Recovering from a USB drive

[DennisD]

I was really hopeful with that one Rob, and I wasn't aware that the "Needs Formatting" error could migrate to the Image file. This is supposed to be, and actually is, a very good way to retrieve data from a drive which can't be accessed because of boot or file system errors.

 

This failure may once more be down to the way Windows, and therefore any Windows software sees the U3 partition as a CDRom. It still puzzles me though why this would fail.

 

Can you give a bit more feed back about what happened up to the point where the Image was completed?

 

1: Under "Device Mode" when you highlighted the Cruzer flash drive in the left pane, what information was in the right pane in way of drive letter? Just fire up the USB Imaging software with your drive plugged in, and maybe do a screenshot. You don't have to make another Image.

 

2: Can you "mouse over" the Image you made (or right click\properties), and tell me the size? It should be about the size of your flash drive.

 

3: Are you 100% sure that it was the "Image mounted drive" you were trying to open and not the actual flash drive itself if it was plugged in at the same time. No offence Rob, but I'm looking for any possible cause to why it didn't work.

 

I may not get straight back to you as I've visitors this week and haven't been on-line a great deal, but I will get back to you as soon as.

[Rob52]

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

[DennisD]

Hi Rob.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I just wanted to make sure the Image was of the entire drive and not just the CDRom partition. What's significant about your screenshot is the fact that the "device" (the flash drive itself) is being picked up but it isn't displaying any information for the "volume" (data partition) in the bottom half of the info window.

 

If you're still happy to experiment a bit with that Image, I've something different to try.

 

Download a small tool called "Bootice" from here ...

 

http://www.pendrivea...it-boot-sector/

 

... it's a "standalone" utility (no install).

 

One of it's features is the ability to write an MBR (Master Boot Record) and/or a PBR (Partition Boot Record) to an "Image". The fact that this feature exists more or less leads to the conclusion that a back up Image of a corrupt flash drive could exhibit the same inaccessibility problems of the original drive, which is actually what you've experienced.

 

From the research I've done, that isn't always the case.

 

So in theory, if we can repair the MBR or the PBR, you may then be able to mount it as a drive and access the files. As we're working on an Image and not the drive, there's nothing to lose by trying it.

 

I've been writing different types of both MBR and PBR to my Image, and I've still been able to mount it as a drive and open it with no problems. And just as an aside, I've also been writing these different MBR's and PBR's to my working U3 SanDisk without any adverse affects. It still ran and worked as a U3 drive.

 

Open the program, select the "Disk Image" tab, and then browse to and load your Image ...

 

 

Once the Image is loaded, you should have both the "Process MBR" and "Process PBR" buttons active. An Image of a non partitioned flash drive only has the "Process PBR" button active.

 

Select the "Process PBR" option and you'll get a new window popping up. Select the "NTLDR boot record" (this is the PBR type on my Cruzer), then "Install/Config" ...

 

 

... which will generate another window ...

 

 

If it isn't the same as the above, make sure "NTLDR" is in the "Rename to.." window, and press OK.

 

This should write a "Partition Boot Record" to the data partition, so mount your Image as a drive again, and try to open it as before.

 

Fingers crossed, but no worries if this craps out at some stage as there are other options left.

 

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

 

This may seem to be taking an eternity to do Rob, but I tried out a whole host of different options with my Image, my Cruzer flash drive, a 1gb flash drive and a camera SD card, in the space of about an hour.

 

The "message board" backwards and forwards process knocks the time perspective out somewhat, so if you're still happy with all this, then I'm more than happy to keep going until I've exhausted every option.

 

We'll just have to make sure we're done before the world goes down the pan in 2012.

[Rob52]

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

[DennisD]

Actually, that kinda makes sense as the data partition wasn't picked up when you created the Image with the other program.

 

In that case Rob, write a new MBR code to it. Choose "Windows NT.5.x", then "Install/Config" and OK it.

 

 

I've written this code to my Image (and U3 drive) numerous times and both still work fine. If it writes the code with no problems try the mount Image thing again and see if you can open it.

 

And yes thanks, I've had a great (but tiring) week with my 2 year old granddaughter.

[Rob52]

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

[DennisD]

Rob, you're drive just doesn't want to give up those files.

