Any way to get data from unformatted usb pen?! PLEASE HELP

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Sasquat, Dec 20, 2005.

  1. Sasquat

    Sasquat Private E-2

    My situation is that my laptop messed up in some way today and managed to cleverly unformat my usb pen at the same time. Luckily for me I also reformatted my desktop today and got rid of most of the data that I had safe on my usb pen, or so I thought. Now I really need to retrieve that data from the usb pen and am afraid that it is lost forever...does anyone know if I can get it back?

    PLEASE HELP....
    Thanks
    Sarah
     
    Sasquat, Dec 20, 2005
    #1
  2. Prophets21

    Prophets21 Staff Sergeant

    "Unformat" technically isnt the right term, the pen can't simply be un-formatted.

    If Windows is saying that the pen is not formatted, maybe it doesn't have the correct drivers installed.

    Try plugging in the pen then going into device manager and uninstalling it. Then take the pen out and reboot. Now put the pen back in and it will reinstall.

    See if that helps.
     
    Prophets21, Dec 20, 2005
    #2
  3. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Try this I have had a few times it has recovered lost or deleted data http://majorgeeks.com/PC_Inspector_File_Recovery_d2463.html and does work on USB pendrives, just tested with one of mine.

    Only thing is if the USB pen drive has lost its formatting and ended up as a RAW format over a FAT format which most USB drives are, then it maybe 50/50, still worth a go as that program is free :)
     
    DavidGP, Dec 20, 2005
    #3
  4. Sasquat

    Sasquat Private E-2

    The pen has run on this version od windows quite happily for months with the current driver. However, I tried what you suggested and it doesn't recognise the pen asa new piece of hardware...even when I uninstall the driver :-s
     
    Sasquat, Dec 20, 2005
    #4
  5. Sasquat

    Sasquat Private E-2

    Thanks for that - I managed to save the data! Next question is...do you know how I can now format the usb pen once again? I have tried to use the right click, format to format in FAT but windows saya that it is unable to perform the operation....!
     
    Sasquat, Dec 20, 2005
    #5
  6. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Glad it worked for you Sarah, that software is a very useful tool, they also make a version for digital media cards to help recover pictures.

    Maybe worth checking if the manufacturer of your Pen Drive has some software available for formatting?

    Could try if your using XP to goto Disk Managment ( Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk management ) and try there to re-partition and format the drive?
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2005
    DavidGP, Dec 21, 2005
    #6
  7. fleppen

    fleppen Gumshoe

    In addition to Halo's post:

    Usually it works just fine if you right-click on the USB pen when you're in the My Computer screen and then select 'format', kind of like the same way you used to format a floppy back in the day.
     
    fleppen, Dec 21, 2005
    #7
  8. Sasquat

    Sasquat Private E-2

    Thnak you so much for your help - I didn't even know this tool existed in XP, you learn something new everyday!

    Thanks for you help...
    Sarah
     
    Sasquat, Dec 21, 2005
    #8

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