Rob52

Dennis, Thanks for that point. Interestingly enough though, the files are not there or anywhere else on my computer. I wonder if that is what caused the initial problem.

And I'm back. So, what I did was restore the drive to its original corrupted state to prove to myself that yes I could restore the image file whenever I wanted. Then I went back through this thread and applied each of the tools again with a little more confidence than the first time around. And Dennis, there is no shame on me as I did remember that PM and I it added to my tool kit. A tool kit that I never would have had if not for this problem to begin with so, I figure I'm ahead just for that fact. Anyway, I performed a "Raw Recovery" and was, in fact, able to retrieve one file from the drive. As it happens the file was just a bit of non-important fluff but it did show me how the recovery worked which led me to restoring the .img file and going through all the steps again to make sure I just wasn't playing it too safe the first time through. After all of that, I fixed the partition and then ripped that god awful U3 software off. I now have a usable 16gb data storage drive which is just fine. Yes, I'll have to replace all the information I lost but most of it is all in hard copies anyway so it will just be a matter of typing and scanning it all back in, time consuming but no great loss. There were some pictures on the drive that cannot be replaced but again, lesson learned to use this a back up, not a permanent storage device. All in all I'm happy. And Dennis, I cannot thank you enough for the time and effort you put into this. Without your help and guidance I would have never achieved what I have. If I lived next door to you the beer and barbecue would on me. Thank you again. And a thank you to Alan_B for his input and everyone else that has offered suggestions along the way. I've learned from all of you. Thank you very much. Rob

Dennis, Just a quick note to let you know I have dropped off the face of the earth. Before I rip U3 off the drive I'm playing with a couple of ideas. I'll get back to you after I'm done and explain it all.

@Alan - Thanks for the info, I'll try to remember that if I ever use the Partition Wizard to create a new partition. @Dennis - That works, I now have a drive that will open. It shows as being empty of data (which I fully expected) so to test I moved a picture onto the drive. The picture shows up and I can manipulate it on the drive and take it back off the drive. Before I moved the picture to the drive I was curious so, just for grins and giggles I powered up Recuva to see if it found anything, it did not but I'm not disappointed in that. Anyway, my thought to all of this is the drive became corrupted due to U3 being somewhat unstable (I have read different boards where they curse U3 as the incarnate of all things evil) So, how do we go about ripping the U3 software off the drive and setting it to be a straight data storage drive?

@Alan - Thanks for the advice and I gave the Recovery Wizard a try, unfortunately is was unsuccessful. @Dennis - I'm inclined to agree with you at this point. I think the data is gone and may have been gone since it first caused problems. My vote to move forward to fix the drive as a data drive only. Hopefully that will also make it more stable since U3 won't be installed on it.

I tried the MiniPartion Wizard and did not get the options to run the "Check File System" routine with "Check and fix detected errors". Here is a screen shot of what I had available. I decided to look at "Show Partition Properties" and it shows 0% used The Partition Info tab also shows 0 So, no luck with this. I don't think it's looking to good for the info.

Dennis, You are correct, I already have the MiniTool Partion Wizard and I have installed and ran DriveImage XML, here is a screen shot of what came up. So that didn't work. I tried both the back up and browse options for my flash drive which shows as drive I, neither option gave positive results.

Dennis, Yes we had good New Year here, thank you for the well wishes. I'm not in a hurry to get the drive usable, I have others and I learned my lesson and actually bought a proper back up drive. And I am using it! Anyway, if you have other possibilities to explore I'm all for it. I've decided I'm in it this far I may as well go all the way with it.

Dennis, Okay, the Holidays have passed and things are back to a semblance of normal. I have restored the image file to the SanDisk and I agree with you, I truly believe the files are gone. So, if we can put this drive in a condition to just be a 16gb storage drive I would be happy. Rob

@Superfast - Thanks for the heads up on NOT throwing the drive away, I will admit there have already been a few times I have been tempted to feed it through my wood chipper. @Dennis - I must be truly brain dead, I have read back through this thread trying to figure out how to restore the image to the drive. We've used so many tools that I cannot figure out which one to use to restore the image. I'm sure it is not as simple as copy and paste so, if you don't mind, which tool am I using to restore the image?

Dennis, As it is Christmas Eve and I've family coming in, I will leave this lay for a couple of days. I will restore the image and we can see what else you have up your sleeve. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Rob

Well, I was able to reinstall the U3 software but only with checking the "do not backup" option. I tried and failed several installs with the "backup" option selected and continually received a pop up window instructing me to install a device in drive "I". Clicking either "okay" or "cancel" causes the installer to fail. However, since we have an image I decided to attempt the install without the backup, that was successful. However, attempting to launch the U3 software results in a message that states the drive is not either corrupt or not formatted. At this point I figured I had nothing to lose so I attempted to reformat the drive, it will not reformat. So, unless there is a magic bullet out there somewhere I really believe the drive itself is a lost cause.

