Can't Open USB thumb drive!

[Drunkentig3r]

I have a 128mb USB drive, just a generic one from CompUSA. I used it to store some archived documents that I figured I might need later. Well, I need to look at a particular document on my drive for a research paper, but problem is, when I plug in my USB drive, my Windows doesn't recognize it!

I looked at it through Properties, and it reads as having 0 bytes of information. When I try and open it, a message pops up telling me the drive isn't formatted, and asks me if I would like to format? I know I have important information on there, and I really need access to it, but my USB drive is giving me trouble. I've tried going through Properties>Tools>Repair, I've tried plugging the drive into other computers (same result) and I've tried restarting. Nothing worked. Does anyone know of a way I can fix this?

 

[Trippytiger]

Uh oh. I got that message from mine a week ago, and now it's quite thoroughly dead. I think yours has probably kicked the bucket for good.

 

[Zepper]

There are programs out there that are supposed to be able to recover data from flash drives - check http://www.majorgeeks.com for free ones. But IDK if it could work if the OS sees it as unformatted. Flash drives are a lot less reliable than they should be considering they are solid state, so if you want to be sure to have your data, back up your flash drives to CD or other backup device..

.bh.

 

[greatww]

I have the same experience with my Kingston 2Gb and Corsair Flash Foyager 512 Mb.. They're all dead.. lucky me, I never put important data on them. They just temporary storage between office and home, so when they're dead I could still fetch my data back to the office.. May we should not rely to much to the UFD... HDD/DVD/CD perhaps are still better storage media...