How to Fix Errors and Format USB Flash Drives
August 9th, 2005We all have USB flash drives, pen drives, memory drives and it is a great data storage and safe data transfer gadget. But if you believe that flash memory is secure and stable forever, you are wrong.
Flash memory is considered insulated from jerks and related damage. However, these USB pen drive do get corrupt as I noticed. I use a top branded 512MB USb drive and am using it for the last 6 months and it worked very well. (I do not rely on cheap unbranded usb drives – you never know when your data is lost)
So of late, when I started to open my powerpoint presentations, they would not open. Thankfully I had a back up CD. So what went wrong. Well some files opened and rest did not. Some error had occurred during transfer or storage as the main file from which it was transferred worked well. So the problem was in a data storage as the transfer was smooth.
WARNING: Please try all these procedures at YOUR OWN RISK. I take no responsibility for your actions. There is no surety it will work. You may land up deleting all data or making your drive unusable. I am no expert in fixing usb drives. This is just my experience of how I fixed my usb drive. It is always best to seek professional support from the manufacturer (and some advise against formatting your USB lash drive).
Some tips to fix and format your USB Flash Drives
An important precaution is not to remove the pen drive while the data is being transferred. Always remove the pen drive after stopping it. Go to ‘Safely remove hardware’ (green arrow icon art bottom right corner), stop the usb drive and when it says it is safe to remove it, then remove it.
Always check by opening your important files before that important presentation. If it does not open now, probably it will not open there also. If it works now, it should work there also.
If for some reason your file does not work. Transfer another copy of the file with a renamed version – it may work..
If you delete the file and retransfer the same file with the same name and size, it probably gets written to the same area and will not work. A different name with a different size gets written to another area and can work. Its better to transfers 2 copies of your file anyway.
If you want the presentation to work on older computers (like Windows 98), do not forget to take the drivers CD which will allow such computers to recognize your plug and play usb drive. Always keep this invaluable CD handy, you never know when you encounter an older computer. I also keep a copy of the Wind 98 driver on the USB drive, can become useful on eday.
If your flash drive data is still getting corrupted
After going to My Computer, Right click the Removable drive, Go to Properties >Tools. Run Error Checking and Scan for errors and fix them. The files that are corrupt or in bad sectors already will not work but at least the new transferred files should work.
If all fails, format your drive.
It will delete all the data from your USB drive and make it fresh and hopefully remove all errors. The software for formatting comes on the CD or available on support sites for your branded usb drive on the net. For some reason, when I ran this formatting software, it would say the USB drive is not connected.
How did I format my flash drive?
Right click removable drive and select and format the drive. Then scan and fixes all errors. So all the bad sectors are fixed and my drive has become all new and is working well now.
In the File System drop down, you will see FAT and FAT32. So which one to select?
If you right click Removable Drive >Properties
The General Properties of the USB drive reveals it is FAT, so I use FAT in the format utility. Then just select “Quick Format” and “Start” and all data will be deleted and hopefully all errors are now gone.
If still none of these tips work
Get hold of the warranty and get it fixed from customer support.
If all fails…. its time to buy a new high memory storage USB drive !
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This is actually a really useful thing.
I’ve had name-brand flash drives not always copy the data, and I’ve seen corrupted data be recoved by Windows. If this helps at least one person recover that vital data, then it was all worth it.
So, thank you for sharing your experience.
Deleting and then recopying the file will most likely not copy to the same area of the disk. Flash memory has internal mechanisms that distribute data so that one area is not used more often then others; this improves the lifespan of the memory.
After pulling a USB stick out during boot of a PC, before Windoze had started, I found it was no longer readable. OK, no biggie, only non-critical data was lost. However I could NOT re-format the drive, Windows would fail at the task. I feard the stick was dead until I formatted it in a few seconds as a FAT drive using Linux!
I’ve had to do this a couple of times for a pesky SD Card on a camera. But, I use fdisk on a linux machine.
I bought a Lexar JumpDrive 512 and was horrified to discover that while I could read and write to it just fine, I was forced to use 8.3 style filenames.
Turns out it was formatted in FAT, not FAT16. I reformatted it from windows file explorer just like it was a hard drive, and it’s worked perfectly ever since. I copied the autorun folder and it’s files back onto it afterwards, and it even installs the secure partition driver upon insertion.
hello
i have an usb flashdrive (centrios, 256mb)..
its not even 6 months old and its not working..
i tried to format it but it doesnt work..
the thing that finds and corrects all errors on the flashdrive doesnt work either..
Recently a friend gave me a flash drive to test (verify) it.
As the documentation sais it’s a
SONY Micro Vault USM8024 Mass Storage Device with a capacity of 8 GB!!!, with an
unbeliveable low price of under 90$.
It was suspicious at first, of course, so I plugged it in, and the system (Win XP OS)
recognized it, installed the drivers automatically, and reported the capacity of 8 GB!
When I re-connected the device, the system reports that everithing is O.K. but
when I attempted to access the drive reported ” There is no disk in the drive”.
I opened the properties to see the volume information which is reported UNKNOWN.
I could,t format it under Windows, and it’s own disk formatter could’t access the drive too.
If someone had an experience with a drive like this, i coluld use a help.
Or, be carefull if someone offers you a flash drive like this!!!
