USB Flash Drive Not Responding

dalby316 · May 28, 2008

My USB 8GB Flash Drive is not working. Windows will not allow me to even format it. It will not let me move/delete files, or run scandisk or disk defragmenter. Any advice?

JD

plodr · May 28, 2008

First, make sure you look it over and see if there is a locking switch that it is not moved to the lock position.

If it was unlocked, you could fire up a live linux CD, Knoppix and see if that can see the flash drive and allow you to format it.
http://www.knoppix.org/ if you get the site in German, just click on the UK/US flag to switch to English.
includes

utilities for data recovery and system repairs, even for other operating systems
Click to expand...

So might might be able to recover the files from the trashed flash drive and put them on another stick before you try and format.

dalby316 · May 28, 2008

i don't need to keep the files, im quite happy to lose everything on it, but obviously i can't get the drive to do anything at the moment! would u still suggest this knoppix program?

plodr · May 29, 2008

Yes, because windows isn't allowing you to do anything with it.
Sometimes linux can do things that windows can't. In this case burning a CD and trying to reclaim an 8GB flash drive is probably worth it. It it was a smaller, cheaper flash drive, I'd probably say just toss it.

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USB Flash Drive Not Responding

dalby316 Private E-2

plodr MajorGeek Super Extraordinaire Moderator Staff Member

dalby316 Private E-2

plodr MajorGeek Super Extraordinaire Moderator Staff Member