USB DRIVE

[mhussain]

Hi peeps got a problerm with a usb drive one of the staff came and said it was working fine now all of a sudden it says the drive needs to be formatted. Now i know the data can be recovered using data recovery software is there any other way? if not do any of you guys know any free data recovery software?

 

Thanks

[gl3nnym]

Whenever I get this problem most of the time I do a disk check and right-click Explore the drive. This usually works for me. I then transfer the data off, format the drive and recommend they get a new one.

[mhussain]

Nope that does not work

[gl3nnym]

Has it got one of those mini "lock" switches on that prevent data loss/overwrite? Also have you tried accessing it through a Linux distro? Sometimes I have found that Linux (or even mac) can access usb drives which Windows has trouble with. Not sure why...

[mhussain]

hi not gone into the lock mode the only problerm is we only have windows operating systerms

[Dos_Box]

Download a live disk where Linux runs in RAM.

[gl3nnym]

You can always get Ubuntu on a live Cd and try that? Or see if these are any good:

TestDisk - CGSecurity

How to Recover Data from a Corrupt Memory Card or USB Drive

[mhussain]

nope still not allow me into the disk drive

[gl3nnym]

Do you have a specific error message or is it just "drive needs to be formatted"?

You could ask the user to try again in the computer they use it with and backup the data. I have seen it where a usb drive works on only one computer and not others.

[mhussain]

The Disk in drive E; is not formatted.

 

Do you want to format it now?

 

will not allow me to do a chkdsk as the drive is a raw drive??

[gl3nnym]

Unless anybody else has another suggestion I would say ask the user to try it on their computer again.

[chazzy2501]

I gotten data of usb drives like that but it's quite hairy. Quick Format the USB stick in it's old format type. (if it's 2GB or under it's normally FAT under 4GB FAT32 otherwise NTFS) Then use a file recovery program and copy the files off.

 

Do this if your certain you can't rescue the drive. if you run a file recovery but get no files you may have guessed the wrong drive type q format it again, I've never had to do that, so good luck.

[mhussain]

what software do u use to recover?^

[chazzy2501]

Restoration: it's very simple freeware but really I was talking about a way to get your own restoration software to read the usb.

 

Restoration 2.5.14 Freeware download page - tested and reviewed software downloads from SnapFiles

[tommccann]

or use Recover from the ccleaner people i think, its pretty good!

[LeMarchand]

I've always found Restoration more useful than Recuva (but not as pretty).

 

Anyway, it's a long shot but I've occasionally had this when the drive letter assignment has gone wonky. Try assigning a different letter to the drive and see if it helps.

[geek12]

Recuva and PC INSPECTOR File Recovery - freeware