 

I think we're at the point where we're gonna have to try repairing the drive, and with there being two completely different partition types on that drive, it's six and two threes whether we try repairing the data partition or try reinstalling the U3 CDRom partition software.

 

When I screwed up my U3 Sandisk earlier in this thread, I repaired the data partition first, but we can't know if your drive is in the same corrupt state as mine was.

 

With these thoughts in mind, I'm gonna do a test with my U3 drive, and try restoring the Image I made with the "USB Image Tool".

 

If that works OK, then we'll know more or less that the Image you have can be restored in case trying to repair either partitions makes things worse. If that happens we can restore your Image and then try something else.

 

Your Image should be fine as we haven't managed to write anything to it. I'll get back to you when I've done that restore.

[DennisD]

As I've written quite a few different boot sector codes to my Image, I made a fresh one, and restored it OK. U3 still works as a U3 and all files intact on the data partition.

 

If you've defragged the drive the Image is on Rob, I would make another one as I don't trust a defrag not to compromise the integrity of an Image, and they're too important to mess with.

 

The first thing I would like you to do is to fire up TestDisk again. The reason for this is that when you first tried this, I hadn't at that stage re-installed U3 software onto my Cruzer and therefore wasn't aware of the two completely different partitions, with one showing as a drive and the other as separate CDRom.

 

When I put my Cruzer through TestDisk now, the two separate partitions show up, and I reproduced the various error messages you were getting by selecting the smaller CDRom partition and trying to get to the next stage. The one we need to be there is the much larger data partition.

 

If TestDisk picks up both, you should see them like this, the yellow highlighted one being the one we need to work on ...

 

 

That's it for now Rob. If the data partition isn't picked up we'll have to move to the next option, and if it is, I'll show you what to do next.

[Rob52]

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.

[DennisD]

Rob, I'm quietly doing somersaults in my computer room (usually called a bedroom), that's the first positive result we've had, but lets not get carried away as that drive of yours is stubborn.

 

Two choices here provided you can get past the next two screens. Select as before ... "Proceed > Intel/PC Partition".

 

The first suggestion, and I've taken the time to do this myself, is to see if you can get TestDisk to make an Image ...

 

"Advanced > Image Creation".

 

if you need help in selecting the location in which to store the TestDisk Image, I'll show you as it is a bit tricky to do.

 

The reason I'm asking this is because there is a difference between the Image created with "USB Image Tool" and the one created with "TestDisk" although they both carry the .img extension. My default Image burning program, "ImgBurn", will load in the "TestDisk" Image, but not the "USB Image Tool" created one. It doesn't recognize it.

 

This may make a difference when you mount the TestDisk Image as a drive and try to access it. It may not of course, but it's worth a try if you can now get to that stage with TestDisk, which of course we couldn't before. I can access the Images created by both programs, but my data partition isn't corrupt.

 

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

 

If you want to get straight to it, the second suggestion is to write an MBR Code to that partition.

 

"Proceed > Intel\PC Partition > MBR Code", and confirm "y" to the dialogue that follows.

 

The choice is yours Rob because you may not have the space available to make another Image.

 

If you do, you have to change the created Image extension from "image.dd" to "image.img", and if you have the space don't delete your first Image.

 

Fingers crossed (again).

[Rob52]

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

[DennisD]

Yes Rob, I think the only way to get anything from this drive is to try and repair it. Although it says no partition found, we know from previous attempts that searching for a partition doesn't yield anything positive at all.

 

Try writing the MBR Code and see if it will actually do it. If it doesn't, there's other software we can use which may be more successful.

 

If it writes the code, hopefully it will make that part of the drive accessible, or at least enable us to try things we couldn't try previously.

[Rob52]

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.

[DennisD]

Hi Rob.

 

I've been busy over the weekend, so I'll get back to you over the next couple of days. I'm on my sons iPad at the moment so don't have my bookmarks.

 

The fact that test disk actually wrote a boot code to the data partition isn't too bad, as I've written that same boot code to My Cruzer at least half a dozen times and it still works fine. I'm thinking about the merits of either running chkdsk on the data partition or trying to reinstall the U3 software.