It may NOT be an authentic SONY product!!!
i can get in to my flash disk i tried everything scandisk which didn’t work and it wouldn’t format i’ve also tried some programs on the net to fix the problem “no luck ” if anyone as any ideas email me @ nickerr_@hotmail.com
Hey I have a similar problem as nickerr_@hotmail.com
Please if you have a solution, e-mail it to averma@lta.com.fj
SONY 8G Model USM8024 appears to be a FAKE. There are loads of these selling on EBAY, but they do not work (atleast with Windows XP Pro) When I contacted SONY support they told me the model was not valid and that the unit was likely a counterfeit. Hope this sways others away so they don’t get burned like I did. Buyer beware !
cheezystix@yahoo.com
Similar problem as Anonimous mentioned above..I insert it and click on it and it says please insert disk in drive:…properties show 0 bytes and this is a 1GB Mecer minidisc..the blue one.. tried the tools..yo, everything dude mentions I’ve done.. if yougot any ideas on how to repair this hit me at
smi_dla@hotmail.com
Same problem to me. Email me pls daniel at 100mb dot ro if you have any sollutions. We got burned, but let`s find a way to repair them. I will search for solutions, and if i`ll have one, i will contact you.
Here’s a photo of this phony drive:
http://www.feldoncentral.com/forumpics/SonyMicroVault8G.jpg
Hi all… just experienced something similar with a sony 8GB microdrive. It seems to worked fine for about a week then just died. Also going to try to resurrect it, cause i knew it worked once….
Dayne
dayne@tnet.com.au
I also had a usb flash drive that gave me a write protected error message when I tried to access it. I tried to format it using windows utilities and also the HP usb storage format tool. Still no luck. I was about to just trash it since it was just 128mb but then I went to the command prompt and formatted it there. Good luck
I have a problem with this, i have a 512mb mp3 flash player but can only format it to a max of 49mb, thus losing 9/10 of the space..
Anybody that knows a fix for this(or a third person program)
I have a 512 MB USB Flash Disk but it says its not formatted but when I go to the format screen http://img321.imageshack.us/img321/4830/formatdrive3ji.jpg it says “Unknown Capacity” can anyome help me?
Thank you so much! We were desperately trying to recover our corrupted disk! Your info is very helpful.
I had the same problem as proxy.killer which I solved by going to control panel/Administrative Tools/Computer Management and selecting disk managment.
After that I found my removable drive which hade 486 MB of free space and no file system (it was detected as RAW). I right clicked it and selected somthing like create a partition. After that I just folowed the installer.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WILL REMOVE ALL DATA ON YOUR REMOVABLE DISK!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the info about Admin Tools, worked perfectly.
Same deal, 1 gig Sandisk, couldn’t read the capacity, fix it, or format it with windows.
Admin tools = BAM!
Admin Tools didn’t work for me. I formatted the hard drive, then removed the device, but when I plugged it back in windows said the device was working properly, but computer manager couldn’t read the drive…Definately a rip off (we bought it in China though, only cost $6)
This post has been removed by the author.
please Help
i m having 256mb pendrive but ater formating it with FAT32 option it is showing just 119MB space so please help me i solving this problem.
I also was duped with the 8G Sony drive on eBay. It is as fake as it gets. They are REAL USB drives, cheap 128MB or 512MB drives with a driver that tricks Windows into thinking its 8G. The drive works flawlessly until the maximum storge limit is reached. Then all files added show up as 000.0000000 and FORMAT is the only way to make it usable again.
I filed a formal report to Sony and they confirmed that world wide Sony makes nothing bigger than a 2GB USB Memory Vault. ALL 4G and 8G drives are fake, with fake packaging, manuals, the works…
So quit looking for a “fix” or a way to make the drive bigger, it does not have the space to begin with!
mr_shew@hotmail.com
Ok that’s all fine if, when you format the capacity of the flash drive is known.
But, in my case when I try to format it, there is no capacity recognized, and when I mount it on the system I receive the message of “Please insert disk into drive ….”.
Is there any possibility to recover from such a case?
I have a 512 mb Lexar Jumpdrive. It works well and has not caused any problems. I formatted it with FAT32, and that made it faster.
I am Having a 128 Mb Genx Pendrive
The operating system Detects the Pendrive but dose not display KIndly tel me what can be done to restore or repair it
regards
Zafar
i have a 1GB scan disk cruzer micro usb device. prob with that device is i am unable to perform any operations. i am unable to write the contents to disk n also i’m unlucky in formatting the device, i tried in all windows n linux operating systems.
O.S’s are able to detect the usb device but are not able to perform any more actions. i tried all the ways to format the disk, control panel >> admin tools >> computer management to DOS format command.
while formatting it display an error at 99% n while writing any contents to disk , error “the request could not be performed because of I/O device error ” gets alerted.
i am least bothered about the data in the disk.
so plz help me how to format the disk n make re-use of it.
reply me at: suman_bathula@yahoo.com
I use flash drives/pen drives every day and the only problem I have ever had is with the drivers on an old Win98 machine. I like ClipDrives because they are made in US. I’ve never lost any data or had any problem with them.
Hi there .
well my centrios Mp3 iesent working.
Everytime I try to send music to it
It just says E:/ is not exessable.
and its says something about I/O how do I fix it