Recovering from a USB drive

[Rob52]

@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.

[hazelnut]

@Rob thanks for the replies. It was just to break all the info down. By the way, if you had said you use a usb hub I was going to suggest that you don't

 

Have you tried changing the drive letter?

 

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/find-your-missing-usb-drive-on-windows-xp/

 

@Dennis

 

Keep up the good work and testing with this issue, this will benefit future posters.

[DennisD]

My thoughts up to this point, and if anyone has anything better, then please don't hesitate. Go for it.

 

In my opinion we're not talking anymore about a lost partition, so going down that road I think is gonna be wasted effort. The partition is there, but the disk geometry is screwed up, making it seemingly impossible to access even with TestDisk.

 

I have a selection of tools for Rob to try, but each of them depends upon ...

 

1: The flash drive being recognized by the software.

 

2: Rob having to take a gamble and carry out write operations to the drive.

 

Point number 2 has to be carried out at some stage, and going back through this thread there were a couple of occasions when Rob could have done that i.e. post # 6 ...

 

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"

 

post # 10 ...

 

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.

 

And I can well understand why he chose not to, as none of us could predict what the outcome of those write operations would have been.

 

And the same caution has to be applied with the other software and suggestions I have in mind, which all include write operations to Robs flash drive, which leads me to what I'm trying to do now, and that is find a software which will pick up that flash drive and make an "Image" of it, before we do anything else.

 

This serves two purposes ...

 

1: It's possible to extract files (recover them) from an "Image" when the drive itself is inaccessible.

 

2: The "Image" can be restored to the flash drive if we screw it up more than it already is, thus putting the drive back into it's original, and possibly less corrupt state.

 

@ Rob:

 

If you're happy to go along with this, I'll try and put together a list of free software which is capable of "Imaging" a corrupt flash drive, and lastly a couple of questions, the first I think I already know the answer to ...

 

Do you have "U3" software installed on that SanDisk? My 8gb version had it pre-installed.

 

And do you have an empty drive (hard drive, flash drive) larger than the 16gb SanDisk? This is necessary for one of the utilities to do it's thing.

[Rob52]

@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?

[DennisD]

Firstly Rob, I'm more than happy to pursue this as far as we can. It's an extremely interesting exercise, and I've found useful software I didn't know existed before this thread started, and learned a few things along the way.

 

Of course it's more than an exercise for you, which is why I'm treading carefully.

 

Secondly, regarding the U3 installation. Do you have personal data (photographs, music, documents) on that drive, or is it just a launch platform for installed U3 applications?

 

And lastly, here's a small program to try ...

 

USB Image Tool:

 

... if this little utility picks up your drive, and successfully makes an "Image" of it, then 7-ZIP can extract files from that Image. I tried it out this afternoon. As long as your USB drive is plugged in, it will scan and list it automatically as it did with mine. Then just select the flash drive, choose a location to copy it to, and press "backup".

 

It makes an Image file more or less the same size as the flash drive in a location/folder of your choice, and doesn't touch any data on the target drive.

 

When you extract the downloaded zip file, extract to a folder as it contains a number of files, and then just double click "USB Image Tool.exe".

 

This is a cracking little tool, and a keeper for me as many "Disk Image Backup" creation programs will not list USB flash drives.

[Rob52]

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.

[Alan_B]

@Rob52

 

Thanks for testing this through to success,

on the basis of which I have now downloaded for my own tool kit.

 

I doubt that I will ever need to USE this tool,

because the fact that I have the tool is practically a guarantee I will never NEED it

 

I assume that you have now fully restored all that you need,

but please post back if further help is needed.

 

@Dennis

 

Many thanks for locating such an excellent recovery tool.

[DennisD]

I don't have anything saved in the U3 application

 

Well slap my leg with a rolled up newspaper.

 

This entire process Rob has been geared toward rescuing personal data from that drive. That's the only reason for finding a way to make an "Image" file of the drive, and for treading very carefully with every step.