 

I have a program which runs a file system check, as chkdsk does, but provides a lot more feedback information.

 

I'll get back to you when I get back onto my own computer Rob.

[Rob52]

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

[DennisD]

Hi Rob.

 

I think at this stage, with having an Image of the drive as a backup, we should simply try to reinstall the U3 software, which is the only way to do anything with the CDRom partition section of the drive. Doing that may put right the partition table information on the data section.

 

I say may, because I've no precedent on which to base anything more definitive with a U3 installed drive, apart from what I've tried with my own, and it's something we're gonna have to do sooner or later. Example fixes I found online earlier just haven't worked for you.

 

Two things to note about reinstalling U3.

 

Firstly, the first time I tried it, it didn't work and that's what screwed up both sections on my drive, but on the second attempt it did install OK. So bare that in mind.

 

Secondly, during the install, it asks if you want to back up your data. Just to find out what data it was talking about (the stuff on the data partition, or the stuff on the area of the drive it was installing itself to), I said no and it installed itself without touching the stuff I had on the data partition.

 

I then went through the install again, this time saying yes to the backup. It then went straight into the install process after which it stated that the backed up data had been written back to the drive.

 

It was completely automated and I have no idea where it first stored the data, as the temporary back up had been deleted after being written to the drive.

 

Download the U3 Installer from here ...

 

http://www.mydigital...sh-smart-drive/

 

The "Sandisk U3 LaunchPad Installer" is the first on that web page.

 

Fingers crossed again Rob.

[Rob52]

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.

[DennisD]

You sound a bit dismal Rob, which is understandable really, as it's possible the drive was never repairable in the first place, but I don't believe that yet.

 

Making it worse when writing to it was always a possibility, which is why I spent quite some time finding a way to back it up first.

 

If you're still game Rob, and if you haven't already, restore the back up Image to your drive so it's back to it's original state before the TestDisk MBR was written to it.

 

I've still got options left with the data partition, and you've confirmed that the U3 software will reinstall OK.

 

It's your choice of course Rob, and I'll go along with whatever you decide but I'm still as enthusiastic as I was 66 posts ago.

[Rob52]

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

[DennisD]

Leave it for as long as you like Rob, and a Merry Christmas to you and yours also.

 

Have a good one.

[Super Fast]

I truly hope this works out, & I shall check here from time to time, out of interest to see what does transpire from this flash drive episode, for the sake of engourging my brain cells with newly minted knowledge.

 

Should things NOT work out, do not throw away the drive. Remember the Transcend disk formatter available in their support area.

 

But I would work with Dennis & exhaust all options first. I was reading through here with interest, & I shall definitely be interested if this does work.

[Rob52]

@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?

[DennisD]

Hi Rob.

 

Have your drive plugged in and just open up "USB Image Tool".

 

Your drive should be displayed, and select "Restore", which is on the left side ...

 

.

 

At the end of the day Rob, if we can't find a way to get your files back, and I think I've just about tried every option on the planet apart from a couple, we can still try and get your drive back to a 16gb storage device. So, don't throw it away!

 

I wish you lived near me, as having it plugged into my machine would be so much simpler. Never mind, It's not a lost cause yet.

 

One thing I will say, is to tell you to mess about with this only if you have nothing better to do, as I appreciate the time it must take to do anything with a 16gb drive. I'm not going anywhere, so if I don't hear from you for a while, no worries, just post back any time it's convenient, and I'll pick up on it.

[Rob52]

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

[DennisD]

Well Rob, I'm starting the year in a more optimistic mode as I haven't given up on your files yet. Remember, a lot of this thread was taken up with finding a way to back up your 16gb drive before we messed with it.

 

Having done a restore with your back up Image means we can crack on with stuff I could have tried right from the start but didn't with this being an odd disk configuration, data partition and CDRom partition on the same drive. I didn't want to mess it up by jumping straight in with disk write operations.

 

Although it isn't straightforward, I'm confident of restoring your drive to a 16gb data drive, but we might as well exhaust all possibilities of getting your files back before we go there. Unless of course, you badly need that drive to be usable.

 

I'll hang fire until I hear from you as to what you want to do.

 

 

EDIT: Happy New Year by the way. Hope you had a good one.