usb stick not recognized

[kerstin]

I usually shut down my stick, but accidentally someone took it out without shutting it down. Now the computer tells me it can't recognize the device. Is the stick broken or can I access it somehow else?

Thanks

 

[isatippy]

Do you mean your flash drive or what if it is I have taken mine out a lot of times without going throw the right steps and it still works fine I don't think its broken but I would try to see if another computer would recognize it. :hotouch:

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Welcome to TechSpot, kerstin

It's not physically broken (or does it look like it?).

Probably just the data is corrupted, you can format the stick again. Or did it have valuable data you want to recover?

If you're using Windows 2000, XP or 2003, you can go to Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Disk Management and format the stick there (delete the partition if one exists and create a new one).