 

My fault partly because both myself and Alan have mentioned a U3 installation, but I never pressed you for confirmation on that.

 

If there isn't any personal data on the drive, all we had to do from step one was find a way to format it, and then if you wanted to, you could reinstall the U3 launch pad software, and then reinstall your U3 programs.

 

Would that have worked for you, or are there U3 applications on there you couldn't replace for any reason?

 

When I got my 8gb Sandisk Cruzer the first thing I did was uninstall the U3 software as it's a pain in the backside.

 

It was a pain in the backside to get rid of as well, but it is possible.

 

So ... get stuck into 7-Zip Rob and see if you can extract the files from that drive, but extract into a new folder otherwise they could be all over the place.

 

If they were normal portable applications they would probably extract intact, but the U3 software and install method may complicate the structure of those U3 installations. I really don't know.

 

The important thing is to find out if you can extract the files as they could have been irreplaceable personal data.

 

And importantly Rob, I'm not bothered in the least that we could have done this completely differently, as I've learned some stuff over the last week or so, and I've acquired freeware rescue programs I didn't know existed.

 

And I now have a better understanding as to what TestDisk can do and how. All this will hopefully benefit a lot of people who may encounter a similar problem.

 

After you've confirmed as to whether or not you can extract files from that flash drive, then we'll see if we can get it working by writing to the drive with Bootsector/Partition information. I've other ideas to explore in that direction.

 

Or, if you'd prefer, after you've confirmed that you can extract files from that Image, we can try to format it and reinstall the U3 software, or leave it as a standard 16gb data drive.

 

I'm happy to go in whichever direction you prefer, and if you need any of this clarifying don't hesitate to ask.

[DennisD]

Rob, does your Cruzer still show up in "My Computer" as a flash drive and a CDRom?

 

 

If it does, there may be an easy fix for it,

 

In my unending thirst for more knowledge , I tried to reinstall U3 onto my Cruzer. This used to be impossible a while ago, but it can be done OK now.

 

The trouble is, the U3 installer crashed before it was finished, which left me with 8gb of corrupt and unreadable flash drive.

 

I've been here before .... further up the page with my 1gb drive.

 

But now I'm in the deep stuff, because the best I could do was fix the flash drive section of the Cruzer, but I couldn't touch the protected U3 system data which is the part showing as a CDRom. (That's normal).

 

And because it was a corrupt install I couldn't remove it with the U3 removal tool. I've spent ages tonight with a dozen different programs and nothing would touch that U3 CDRom. So I had a 90% flash drive which worked.

 

Last resort time, so I tried to install U3 again, which is usually the best fix for any corrupt installation, and this time it worked ...

 

 

So fixing the standard fat32 data section of the drive, and then reinstalling U3 has given me a properly functioning Cruzer, which I'll play with for a while, and then maybe try and get back to an 8gb data disk.

 

This is all long winded stuff, but if it might help folk it's worth the aching fingers and boring the pants off of you. (Not including hazel in that statement).

[DennisD]

@Dennis

 

Many thanks for locating such an excellent recovery tool.

 

You're welcome Alan, and lets hope it lies there gathering dust.

 

I've got another one up my sleeve as well.

[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.

[DennisD]

After my tribulations yesterday with my Cruzer, I think the main issue here is that windows sees your drive as a CDRom and I'm not sure how that would affect trying to apply actions geared toward a flash drive.

 

Firstly, there isn't a program I have which can do anything with the CDRom section of a U3 flash drive. Not only is it telling windows that the drive is a CDRom, the U3 installation (which is only about 6mb), is 100% write protected.

 

Before we do anything Rob, can you open "My Computer" and tell me what happens when you double click and try to open the normal "flash drive" part of your drive, and then what happens when you do the same to the "CDRom" part of the drive?

