Dead Pen Drive - any recovery options?

makeorbrake · 17-09-2013 3:50pm #1

Hi. I have a Tevion USB Pen drive - that seems to have died. When I insert it into the usb slot of my laptop, it doesnt discover it- and the light on the drive does not light up. I have tried it in a second windows laptop - and the same experience.

The data on it is very important to me. Are there any steps I can take to get it working again - or is it toast? Are there any steps I can take to recover the data - even if the drive itself is toast?

Thanks in advance for any assistance anyone can provide.

makeorbrake · 18-09-2013 2:09pm

Anyone?....or if not, any recommendations for a board to post this query?

riclad · 18-09-2013 6:04pm

uperuser.com/questions/116701/dead-usb-flash-

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/249038-32-dead

quote;

I used a screw driver to remove the top shell. Then peeled back the protective cover. Then used my finger to hold the little metal prongs down on the chip for a secure connection. I inserted the drive into my front usb panel. When holding down on the prongs, the PC picked up the drive. Then I copied all the data and moved it to another
end quote .
maybe open the casing make sure theres no loose connection.
a connection may need resoldering.

makeorbrake · 31-10-2013 9:58am

I removed the outer shell - and examined the pen drive - but couldn't see anything out of place - unless I'm missing something?

http://s9.postimg.org/xbef9e30v/20130929_150527.jpg
http://s9.postimg.org/gg8xl8szz/20130929_150637.jpg

Is there anything else I can try? If not, is there a specialist lab somewhere that I can mail this in to - and they mail back with the data?

riclad · 31-10-2013 11:03am

bring it to the pc shop in phibsboro,
IT does data recovery ,its about 100 yards from the shopping centre ,
on the left s you come from town,

100 yards up ,as you go towards santry.

makeorbrake · 01-11-2013 5:00pm

@riclad: Thanks for that - but a bit of a trek. I'm out west. In any event, I'd prefer somewhere I could just mail it in to - the data is a bit sensitive (not in a gary glitter way!).

STEINBERG · 01-11-2013 11:05pm

What operating system are you running on the laptop? Do you have any other usb drives that you can test on your laptop?
Opening the drive is a silly solution to be honest its the last thing you should be doing unless you know firstly what you are doing
and secondly you know what you are looking at.

makeorbrake · 02-11-2013 12:18am

@steinberg: Opened it and looked at it - did nothing else - as there was nothing obvious to me that didn't look in order. Put the cover back on.

- It's been tried in a few different laptops - that have both successfully accessed other usb pen drives. 2 of them would have been running win 7 whilst the third is running win 8.

riclad · 02-11-2013 8:35pm

IF usb drive is not detected by pc,
its a technical Hardware fault,
theres 3 possible faults, 1, a loose,bad connection between the chip and the connector,
or the board, 2,pcb is faulty,

or 3 , the actual ssd chip is dead.

ON a pendrive theres 3 parts, the main pcb, the ssd chip, then
the actual square usb connector which is connected to the pcb by 2 wires.
LOOK in control panel, administration tools , storage,
drives,
external,
does it Show up there as a unformatted drive.?

SOMEtimes joints go dry on a pcb,
need to be resoldered.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Fix-a-USB-Flash-Drive/

IF the data is valuable to you ,
give it to a tech pc repair shop.
Don,t do it yourself.
MOST towns have at least 1 pc repair shop.

Dead Pen Drive - any recovery options?

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