Sony USM4GH dead after conversion to NTFS

Hello, guys.
I had some serious trouble with my 4g Sony MicroVault Tiny USB drive.
After getting a warning of reaching the device top capacity of storage I realized that there was actually 2.x G of data fulfilling 3.7 G in the device
So, trying to gain space, I converted the device from it's original file system (FAT32, I think) to NTFS.
After relocating the initial 2.x of data in there it actually occupied just that exact space.
The thing is that after unplugging and replugging the drive, it's no longer recognized by my -nor any other- PC. It just shows some new device connected as if it was some "USB MEMORY BAR USB Device".
So, now all the data is lost. No trackable backup on my hard disk.

¿Is the device -and the data in it- really lost or is there any way to recover them?

Thanks...

 

1st, back up your data RIGHT NOW! or you will lose something else. Not the data on the stick, but on your harddisk. Like bookmarks.

There's some software that recovers data on flash memory, but there's no guarantee that they work. The best solution is back up. I set up my family pc to back up the flash drive that contains their files every day. And their C drive every month. My C drive in my main pc every day. I'd lose at most one day of work.

If you can't recover the data on the stick, you can try formatting it in a portable device like a camera. Use FAT32.

 

Actually, all there is to be saved from de HDs it's already backed up. The thing is that i usually used portable applications and run them directly from the usb flash drive.
For instance, the bookmarks were on the Mozilla Portable in that drive, so we declare them already lost if the data in there is unrecoverable.
Most of the stuff in there where also backed up to the Hard Disk, but they're old copies of work that I had improved dramatically during the last couple of months. Hence the desperate need for recovery.
I tried to recover the data with several tools (Recuva, GetDataBack for NTFS, GetDataBack for FAT, Data Doctor Recovery Pen Drive, and others) and none of them gets to gain access to it, since none manages to resolve the kind of device correctly.

 

If it is called MicroVault, is there some sort of security on the drive? You might have a portion of it for safe storage that no one an get to and that's what your files are in - the vault part. Did you set up a password?

I also found this

 

Nop. No password. No encryption measures eather. All those MicroVault related files were removed from the drive from the beginning, since I had no intentions to use them.
So, it's just the drive, as plain as it could be, but with some sort of file system issue avoiding it's recognition anywhere.

 

Is this the view you're talking about?

 

Well, as it appears in the image, it still shows up as the wrong kind of device. I believe, after several failing attempts of access, that the issue here is that it's content is unreachable as long as it does not get recognized. Am I right?

 

Disk G: Illegible.
:eek

 

have you tried to uninstall the drivers from device manager? with your thumbdrive installed, "right click" your drive, select uninstall, and follow the prompts. you might want to shut down the comp (instead of rebooting), then unplug your thumbdrive. boot up your comp, install your thumbdrive, and see what happens after it reloads the drivers. let us know what happened. - sos

now, if that doesn't work, i've maybe got an idea. i had a h/d that i could not access (link below).

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=160438 <-- can't access desktop h/d

i actually was able to access my h/d thru a knoppix disk, and copy what data i could. you might want to try this. the hardest/longest part about this is d/l'ing the program (@696 mbyte), then burning it to a disk (i had to use 700mbyte cd-r). you need to use nero, or something that can burn an image (.iso) to a disk. i've provided a link to imgburn, just in case. - sos

http://majorgeeks.com/ImgBurn_d4870.html <-- ImgBurn 2.4.1.0

http://www.knoppix.net/
http://knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html <-- d/l page (1 of many)
http://csociety-ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/pub/knoppix/KNOPPIX_V5.1.0CD-2006-12-30-EN.iso <-- KNOPPIX_V5.1.0CD-2006-12-30-EN.iso <-- this is the version that i have, but take your pick, from the many mirrors, and versions

 

Well, a few months (and several attempts) later, the problem persists. Still under Backtrack or Knoppix the driver remains unaccessible. I tried also a few formatting ways, such as "HP Windows Format Utility for USB", Windows Disk Administrator, chkdsk and others that I can't remember now, all with the same result.
One thing I should probably add is that the "reading" light on the flash drive, instead of flashing is permanently on. It just lights up the moment I insert it in the USB port and remains that way until ejection.
Any new perspective on this?