HELP! USB DRIVE DEAD AFTER FORMAT. PLEASE HELP!

[dabooj]

Hi Guys,

I've done the stupidist thing imaginable... And now i need your help to fix it!

I brougt a new 8gb USB flash drive. Seemed fine but was formatted to FAT format.
I thouhgt i'd be clever and reformat the drive to NTFS. I started the formatting process in MS Vista 32-bit edition and it all seemed to be going well - Until halfway thru the format windows brings up an error saying 'Cannot complete format'.
Now, the USB drive is still detected by windows and shows up on my computer as a drive. It even shows up in disk management but i can't access it! I can't format it or get into it. Whne i click on it a msg saying 'Drive not ready' comes up. If i try to format it Msg says 'insert disk'. in disk management the drive shows up as removable drive but the label states 'No Media'.
I've tried to reformat on several different machines.
I tried to reformat on Vista, XP & 98 as someone mentioned that win 98 would possible resolve the issue but i had no luck - they all detect the drive but can't access it or recognize it correctly.

I've tried loads of USB data recovery tools but some don't detect it at all whereas some detect it and say 'Drive not ready' so you can't perform any of the options on it. I've tried Killdisk, Partition Doctor, Euphos, SDisk, and a few others like this. Most of these are data recovery and can't fix my USB drive anyway.
I don't have any data on the drive that i need, i just need it working again.

I know it was stupid to have tried to format the USB drive and i now know that USB drives can't (or shouldn't) be formatted in NTFS.

I think it might be a case of curruption in the system files or File allocaton tables within the USB Drive.

Does anyone have any idea on how to resolve this issue?
Do you know of a tool that might fix my USB drive?

Like i said, no data requires recovery - just need the drive up and running.

Thanks in advance,

Shuja

[no1_vern]

I cant think of anything you havent already tried.

Have you considered returning the drive to the store?
After Googling I found this: You may want to try the HP Drive Key Boot Utility
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/fi...oad/23839.html

Download and install the HP Drive Key Boot Utility
Open the desktop icon and select the correct flash drive under device
Select the file system you want to format to (FAT, FAT32, NTFS)
check Quick Format
Click start

Its meant for HP disks but seems to work fine at formatting most flash media, even digital camera cards.

I havent tried it, so be careful.

[dabooj]

Hi,

Tried the HP disk utility. Didn't do anything.
It detected the drive letter, i selected & went thru the process. It seems to create a new MBR& configuration & finishes the process saying process was successful but when i click on the USB drive it is still the same- inaccessible & informattable.

Thanks for the suggestion & for finding the tool.

Any other ideas or tools, anybody?
Any help would be welcomed.

Thanks,

Shuja.

[Rootstonian]

Have you tried going to the manufacturer's web site and look for utilities there? Maybe a phone call to tech support?

I wouldn't write it off yet

[bacri]

Did u try Control Panel/Administrative tools/Computer Management/Storage/Disk management , and formating it from there:???

If that don't work, then , Try doing "0" point format, with tools like KillDisk. After that u should have UsbFlash like just got out from factory. After that just plug it in and w8 till it reformat s itself. If u have display, you will see progress.

[dominick_15cool]

Hey i have the same issue i tried formatting my usb drive with the original software and half way through it froze and not it wont open and it says no media. has anyone found a solution to this problem.

[yibblinz]

Hello,

This may help you guys out. This will erase all data, all special partitions, and return the drive to fat.

Recovering Broken, Unformattable, and Ghost USB Flash Drives

Things to note:

• Only follow the steps in this link if you have tried all other options.
• This will remove all special drive features.
• Depending on your controller manufacturer may or may not work. Additional flash codes are available, post a comment if you would like them.

Hope this helps
-Nick

[MTAtech]

I'd just tell the store you have no idea why it doesn't work and get a new one