My usb flash drive (1 GB) has stopped working. When I plug it into the computer the lights on it come on but the computer never detects that it is plugged in as far as I can tell. I tried it on 2 computers and the same thing happened. Any ideas?

2/18/2009 12:22:16 PM

do you get anything in diskmgmt.msc?

2/18/2009 12:32:42 PM

the lights on the drive are just for show. if it really isn't recognized, send it back to the company (typically they have a lifetime warranty) and get a new one.

could be that some of the solder points on the connector have come loose, or the memory just went bad. you would have to pry the thing open and check.

[Edited on February 18, 2009 at 12:45 PM. Reason : er]

2/18/2009 12:44:29 PM

^^No it doesn't show up in there

2/18/2009 12:45:38 PM

you could try a linux live boot disk to see if you can get it to show up there and get your datas off it

but its probably bjorked

2/18/2009 12:47:03 PM

You could be lucky and the partition table might be fucked, in which case the data would be recoverable. Does it show up in the Device Manager when plugged in?

2/18/2009 4:17:33 PM

it's fucked. get a new one.

2/18/2009 4:18:40 PM

be sure to safely remove hardware each time you use it (you probably already knew this)

I've seen one screw up because of that

2/19/2009 7:05:53 PM

nah, you haven't

2/19/2009 7:25:12 PM

I have.

2/21/2009 4:54:00 AM

just buy a new one. i've seen 4GB drives for around $10 recently.

it's not worth the hassle to try to fix it or return it or whatever.

[Edited on February 21, 2009 at 8:05 AM. Reason : asdf]

2/21/2009 8:05:23 AM

You can get 16GB now for around $25.

2/22/2009 3:22:28 PM