Storage Pen Broken

Beck

Beck

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Ok, i have a SanDisk 4.0gb storage pen and all was working fine until the other day when i plugged it in and it comes up with the following message: You need to format the disk drive before you can use it. Formatting can cause loss of data ??.. i have all my photos and NVQ work on there and im at a loss with it and totally gutted as the pictures are the only ones i have (stupid i know for not having a 2nd back up..lesson has been taught believe me) Is there anyone who can help me restore my images/work? i really would appreciate any help what so ever.
Many Thanks Beck
 
Happened to me a few years back. I took it into work and let our I.T. kid loose with it, He sorted 98% of it. I lost a few files but was over the moon to recover most of the data. It cost me a pint for the kid and he was made up cos he knew more than me.
Worth giving it to a bod 1st. :)
 
Try the RescuePro app that should have come on a miniCD with the media.

I had a Sandisk flash drive that just couldn't be recognised on any PC, got an exchange, but lost some data, never trusted them since.
 
I had a card corrupt on me the other night and couldnt find my serial key for the rescue pro app so i used this one http://www.piriform.com/recuva, i was expecting it to work but it recovered every single photo even the ones that were corrupted :)
 
I've had that problem a few times with an SD card of mine. I think the problem is poor contacts in the card reader. If I eject and reinsert firmly it starts working properly. The card works perfectly in the camera.
 
Yes, but my point was that there might be a poor connection and a bit of wiggling or removal and re-insertion might remedy it. Whether its a "card reader" or a USB port, there still needs to be a clean metal to metal contact to secure a proper connection. So what I'm saying is that it might be a matter of poor contact quality rather than any issue with the USB stick's memory, controller and any other gubbins inside the stick.
 
...the number of times I get students come in to my office saying...

"I can't get my pen drive to work......."

so.

I try....then usually say....

"Nope I can't get it to work either - it's had it....but you have all this coursework backed up somewhere else right?"....

That's usually when they turn a funny colour or burst in to tears....
 
Beck, have you tried the pen in other machines? It's possible that a different computer might recognise it and allow you to get your pics and data off it and onto a couple of new ones.

It's a tough way to learn a lesson but hopefully you'll never get caught again.

If you get really stuck, send me a PM and I'll see what I can do (can't promise anything but I'll do what I can) - I'm in Exeter so not too far away.
 
Hi everyone thanks for all your advice but still to no avail :( i have even tried uninstalling the device but nothing still keeps telling me i have to format it!. i didnt get a mini disk with mine :s and yeah Nod, i have tried it in our laptop and still the same!.. oh defo a lesson learnt, gutted though as it has loads of treasured pics of family members.
Thankyou all anyway :)
 
If it is recognised by the pc as a drive is installed but needs formationg then software should be able to recover some if not all of the data.

I use Easy recovery pro and so far if the drive is in device manager then I can get stuff off it. don't go formating it.

If you want post it to me and I will have a go at it for you.
 
Hi, well the pen is off to a "computer man" on Thursday so fingers crossed he gets my pictures back :) but if not then i'll just cry :crying: lol thankyou all for ** suggestions :D
 
was the pc you originally saved on a different os that what you're using to try and open the files?
 
Only a few images/work where but the majority of them (95%) where on the PC im using at current, never had any problems with it over the past year then all of a sudden this happened :( and it has so many precious photos of late loved ones etc so was hoping to get them back.. a very BIG lesson learnt i think, will defo make sure i doubley back things up in future!.
 
Im just outside of Exeter, i have got a someone looking at it tomoro for me but if he has no joy then i will be cheeky and message you :) Beck
 
ok,so the card went gone off to a chap who is pc literate and he plugged it in his laptop but got nowhere using his recovery software :crying: he has now taken it off to try and get more in-depth with it and see if he can recovery it.. i think its time to prepare a burial for it :(
 
I've had a few problems one was an SD card that couldn't be read in camera or in a card reader, the other was a USB pen drive. I tried several programs but the only one that worked was Easeus Data recovery. I was able to recover everything on both the drives.
 
fwiw, I had my daughters pen drive break down last week, no machine would even recognize it, never mind telling me it needed formating, I was getting 'device not recognized' messages. I did some googling and it seems such problems can be recovered, most companies charging about £80.

For future reference though, I recovered a folder I accidently deleted from an external HD earlier that week using a free download called Pandora - it worked better than Rescue Pro if only because it restore the original file names.
 
did you pull the pen before clicked to eject it? it happens.
 
Well, if this gentleman doesnt manage to get much i may try both of the above mentioned and see.
No, i always click everything off before removing anything.
I dont know what happen :(
Has anyone else got a SanDisk flash pen? if so, what colour does it flash? as the gentleman who has took mine said it shouldnt be flashing red but it has always flashed red from the beginning and my friend and a family member have a Sandisk too and theirs flashes red :shrug: he said it should flash green??..
Thank you all once again
 
I've had good results from a freebie download called Piriform Recuva - it certainly managed to get back pictures from the one time I accidentally formatted a card before downloading it.

