Kingston USB drive seems to have died

It's a DTSE9 53GB.

I had several files on it, amounting to perhaps a couple of GB.

It;s been lying around without use for months but when I came to read it today, my XP system said that it isn't formatted and asked if I want to do so.

I clicked on Yes > Start > OK, a window saying "Windows was unable to complete the format."

If I right click on the drive in My Computer and select Properties, the window tells me that Both Used space and Free space are 0 bytes.

Selecting the Tools tab and Check Now and then ticking either Automatically fix or Scan (for bad sectors), followed by Start, nothing happens.

Am I to assume that the drive is dead, or can it be resurrected?

I have another Kingston drive, same type but with 8GB capacity, bought at about the same time, and the files on it are fine

 

I suspect the USB flash controller is probably bad. Have you tried using diskpart?

 

Thank you Frozwire. No I haven't. In fact I had never heard of it.

I looked for information about it, but I don't understand it and am therefore reluctant to even try.

Perhaps you could tell me exactly how to construct a command?

 

use dd-rescue then mount the image with OSFM and recover the files.
http://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html
Youtube has videos on using dd-rescue.

also..
http://lifehacker.com/5926254/safec...-media-keeps-working-when-other-tools-give-up

 

JFYI......

I and many other tech's that I've talked to have put anything with the "Kingston" name on it in our "NEVER MORE" list.

In the last twenty four years of doing computer repairs, I've only had to throw away 4 sticks of ram, due to total, unrecoverable, FAILURE. They were all from Kingston.

Two names that come to mind that are very good, in the Flash Drive realm, are PNY and SanDisk. Centon also seems to be holding up well, in everyday use.

Good luck with that bad FD. If the internal circuitry is burned out or shorted by corrosion, no piece of software is going to get your data back from it.
Sorry!

:cool

PS: A good rule of thumb, if you have very important data to back up, never rely on just one piece of backup (storage) media.
Always use multiple media. Flash Drives, External Hard Drives and CD/DVD's are all good for data backup, but never use just ONE.

 

Thank you for trying, but I find those two sites of little use to me. They are difficult in the extreme to navigate, and what they talk about is way over my head.

And what on earth does "mounting" an "image" mean? Sorry it's just jargon to me.

Good to know, thank you. I shall simply destroy the affected item and write off the lost files to experience. Then transfer the files from the (so far) unaffected one and then destroy that.

Your recommendation of better devices is gratefully noted.

 

Thank you DavidGP.

I'm using XP Pro.

Didn't get far. Not past the first line of your instructions in fact.

The result of which is:

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

Disk 0 Online 149 GB 0 B

That's my C drive, 65% of which is free.


I just attempted to edit the above, trying to get the details aligned under their headings, but the system won't let me.

 

I have just tried the seconf and third suggestions.

The second one couldn't find a driver, either on the XP installation disk or the internet.

The third one wasn't able to identify the drive.

My wife doesn't have a charm bracelet, otherwise she might have liked it on that

 

If you do not need to recover the files on it and just want the drive to be usable again, the HP format tool for USB drives is the program to use. I had to format a stick a few years ago because of my own stupidity (I tried to fit more on the drive than it was able to hold) and I'm still using that stick today.

Here is the tool which I have archived

Code:

http://file.walagata.com/w/perk/Assorted/SP27608.exe

You will get a popup box to download it.

Here is a screenshot of what the program looks like when run
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

 

Thank you both for your suggestions.

I didn't achieve success with DavidGP's so I downloaded the HP format tool.

That has worked.

I've put a copy of the HP format tool on it :-D

 

Glad you again have a usable stick. Thanks for letting us know.