USB drive inaccessible by any means

[dorruk]

I happened to format my Toshiba 8GB over the command prompt. It failed.

I used the /x in my command so it read like this:

format F: /FS:NTFS /x

whereas the drive letter is F. the /x is for unmounting the usb first. Since it failed, the drive was left unmounted.

I restarted the computer, plugged out and back in, reinstalled the drivers. The Disk Status reads "No Media" and Size reads 0 bytes in diskpart. Testdisk does not even display the drive since it's 0 bytes. Disk Management does not display any partitions, so all right click actions are greyed out. Changed the drive letter, still didn't work. Double click the drive from My Computer says: "Please insert a disk into Removable Disk (drive letter)" And the drive logo is greyed out, most likely because it's offline.

The HP Disk Formatting Tool didn't work because of no media error.
And the disk was not exposed to heat or any kind of damage, the problem is software. I solved this before but now I forgot how.

There is no data inside so if you have a last resort force formatting tool that would work.
Regards

 

[dorruk]

Bump.

If it is a dead end, please just say so. That way, I will stop wasting time and buy a different drive.

 

[cyclic]

Why not use windows ? and does it mean a drive is detected but no media is present would indicate a DVD\CD drive without a disk ?

 

[dorruk]

That is how windows sees it. But it is a USB drive. The free storage space is actually there.
So how do I create an 8 GB partition from 0 bytes of space?

 

[dorruk]

Disk Management screenshot. The problem is on Disk 2.

It says: Disk 2, Removable ( E: ), No Media and there are no partitions.
And Windows 8 won't even display the drive in My Computer at all. At least Win7 did that.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok dorruk mate I am not fluent in what language you are using in computer management so please bear with me.

Now I take you have tried DISKPART? If not run as admin in the command prompt and type in DISKPART - upper or lower case doesn't matter and then list disk - see my pic and tell me what you see. (my command is how I like it - colour wise if you are wondering)

 

[dorruk]

I already posted that screenshot in the first post.

Disk 0 is the internal HDD, please ignore that one.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I already posted that screenshot in the first post.

Disk 0 is the internal HDD, please ignore that one.

Ok was a tad confused as there was a named disk but described as no media.

So if you open that Device Manager again and right click on that drive (1) does it give you any options as in my pic (quality not good because you cannot snip that shot)

 

[dorruk]

Only "Change drive letter" is clickable. Rest is greyed out, because no partitions are displayed.

 

[HAVOC]

See if you can right click the small area where it says "Disk 2" (not in the partition area) and see if you have a menu.

 

[dorruk]

See if you can right click the small area where it says "Disk 2" (not in the partition area) and see if you have a menu.

That's where I right clicked. The partition area does not respond to right clicks at all.
Only drive letters are changeable, you see...

Also there's the properties window which claims that "This device is working properly".

 

[dorruk]

I am now thinking that the problem is with the MBR. The MBR may be corrupt so the flash drive would show up 0 bytes and 0 partitions.

So my new question would be:
How do I rewrite the MBR manually for my flash drive without TestDisk? Because TestDisk does not recognize a drive without partitions...

 

[ICIT2LOL]

See if you can right click the small area where it says "Disk 2" (not in the partition area) and see if you have a menu.

That's where I right clicked. The partition area does not respond to right clicks at all.
Only drive letters are changeable, you see...

Also there's the properties window which claims that "This device is working properly".

Did anything come up in properties in that drive window?

 

[dorruk]

Nothing that is extraordinary. Device is working properly, serial number and other values regarding to drive is readable...

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok lets try a different tack download and run this app Dorruk

Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition. it is free and a very handy tool to use at any time so keep it mate.

Once in and it is up and running - see my pic where I indicated you right click and you will get a drop down window with options lets see what it says first in properties. If that is ok then let us know what else is in options that is not greyed out - if any.

 

[dorruk]

Sorry that I couldn't access the Internet for a while.

Thing is, my drive is not listed.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Another thing you can do is -
Make a bootable Ubuntu disk - set the BIOS to boot from optical > insert the Ubuntu disk > save settings and exit > it will then boot into Ubuntu. Use the TRY option NOT the install and all drives connected to the machine will be there for you to open out. If it is not listed here then it looks rather like the drive is bad somehow.

Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu < you need a DVD for this. Once the OS is running (it will not interfere with your Windows OS as it is running from the disk) look for the drives - see my pic.
You can also access the net via the Firefox feature too if need be.

 

[jumanji]

Hi dorruk,

Try this: How I got my corrupt usb drive working again « Techno Digits

 

[dorruk]

Hi dorruk,

Try this: How I got my corrupt usb drive working again « Techno Digits

Disk Management won't display any partitions on the drive so any solution that is tied to Disk Management doesn't work..

Another thing you can do is -
Make a bootable Ubuntu disk - set the BIOS to boot from optical > insert the Ubuntu disk > save settings and exit > it will then boot into Ubuntu. Use the TRY option NOT the install and all drives connected to the machine will be there for you to open out. If it is not listed here then it looks rather like the drive is bad somehow.

Download Ubuntu | Ubuntu < you need a DVD for this. Once the OS is running (it will not interfere with your Windows OS as it is running from the disk) look for the drives - see my pic.
You can also access the net via the Firefox feature too if need be.

I don't have any blank DVDs around. I could make a bootable USB of Ubuntu but the only 8GB thumb drive I own is corrupt, as you know..

Fortunately, I found a 5-year-old 256 MB thumb drive digging around the house. Just installed "GParted Live" on it. It's a Linux distro with only Testdisk and GParted in it. I will check it out, and soon will post results.

 

[dorruk]

GParted does not recognize the drive either.
sda is internal HDD,
sdb is external HDD storage,
sdc is the 256MB drive that GParted Live is running on.

There's no 8 GB drive listed...