This thread has been an education to me - although I don't use them as backup or permanent storage, I've tended to think of USB keys as pretty reliable. I've even sent one or two of them through the washing machine (one of them twice) and they've come back alive.

Good luck with it . . .
 
Beck, I have 2 SanDisk pens/keys and both flash/glow red/orange while in use and have done since day one.

I've never had a pen/key die on me but I did have a CF card pack up and give the "Device not recognised" message when the computer would aknowlege its presence at all. Since it had unrepeatable pics on it, I ended up taking it to the Devon Camera Centre who managed to get the pictures off the card and onto a CD for me.
 
giraffoto said:
I've had good results from a freebie download called Piriform Recuva - it certainly managed to get back pictures from the one time I accidentally formatted a card before downloading it.

This thread has been an education to me - although I don't use them as backup or permanent storage, I've tended to think of USB keys as pretty reliable. I've even sent one or two of them through the washing machine (one of them twice) and they've come back alive.

Good luck with it . . .
Click to expand...

I have had one that did the same a few years ao, through the machine, no problems, but died a few months later when it was pulled from mains powered usb hub without being turned off first. No doubt it could of course just been delayed consequential damage but does make you wonder sometimes :nuts:
 
Beck said:
Well, if this gentleman doesnt manage to get much i may try both of the above mentioned and see.
No, i always click everything off before removing anything.
I dont know what happen :(
Has anyone else got a SanDisk flash pen? if so, what colour does it flash? as the gentleman who has took mine said it shouldnt be flashing red but it has always flashed red from the beginning and my friend and a family member have a Sandisk too and theirs flashes red :shrug: he said it should flash green??..
Thank you all once again
Click to expand...

I also have a Sandisk 4G USB Drive. Its definitely a red flashing light, it doesn't have any green lights.

I used to get really frustrated with it an I ended up deleting the frustrating U3 software on it and now its brilliant
 
Hopefully the gentleman will be able to recover some. i was always told "back your images to a flash drive pen" etc etc then you wont lose anything!!! pffffft what a load croc that was :p oh well im learning :) i will make sure i back it up to a "few" places now !
Thankyou ALL for your suggestions/information it really is appreciated :D
 
UPdate : No luck with the pen :( tried a few different recovery programmes but nothing.

Can anyone suggest a safe online storage place for all my photos where its private? someone told me hotmail do a private storage?
Many Thanks to all once again with all your suggestions.
Beck.
 
Beck said:
Hopefully the gentleman will be able to recover some. i was always told "back your images to a flash drive pen" etc etc then you wont lose anything!!! pffffft what a load croc that was :p oh well im learning :) i will make sure i back it up to a "few" places now !
Click to expand...

Well, backing up to a pen drive is a quite sensible strategy. *Moving* your only copy of something onto a pen drive is not :)
 
JasonRS said:
How much storage do you need?

Just to get you started you can look at these for free.

Live Mesh - 5GB
SkyDrive - 25GB
Dropbox - 2GB
ADrive - 50GB

Just bear in mind how long it takes to upload to these services.
Click to expand...

Have a look at Humyo as well for storage. You get 10GB(5gb for photos, music and vids and 5gb of other files) for free with it. I have a few accounts for various different things(i use it to send photos to my clubs programme editor for example), and i've never had an issue with it.
 
JasonRS said:
How much storage do you need?

Just to get you started you can look at these for free.

Live Mesh - 5GB
SkyDrive - 25GB
Dropbox - 2GB
ADrive - 50GB

Just bear in mind how long it takes to upload to these services.
Click to expand...
Ok, thankyou for that will defo have a look at these :D

mid_gen said:
Well, backing up to a pen drive is a quite sensible strategy. *Moving* your only copy of something onto a pen drive is not :)
Click to expand...
i know :bang: very big lesson learnt and you know, it was a PC chap i spoke too about storage pens and he told me that it is the safest way and nothing will go wrong!!... very big blonde moment hehe

marrzo said:
Have a look at Humyo as well for storage. You get 10GB(5gb for photos, music and vids and 5gb of other files) for free with it. I have a few accounts for various different things(i use it to send photos to my clubs programme editor for example), and i've never had an issue with it.
Click to expand...
Will defo have a look, Thankyou :)

Blonkster said:
free for a day or so...

http://www.majorgeeks.com/EASEUS_Data_Recovery_Wizard_-_3_Day_Giveaway_d6421.html

Blonks
Click to expand...

Lovely, might have to have a go myself or link it to the chap with my stick!



Thankyou Everyone (y)
 
I've found Photo Rec to be very good at recovering deleted material - not as a user friendly program as some perhaps but effective and free too.

Review here.
 
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