USB Stick (SanDisk Cruzer Micro 1.0 GB) Doesn't Work

[pulpfiction3636]

Hello,

as I was putting music on my USB stick, and tried to plug it into another computer it totally stopped working on me. My computer recognizes it as hardware, but I can only "safely remove" it. It doesn't get a driver assigned, or no window pops up with my files. How can I get it to work again?

 

[pulpfiction3636]

By the way, I've tried to work it on 4 different computers and it doesn't work. So it's not my computers fault.

 

[Tedster]

there must be a million posts on this site regarding flash drives.

Your data is lost.
go into disk management under windows and format your flash drive as if it were a hard disk.
then, high level format it.

 

[pulpfiction3636]

I don't know how to format my flash drive?

 

[Tedster]

go into disk management under computer management under control panel.

select the letter of the drive that corresponds to your flash drive. right click. select format.
format the flash drive.
exit out.

go to my computer
right click your flash drive.
high level format it.

you're done

 

[vnf4ultra]

I'm not sure if I would format the drive.

Warning! Windows XP also provides a tool to format USB flash drives, but the results of that process are error-prone. In a worst case situation, it can even destroy the flash RAM in a USB flash drive.

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20050909/usb-stick-windows-01.html#formatting_the_usb_flash_drive

From a guide on how to install windows xp on a flash drive.
It recommends formatting with a hp utility instead.

 

[pulpfiction3636]

The problem is, is that my computer doesn't show any letters.

 

[Tedster]

Never heard of such a thing.

I've formatted many flash drives and never had an issue. If he doesn't format it then he might as well throw it out. It is impossible to hard a flash drive memory by formatting it. Formatting it will restore the corrupted or non-existant boot sector.

This is one where I'll have to disagree with Tom's hardware.

 

[Tedster]

if it is not even showing up as any letters then you have a more severe problem.

 

[pulpfiction3636]

The only place my computer recognizes my USB stick is under Device Management as "USB Mass Storage" or something like that. So if my computer knows what it is, why won't it just show my files I have on it?

 

[iss]

The sandDisk flash drives are very sensetive drives I had one go belly up after plugging it into another computer. it was toast. more than likely yours is dead. if it is still under warranty you should contact them for a replacement.

 

[Tedster]

if it recognizes it under usb mass storage then it should appear under disk management. Go ahead and format - you have nothing to lose.

 

[SNGX1275]

Find a computer with Windows98 on it, install the 98 driver, and watch your drive show up. It may or may not read the files on it, but format it as FAT32, plug back in your XP machine, Fixed.