Dennis, No problems at all. With Christmas around the corner, take your time and enjoy family and friends. This thing isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Rob

Dennis, I guess it's good news/bad news. TestDisk did successfully write a new MBR code to the SanDisk. I received a message in TestDisk that the code was successfully written must it must be rebooted to take effect. So I ejected the drive and rebooted my computer (I didn't know which it wanted to reboot so I did both). That's the good news. The bad news is now the SanDisk shows up as drive "I" and when I attempt to open it Windows gives the message "Please insert a device in Drive "I". So while it does display, Windows does not acknowledge there is anything there. Also, it does still show up as a CDRom drive.

Dennis, Okay, so I tried the first option and this is what I came up with: So, it says there is no partition available. Unless you have an different idea I will try the second option you gave. I'll do that after I hear from you on this. Rob

Dennis, I haven't Defragged the drive the image is on since I put the image there, so there should be no problems in that area. Here is a screenshot of TestDisk, it does pick up both as you describe. I have the drive I believe we need to work with highlighted. So far, so good today Rob.

Dennis, Here is a screenshot of BOOTICE when I try to Install/Config the MBR. None of the options for selection are active and it lists the MBR type as Unknown MBR. I poked around with it trying to get the options to become active and still nothing. I don't know where to go next. Rob

Hi Dennis, I hope you enjoyed your visitors. I downloaded BOOTICE and ran it per your instructions. Here is a screenshot of what I ended up with. As you see, only the PROCESS MBR button is active so, I am guessing the utility here is thinking the MBR is the record that needs repaired not the PBR. Of course, I could be wrong. Rob

Dennis, No offense taken with anything you are asking, as I've said before I'm not a computer wizard and this is just showing my lack of skills. To answer your questions: 1. I am attaching a screenshot of the USB Image Tool 2. The Image file has a size equal to the flash drive. 3. I double checked and removed the flash drive to make sure I was trying to open the file and not the flash drive. I think that covers it, don't worry about responding too quickly, friends and family come first. Enjoy your company and I'll check back periodically for your response. Rob

Everything downloaded, installed and ran as your instructions and examples show however, when I double click on the new drive it states, Drive not formatted, do you want to format now? I clicked no.

Dennis, I have my image completed. I double checked to ensure it is indeed a .img file.

Dennis, I do apologize for the confusion and any frustration I've caused. I deleted the image file I previously made, inserted the flash drive and verified the drive, in this case it displayed as the "I" drive. Started the USB Image Tool, selected "Volume Mode" from the drop down and USB Image Tool does not show the device at all. There is no icon displaying in the left panel. Thinking I may have done something wrong I took out the flash drive and inserted a smaller 1gb flash drive and followed the same steps. The USB image Tool worked perfectly for that drive. So, for some reason the USB Image Tool does not "see" the corrupted 16gb flash drive when in "Volume Mode", it does display an icon for the drive when in "Device Mode" though.

Dennis, I don't mean to puzzle you. It is correct that there is no important personal data on the drive, important meaning sensitive information such as passwords or financial information. However, what is on the drive is family history information. This is in the form of photographs and scanned documents such as marriage licenses, birth and death information and photographs of long deceased family. The data traces back my family ancestry several hundred years. It is this information I am trying to keep. Yes, I could replace it all however it would save me quite a bit of time and trouble if I could retrieve the data. Are we at the point now where we believe there is actually nothing on the drive and when it originally corrupted the data was lost then? If so, then I'll format the drive and we'll go from there.

Dennis, I have tried extracting from both the flash drive and the .img file, both give the same message "Cannot open file as archive". I notice that 7 zip has options to extract and archive (and several variants for each one) but whether I try to extract or archive the same message pops up. As for formatting the flash drive, won't that cause the loss of the data already on it? If so, and I'm not able to extract anything from the .img file then haven't I lost the data at that point?

Dennis, When I double click on the flash drive I get a message that states the drive is not formatted, do I want to format now? Yes or No (I've always clicked no). When I double click on the CDRom part I get the message "Windows cannot read from this disk.The disk might be corrupted, or it might be using a format that is not compatible with Windows". Also, the .img file I created should it look like the attachment? For some reason I get the feeling I've done something wrong there. Rob