Very urgent memory key problem

Dilbert75

Folks,
In the process of completing my Masters thesis. Was working for the last two days on experimental stage and saved all of my data on a memory key. Didn't have my laptop with me so when I got home this evening I put the memory key in the PC to copy and back up.

Memory key is not lighting up and neither of two computers are recognising its presence. Best I've got is for the light to come on briefly and then go off again.

WTF do I do to get the data off it? Its not replicated anywhere else. If its gone, I'm in deep doo-doo. Please help.

EDIT: Its an Intenso Rainbow line USB stick, 4GB. PCs were Win7 & Win XP. Have used it previously on Win 7 PC and up to yesterday I was using it on a Win XP desktop with no problems.

yoyo

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Folks,
In the process of completing my Masters thesis. Was working for the last two days on experimental stage and saved all of my data on a memory key. Didn't have my laptop with me so when I got home this evening I put the memory key in the PC to copy and back up.

Memory key is not lighting up and neither of two computers are recognising its presence. Best I've got is for the light to come on briefly and then go off again.

WTF do I do to get the data off it? Its not replicated anywhere else. If its gone, I'm in deep doo-doo. Please help.

EDIT: Its an Intenso Rainbow line USB stick, 4GB. PCs were Win7 & Win XP. Have used it previously on Win 7 PC and up to yesterday I was using it on a Win XP desktop with no problems.

Did you plug the drive out without "Safely Removing Hardware", the data could have corrupted, or the drive could be kaput, always have a backup of important data, anyways try using Recuva with the flash drive plugged in, if it detects it it should be able to recover corrupted files, obviously during recovery do not copy the recovered files to the flash drive but to your computers hard drive,

Nick

Dilbert75

Didn't remove without ejecting. Plugging it into my laptop at the first opportunity - just a while ago - was my first opportunity to back it up. Its confidential information, so I couldn't leave a copy on the PC I was using. The red light is now turning on and off intermittently but the PC still doesn't recognise it even when its on.

Will try Recuva - thanks - but if the PC can't see the drive, I have low expectations.

tombom112

hey there

it does sound like its damaged, ie you try it in 2 different computers, when you mess with a bit you get a ficker of light. If you try and plug it in again and put a little pressure on it from different angles you might get lucky and it could connect, if not you might have to do something like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIFP-cM_XfY&feature=related

Dilbert75

It does seem that way, doesn't it? When I start the computer from cold it generally comes on, then off again, then on again, etc. But no access at any point.

If I gently push the connector, the pcb seems to move with it, so it seems rigidly connected, but that's not to say there's not one or more connection breaking and making.

Dilbert75

Update - red light now seems to be staying on all of the time when plugged into my WinXP machine. Still not seeing the drive show up in explorer though.:(

bonzodog2

Does the drive show up in DiskManagement ? Thats more important. Some (esp free) data recovery software needs a working filesystem to find files, others can search a raw disk. I'm thinking of GetDataBack and R-Studio here. They are 'paid-for' software, but, erm, .......

Dilbert75

nope - not showing up in Disk Management... :-(

bonzodog2

There's another tool that I haven't personally used, ddrescue, that you might find on a 'live' Linux CD (i.e. boot from the CD) Here are some boards threads that mention it

Dilbert75

Unfortunately I'm a Linux-ignoramus and I fear it would take me a long time to get my head around it.

Heading back to Galway shortly to re-do the testing - before work on Monday morning

Thanks for the suggestions though.

mach1982

Why no contact your IT society in your college, I say most them you know about Linux and the could recover it .

Dilbert75

Had I thought of it, that's what I'd probably have done. Damn. Back in college now, running tests - probably an all-nighter. And a 4 hour drive each way. What a pisser.

Thanks anyway.