resurrecting mem sticks

[WhiteD3]

I bought a new 16GB Scandisk mem stick yesterday for $80. Amazing how cheap and big these things are getting!

By coincidence my old Lexar 8GB no longer reads in any of my PCs (XP and Vista) and it has some files on it I think I may want. They don't even see it plugged in. Is there anyway to resurrect these things?

Cheers.

[disco2hse]

Various brands often have their own utilities for different tasks. Try going to the manufacturer's website and seeing what is there. I have found with others that the manufacturer is not necessarily the same as brand name.

If it is not being recognised and it used to then I think you may find it is, well, buggered. Unfortunately the big downside of flash RAM is that when data is lost, it is really lost, unlike spinning media in which the data may still be in blocks or sectors but if the file tables are corrupted/absent the data can still be retrieved and rebuilt.

Good luck :)

Alan

[Basil135]

You may find that the contacts have gotten dirty, so there is no connection when you plug it in.

The best way to clean them is to use a pencil eraser. They are gentle enough to not strip the copper / brass / gold plating from the contacts, but will clean it up enough.

Failing that, there isnt much you can do for them, as they are a solid state device.

[Scouse]

I bought a new 16GB Scandisk mem stick yesterday for $80. Amazing how cheap and big these things are getting!

The Good Guys had 8GB sticks for $8.00 on Saturday :D.

Limit of one per customer though :(.
Lucky they're not too far away & Mrs Scouse picked up a 2nd one for me.



I'm not answering your question though......

[bruiser69]

I suspect your USB memory stick is faulty if you cant see it as a removable drive in Win XP or Vista.
Try Windows Explorer instead of My Computer, as sometimes sticks are not detected correctly in My Computer.
If the FAT (File Allocation Table) is corrupt this can cause memory stick to not detect.
If you have valuable data on stick try Get Data Back. I have successfully recovered files from corrupt SD card in my camera using this program.
Get Data Back will also recover files if memory stick, memory card or Hard Drive has been formatted in error.

Cheers..B

[lro11]

Go into disk management and change the driver letter, this will also tell you if you can see the volume. I have found this to work on some machines.

[Bushie]

I just get work to supply mine :D:D

Mind you I did pay $24 for a 4gig just over a year ago and thought that was reasonable value - how quick prices change.



Martyn

[Disco Steve]

The Good Guys had 8GB sticks for $8.00 on Saturday :D.

Limit of one per customer though :(.
Lucky they're not too far away & Mrs Scouse picked up a 2nd one for me.



I'm not answering your question though......


Harvey Norman had the same thing but with no limit:o

[HangOver]

Is there anyway to resurrect these things?

Yes and no, but more no ;)

Check out this site LINK HERE (http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_recovery/info.htm?language=1) free software i've used several times if it gets no results whats so ever then it may need professional data recovery. They usually charge by the MB!

Anyhow if this gets no results throw your drive away.
In general if your pc will not recognise a drive its usually dead.

Only thing i can suggest is unplug anyother USB drives before you plug that bust drive in, sometime XP reserves too many drive letters and theres just no room for your drive, especially if you have one of those USB multi-memory card readers.

[Basil135]

By coincidence my old Lexar 8GB no longer reads in any of my PCs (XP and Vista) and it has some files on it I think I may want. They don't even see it plugged in. Is there anyway to resurrect these things?

Cheers.

Any luck with getting the data back?