Rob52

Dennis, wow, that was a lot of information at one setting. Let's see how well I do at supplying the info you need for the next step. Since I haven't saved any data in the U3 application and I don't really use it anyway, I would be fine with losing U3 and having a 16gb data disk, as long as it worked okay. 7-zip is not extracting anything from the drive. As a matter of fact when I do select the drive and click extract I get a message that says I must select the files I wish to extract. However, there are no files listed to select. Lastly, I think, yes, the flash drive does still show up as a flash drive and a CDRom.

Dennis, Okay, I have made the backup .img file using the USB Image Tool. And to answer your question, yes the flash drive does have the U3 software installed on it and I'm pretty sure it's just a launch platform, I have never messed with it as I never had the need to use any of it. I created folders on the drive to save my files to so I don't have anything saved in the U3 application. I don't think I missed anything you wanted me to do but if I did let me know.

@Hazel - I haven't tried changing the drive letter. I do know that when I plug it in to a different computer it shows in a different drive letter. I don't know if that is any help. @Dennis - I am willing to try your suggestions as long as you are patient enough to work with me through it. Yes, it does have U3 pre-installed on it and I do have drives larger than the 16gb flash drive but they are not empty. Does the drive need to be empty or does it just need more available space than the flash drive?

@Hazel - Yes I have tried it in different computer and no I don't have it in a USB hub. I don't use hubs since the first and only time I used one cause damage to the USB port it was plugged in to. All the computers in the house have plenty of USB ports so there really isn't a need to use a hub. So far I have had it plugged in to Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. They all give the same result. @Dennis - I'm still hanging in here. I figure until there is a definitive answer I'm not going to give up. If you have the patience to keep trying I'll keep up plugging away on my end.

Hi Hazelnut, I'm trying to recover data from a SanDisk Cruzer 16GB Flash Drive. The computer I have been using it on is an HP running Windows XP. I don't think I've mentioned that part before so you're question could very well be valid, I have no idea as I am definitely not a computer whiz. Anyway, I'd like to extend thanks to any and all that have offered suggestions and advice so far. I do appreciate it all.

I downloaded MiniTool Partition Recovery, installed and ran it to no avail. No partition or data is shown once the scan is complete. I did notice a MiniTool Power Data Recovery Tool from the same site that looked like it would recover the data of a lost partition, unfortunately it found nothing as well. So, once again, I'm back to step one.

Dennis, Just for future reference, I'm trying to retrieve data from a 16gb flash drive. Anyway, I got to step 3 and selected Advanced. Test Disk tells me there is no partition available, so I can't proceed to the next step. While I readily admit to not being a computer whiz at all it appears that whatever partitions were on the drive and now gone.

Dennis, PM didn't work. And now it's your turn to have mail.

DennisD, don't apologize. You've been more than helpful and patient. I came here truly believing it was hopeless but your suggestions tell me otherwise. I am going to pursue this for no other reason than you believe it is possible to recover the data. I can't thank you enough for the encouragement. Rob52

Ok, apparently the forums were down because I couldn't access them for a couple of days. Anyway, I tried following the suggestion from DennisD and did not have the option to either BackUp BS or Rebuild BS. The only option pertain to the Boot Sector is Write TestDisk MBR code to Boot Sector. I don't know if that is the same thing so I did not do it. I also looked at the neosmart site and the "Addendum". Once I select "Advanced" I get the message "No partition available". I'll be going to the Sandisk support site to see if they can offer any help but if someone here has other suggestions or can tell me I'm not doing something or am doing something wrong I'd appreciate it.

In Test Disk my USB drive to show as Drive G: SanDisk Cruzer I selected it and chose Intel /PC Partition I then chose Analyze and received the message Partition sector doesn't have the endmark 0xAA55 I said ok and it began to analyze. During the phase it gave messages Read error xx/48/1 <lbq=xxxxx> (the x's equal changing values as they did change alot while this ran) After Analyze was finished I received the following information Drive G: - 100 MB / 95 MiB - CHS 23 64 32 Partition Start End Size in sectors Keys A: add partition, L: load backup, Enter: to continue At this point I chose to continue and this is where I get the message "No partition found or selected for recovery" I also went through and tried to write new MBR code but the message said it cannot write new code. I don't know if I should be adding a partition, loading backup or ??? As I stated in the original post, I am not a computer whiz but I am willing to try with guidance. I do appreciate all the help so far.

I tried the Test Disk as suggested by DennisD, I ended up with the message "No partition found or selected for recovery" Looking at the window this message is displayed in, there is no partition. Any ideas?

I have a ScanDisk USB drive that I have been using successfully for quite awhile. I plugged into my laptop the other and I received the message that it was not formatted, do I want to format now? I clicked no. I then did a search for recovering data in situations like this and Recuva came up as highly recommended. So, I downloaded Recuva, installed it and ran it. A the bottom of the window it says "Unable to read boot sector". Now I am not a computer whiz but something tells me I'm pretty much out of luck. Any suggestions to recover my files or is all lost? Thanks Rob