Did my USB Drive just die?

I have a 32 GB USB stick. I was in Mac (VMWare) putting some stuff on. Then accidentally removed the drive. I put it back in, and wanted to format it. Using disk utility, I chose 1 partition, it automatically filled in 312 GB and I just clicked format or whatever. It didn't take long, then I could see the progress bar hanging at "Waiting for device to reconnect". Nothing happened for a while so I ejected it. Now comes the problem:

In Disk Utility (Mac): No sign of the USB drive.

In Paragon Partition Manager (Windows): No sign of the USB drive.

In Disk Manager (Windows): I can see that it's there. But it says: Disk 1 Removable (D:) No Media. When I right click it, I can only assign drive letters to it. No way to format.

In diskpart (Windows): diskpart list will show me the following: Disk 1, Status: No Media, Total Size: 0 B. When I eject the drive, the disk 1 will disappear. So I know that it's this drive. If I type clean, it will say that "There is no media in the device".

In HDD Low Level Format Tool 4.25 (Windows): Doesn't detect it at all.

In Device Manager (Windows): It is detected as USB Mass Storage Device.

In Gparted (Linux): Doesn't detect it.

In HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool 2.1.8 (Windows): It detects device as: "GENERIC USB Mass Storage 1.00 (0 MB) (D:)". When I press Start it gives me this error: "There is no media in the specified device"

In BIOS: Detected

In Spinrite (Live Boot): Doesn't detect it

Any help is appreciated.

Abdullah Gheith

Posted 2013-01-18T20:35:20.803

Reputation: 231

3plug it on linux, then on gparted erase the partition table and format it to ntfs(or other fs you desire) – Lorenzo Von Matterhorn – 2013-01-18T21:49:12.753

It doesnt detect it. Will update first post – Abdullah Gheith – 2013-01-18T22:01:39.267

There is a later version of the HP tool: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/HP-USB-Disk-Storage-Format-Tool.shtml though I honestly don't think it will help.

– Julian Knight – 2013-01-18T22:45:24.910

Same error as first post – Abdullah Gheith – 2013-01-18T22:47:05.377

between all the answers and tools that don't recognize it, I think it's a write off – PsychoData – 2014-01-28T13:26:07.103

4Grasp the stick between thumb and forefinger. Rotate arm laterally such that hand is positioned over round container next to your desk. Release. – Daniel R Hicks – 2014-02-25T18:06:06.960

Answers

I've had lots of success with HP's usb tools when I have bricked my USB drive.

Try this link.

Hm, if this didn't work, I may have given you the wrong link as the tool I used to recover multiple dead flash drives with the same problems was a few years old, I'll try to find the right one.

Ilan Biala

Posted 2013-01-18T20:35:20.803

Reputation: 161

Tried it, updated first post – Abdullah Gheith – 2013-01-18T22:42:32.920

3And I WOULD NOT recommend using the CNET spamware downloader! – Julian Knight – 2013-01-18T22:44:31.950

You seem to have exhausted the free tools and the only thing I can suggest if the drive is important is to try Spinrite though it is quite expensive, it often works where others utilities fail. It regularly recovers drives that seem beyond hope. It will work on USB disks as long as you BIOS supports them.

Honestly though, I think that it's a write-off. I have one that is dead too.

Julian Knight

Posted 2013-01-18T20:35:20.803

Reputation: 13 389

Does Spinrite work on flash drives? – Bigbio2002 – 2013-01-18T22:55:27.653

As stated, if your BIOS recognises them - so if you have a BIOS capable of booting from a USB stick, then, yes it does. – Julian Knight – 2013-01-18T22:56:43.050

Well, they have a money back guarantee. If it doesnt work, i believe that it didn't serve it's purpose. Will try it now. – Abdullah Gheith – 2013-01-18T22:58:13.377

Steve Gibson and co are certainly reputable and very fair. I brought a license some while ago simply to support them though I've since used the tool to recover a laptop hard drive and doubtless I'll use it on other PC's over the years, in fact my fathers PC is in need of some help just now. – Julian Knight – 2013-01-18T23:06:22.843

I really had hopes for Spinrite. But it didn't detect the USB. I will try on another computer. But I won't believe it's going to work. – Abdullah Gheith – 2013-01-18T23:51:52.037

Nope, as suggested, it's dead I'm afraid. It does happen. Think of them like enormous floppy drives (if you remember those!) - they die easily and regularly - don't trust them. – Julian Knight – 2013-01-19T00:01:04.267

I definitely do! Well, i've lost hope too. I've tried with CloneZilla too. Wanted to clone (including sector data) a 16 gb usb drive into the 32 gb. But it didnt detect it. – Abdullah Gheith – 2013-01-19T00:12:37.067

Please try using Partition Wizard

If the drive is showing on it, delete the existing partition and create a new one. Hope it will work.

Unnikrishnan

Posted 2013-01-18T20:35:20.803

Reputation: 1 193

This isn't a drive partition in the usual sense, it appears as two separate devices. Some USB or external hard drives do this now. – LawrenceC – 2014-02-27T01:54:27.063

I'm quite convinced you completely borked your USB drive. After all, a USB pen-drive is little more than an SD card. Given how terrible QA testing they have on those devices, it would be interesting to know what exact brand and model you used? Finally, there must be a good reason why you need to enter the size when formatting...

If there is something of extreme value on that stick, you could try to interface directly with FTL by trying to find a serial line on the chip or nearby. Perhaps you could flash a new FW to it?

not2qubit

Posted 2013-01-18T20:35:20.803

Reputation: 1 234

If the drive is visible under *nix like systems in /dev folder, I would try to zero it by dd or pv. Then try to make it usable (create partition). Sometimes it help.

pbies

Posted 2013-01-18T20:35:20.803

Reputation: 1 633