 

If it hangs for a short while, and then "Windows Explorer" (not Internet Explorer) closes down, don't worry. Wait and it will relaunch itself. That's what mine did.

 

If it doesn't, then it isn't a problem, just open "Task Manager" and relaunch "explorer.exe" ...

 

 

Trying to open both parts of the drive will hopefully tell me if both parts of the U3 drive are corrupt, or just one of them.

 

Thanks.

[Rob52]

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

[DennisD]

We're getting somewhere Rob as that is much better than I got with my corrupt Cruzer as both sections were corrupt and unreadable.

 

 

To answer your question, an Image file (or any file for that matter) usually takes on the appearance (icon) of the program set as default to either open it or burn it or whatever.

 

My Image files look like this since I installed ImgBurn a long time ago and allowed it to make itself the default program for handling Image files, as this is ImgBurns icon...

 

 

If I change the default program to WinRAR for example they look like my WinRAR icon (a personalised one by the way) ...

 

 

Yours will be the generic windows file icon as you probably don't have any program set as default to handle Images, but I wouldn't worry about that as I don't think it has any relevance to what we're doing. If you want to set a program as default to handle Images I'll show you how if you remind when we're done here.

 

------------------------------------

 

If we go back through this thread Rob, every action you've done with Recuva, or been asked to do with TestDisk, MiniTools Partition Wizard, and the program in that pm I sent you, was doomed to failure before it started because of one simple thing that didn't register with me at the time.

 

That one simple thing was in a post made before I confirmed you had a U3 installation, and before I started experimenting with my own Cruzer.

 

Post number 6:

 

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

 

Drive G: I later discovered after reinstalling U3 to my own Cruzer, is the CDRom section of the drive, has iron clad write protection, and is recognized by windows as a CDRom (read only memory). You couldn't persuade Windows to write to that drive using any software available.

 

Anyways, that's by the by now, and I'm simply pointing this out for others who may find themselves down the same road.

 

-----------------------------------

 

Your drive ... Yes, definitely format it, and then that section of the drive should just open like a standard flash drive. When and if you confirm that, we'll set about getting rid of the corrupt U3 installation.

 

Fingers crossed the format is straightforward, but if not I've a plan B.

 

 

EDIT:

 

7-zip is not extracting anything from the drive

 

Do you mean your flash drive Rob, or are you failing to extract files from the Image file, which is where you should be trying to extract them. Just checking.

 

EDIT 2:

 

Rob, after having a re-read, I realise that I did use the word "drive" instead of "Image" in post # 33.

 

So ... get stuck into 7-Zip Rob and see if you can extract the files from that drive, but extract into a new folder otherwise they could be all over the place.

 

Slip of the pen, apologies for that. Have a try with 7-Zip on the Image file.

[Alan_B]

Plan A always fails when there is no Plan B

[Rob52]

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?

[DennisD]

Yes Rob, it will cause the loss of the data on the drive but I'm puzzled now ...

 

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.

 

... there isn't any data on the drive you want to keep.

 

If you remember, the original purpose of trying to make an Image was because we thought you had important personal data on there, which we eventually found out wasn't the case.

 

Extracting files from the Image was simply an exercise to see if it was possible, as there could have been personal data on there, and the outcome of that extracting would be really valuable info for other people, which including me.

 

I'm definitely puzzled Rob as we are now simply trying to repair your flash drive to use as a normal drive for storage, which won't happen unless it's formatted.

 

Of course it has to be formatted to FAT32 as that's what the U3 software would be expecting when we try to fix it to get rid of it.

Edited December 1, 2011 by DennisD

[Rob52]

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.

[DennisD]

We haven't done anything yet to change the drive in any way, we haven't written anything to it, so if the data was there before we started this, it will still be there.

 

I think we've been getting our wires crossed Rob, and you should really have mentioned all that important stuff specifically when describing what is on that drive, and how important it is.

 

Your replies really did give me the impression that there isn't any personal data on it at all.

