USB flash drive formatting permanent error?

[joseph10444]

I was doing some programming for school and then the IDE stopped working and so did Windows, itself, but I had to get somewhere, so i forced myself to pull my 1 GB usb drive out without safely removing it. Still it was acting weird, so I just shut it down.

Now i put the usb back in, and apparently I have to format it. I don't want to because I didn't back up recent work but eventually I had to choose to format it.

Initially when i went to format it, the format size was still at "0.98 GB" but now, it changed to "8 MB"
even if i try to format it at 8 MB
Quick format provides a "Windows was unable to complete the format".
Normal format provides a similar error.
Diskmgmt formatting provides a similar error.

I never had a problem like this before (even when pulling out drives at time when it failed to respond) but I would still like to utilize the usb.

Is there a way that i can retrieve the 1 GB back?

 

[Lemur]

Try using this free software utility:

Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download

 

[joseph10444]

when i click "Scan" and error message of "unable to read boot sector" comes up.

at this point, im more into rescuing this usb than rescuing the data.

any other suggestions? Thanks though

 

[Lemur]

Have you tried formatting in on another pc?

 

[karlsnooks]

Joseph,
To format that usb stick, use DiskPart's Clean All command,

you must go to an elevated command prompt.
Elevated Command Prompt

Follow this procedure:

​

​

[FONT=&quot]WIPE A DISK CLEAN[/FONT]​

· type DiskPart, Enter key
· type List disk, Enter key
note the numeral of the disk you want to clean
for example purposes, I’ll be using the numeral 2
· type Select disk 2, Enter key
· type Detail disk, Enter key
this info will let you know if you selected correctly
· type Clean ALL, Enter key
your entire disk is being overwritten with zeros.
This can take a considerable amount of time
· type EXIT, Enter key (only after Clean is finished)
· type EXIT, Enter key (this gets you back where you were)

 

[joseph10444]

@ Lemur i was planning to try that and i just did now.
results were unsuccessful, same error on a windows xp pro desktop

@ karlsnooks the Clean ALL part was fairly quick (less than a second)
but it did not work.
i still had to format it and when i did, it was unable to format it

 

[karlsnooks]

If it was tht quick then something is seriously wrong OR
You did NOT run diskpart from an elevated command prompt.

To verify that you ran from an elevated command prompt, read the tutorial for I provided the link in my previous post.

If you truly ran from an elevated command prompt AND the procedure only took one second, then throw the USB stick away.

 

[Lemur]

I think it's bad. Sorry.

 

[joseph10444]

im pretty sure i right clicked and clicked run as admin
and i also know how to do ctrl + shift + enter, (tried that right now)
in the second time, it did literally take one second so i guess it is busted.

dead and gone..

 

[karlsnooks]

I do not expect success,
but you could try putting the usb stick into another computer and seeing what happens.

 

[joseph10444]

i went back to my xp to do your diskpart method, and when i listed the disks, it showed two disks with 75 GB capacity each and it had 0 B used. weird. (in elevated cmd)

my C:\ and my other hdd wasnt showing and so was the Busted USB

 

[lukecallofreach]

you are probably having the same problem as me.
however, mine is probably more advanced, because i cannot even find it to attempt to format it.
have you been getting "core system error 13" on a crash report?

thanks in advance,
luke