death of a memory stick..please help

littlewopper

Hello people

I have a scan disc cruzer micro 2.0 GB. (Fancy memory Stick)
On putting it into my laptop this morning it would not read. This never happened before

I tried it in other windows machines and no pc seems to be able to read it.
There is a pop up box that says 'usb device not recognised'
There is no drive listed for it under 'my computer.'
On the stick itself there is a faint illuminating LED

Can anyone please help me in retrieving the info from it as i am a final year student and there is some documents on it that i need desperately

thanks

lw

curtin10

Have you tried formatting it? Then you need to buy software like "get data back for FAT". That will recover any files on it. I had to do it lately with a 32 gb usb key.

MunsterCycling

Hmm, why has this popped up again? Formatting destroys the allocation table on the drive and makes it harder to retrieve items it.

spurious

Can you try it in a different USB port? I find some of them are quite fragile, especially if they are the most used one.

littlewopper

i have tried in it in many different ports on different machines. with no joy..

I cant format the stick because there is no drive letter for it listed on under 'my computer',,,

I heard form a techie friend that, trying it in a non window based system, like a mac or a linux os might read it ???????

thanks
lw

MunsterCycling

littlewopper wrote: »

i have tried in it in many different ports on different machines. with no joy..

I cant format the stick because there is no drive letter for it listed on under 'my computer',,,

I heard form a techie friend that, trying it in a non window based system, like a mac or a linux os might read it ???????

thanks
lw

That might work, you can allocate a drive letter manually you know!

Right Click my computer and select manage > Disk management > click the drive in the list of volumes then select eh partition on the lower window and right click that > change drive letter and paths > click change > select a drive letter.


If that works get the stuff you need off quick then throw the stick away as its IS failing.


MC

Owenw

Have a look on the Sandisk forums in their website support section: http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1668

They also have a tech support email link on this page: http://communities.sandisk.com/sandisk/board/message?board.id=cruzersnou3&thread.id=91

I'd contact them before you do anything drastic like formatting the drive.

littlewopper

no such luck in trying to set new path or letter for the drive, and ive contacted the scandisc fourms but no reply,......

ive brought the stick to two shops and was told that there is no hope, one of the shops tried it in a linux machine and there is no recognition at any level..

I'm beginning think there is no hope at all , anyone one ive spoken to seem's to think that flash memory has a shelf life and when broken it stays broken..

Thanks guys

lw

knuth

Could be a connector that's came loose. Might be worth buying the same model again and trying to do a transplant, prying both USB drives open (old and new) and switching parts. Works with some hd's.

Biggins

Sorry if I missed it but what operating system are you using by the way?

Have you also tried data recovery software as well?