 

I have a feeling you must have been referring to the "CDRom section" of the drive when you said there was nothing you wanted to keep. That part of the drive is only 6mb, and isn't used to store anything. It's the drives operating system so to speak.

 

When you refer to the "U3 drive", that is the whole thing, and that's what I thought you were referring to. Any folders you made would have been made on the standard flash drive section.

 

------------------------

 

Thankfully, no harm done, and no worries Rob as long as we are both on the same page now, so lets draw a line under that, and start again with the knowledge we have at this point.

 

I'm gonna install the U3 software onto my Cruzer again so I can accurately describe anything I want you to do, so I'll end this post and start a new one beneath when I have it sorted out.

 

A shorter post will be easier to follow.

Edited December 2, 2011 by DennisD

[DennisD]

From here on Rob, I'm gonna go through every process with you point by point to make absolutely sure that you do everything to the letter. The reason being that one small deviation, or one small thing forgotten or misunderstood, will end up with whatever we're doing not working as it should, or more probably not working at all.

 

------------------------------------------

 

Delete the Image you made with "USB Image Tool" as we're starting again to make sure we have an Image which is 100% perfect.

 

Have your flash drive plugged in, make sure you know which drive letter the standard part of the drive has, and open "USB Image Tool".

 

1: From the top left drop down menu choose "Volume Mode".

 

2: Click on the Sandisk icon in the left pane and that will display the properties of the drive to be Imaged in the right pane. Make sure it's the correct drive letter for the standard section of the drive and not the CDRom section.

 

3: Leave the drive icon in the left pane highlighted thus keeping the right pane populated with the drive info, and press "Backup".

 

4: Leave your pc alone until the Image has completed, which takes some time as we both know. You should now have this, and see the green bar progressing (which can take a short while to start).

 

 

That's it for now. I have two different options for the Image this time, so post back when you have it completed and we'll do the next stage step by step.

[Rob52]

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.

[DennisD]

OK Rob, I did the process with "Volume Mode" selected, which worked fine for my Cruzer, as I remember you couldn't extract from the Image after doing it with "Device Mode" selected the first time. I thought this may have a better outcome.

 

There isn't a lot of information on this USB Image program. There's a forum which is very small and hasn't really been used for some time, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have any previous experience of what we're trying to do here.

 

I'll delete my "Volume Mode" Image and make another in "Device Mode", and you can do the same if you would.

 

I now have 3 different options to explore when you have your Image, and can you make sure it is saved as an ".img" file and not some other file extension ...

 

 

... maybe save it as "cruzer.img" (no quotes) as I've done.

 

Post back when it's done Rob, and in your own time. I'm not rushing you.

[Rob52]

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

[DennisD]

Fingers crossed this time Rob, and we'll try a new option which is pretty straightforward.

 

Download and install "ImDisk" from here, and use only the "Download ImDisk install package" link ...

 

ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver:

 

It installs slightly differently to a normal program, so just sit and wait until it tells you it's complete. It's a very small install, and can be easily uninstalled. As it happens, it's a great utility, and a keeper for me.

 

Once the install is finished (no reboot required), it will give you some new options in the Windows "right click" menu.

 

Go to your Image, right click on it, and select "Mount as ImDisk Virtual Disk" ...

 

 

... and that will generate a pop up window. Don't change any of the parameters, just select "OK" ...

 

 

... all being well, open "My Computer" and you will have a new drive displayed (name will be different) ...

 

 

If the new drive is there, you should be able to open it in the normal way by double clicking, and all your files will be there. You can copy them to a safe location before you unmount the new drive, or shutdown/reboot.

 

Closing the computer down/rebooting, will close down the new drive, or you can right click it and select "Unmount ImDisk Virtual Disk".

 

 

If this fails we're not finished Rob, but here's hoping it works for you to get your files, and then we can set about repairing the drive.

[Rob52]

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.