mike_Gore]

I am currently scanning with z-a-recovery, but the scan is taking very long, though progressing. The flash disk is currently starting with red, indicating bad blocks. Shall I complete the scan? Once completed will I be able to repair it with z-a-recovery?

Mike

 

[kimsland]

Well it's only used to recover data anyway
Not fix it or anything

Just that you said raw (which I still haven't checked what Flash Drive's are anyway!
So I posted that thing

 

[Mike_Gore]

don't people call usb pen drives also flash disks?

 

[Mike_Gore]

It's still scanning, and so far it has found all bad blocks. Totally red at the moment. So can bad blocks be fixed? How did this get so many bad blocks anyways?

 

[kimsland]

Try not to double post, don't worry I read everyone!
Just use Edit post instead (bottom right hand corner of your posts)

Bad spots, means throw away !!

Yes pen\flash\usb stick there's a few different labels

 

[Mike_Gore]

Thanks for your help kimsland. You have been very helpful.

I'll just buy another pen drive. Just wanted to see if I can fix it before throwing it away.

 

[kimsland]

Solved ! :grinthumb

Thanks for the update