Solved USB flash pen drive RAW 7.22GB used space

[cyrilhubert]

I have an 8GB USB pen or flashdrive that had gone RAW.
7.22 GB RAW Healthy Primary Partition according to Disk Management Console .

Recovered all data with TestDisk by cgsecurity.

Tried to recovered partition using MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition, a free partition manager designed by MT Solution Ltd.That failed.
I think I added more problem to it than solving it.

Using diskpart
DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 465 GB 0 B
Disk 1 No Media 0 B 0 B
Disk 2 Online 7395 MB 0 B

DISKPART> select disk 2

Disk 2 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> detail disk

Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 USB Device
Disk ID: 00000001
Type : USB
Status : Online
Path : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : UNAVAILABLE
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only : No
Boot Disk : No
Pagefile Disk : No
Hibernation File Disk : No
Crashdump Disk : No
Clustered Disk : No

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 6 E RAW Removable 7395 MB Healthy

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 465 GB 0 B
Disk 1 No Media 0 B 0 B
* Disk 2 Online 7395 MB 0 B

DISKPART> select disk 2

Disk 2 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> create partition primary

No usable free extent could be found. It may be that there is insufficient
free space to create a partition at the specified size and offset. Specify
different size and offset values or don't specify either to create the
maximum sized partition. It may be that the disk is partitioned using the MBR disk
partitioning format and the disk contains either 4 primary partitions, (no
more partitions may be created), or 3 primary partitions and one extended
partition, (only logical drives may be created).

Tried deleting volume
DISKPART> select Volume 6
Volume 6 is now the selected volume.
DISKPART> delete volume
DISKPART successfully deleted the volume as shown in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2668-partition-volume-delete.html

Volume 6 is still there.

Any advice is deeply appreciated.
Thank you

 

[jumanji]

Please post a screenshot of Windows Disk Management with only your USB flash drive connected.

Most probably it will show as "Unallocated"

In that case format that volume and assign a drive letter.

 

[LordShadowWing]

How old is the Drive, As any flash media storage device ages and gets written and erased the amount of useable storage on the device declines. This is reported to the operating system as what you are likely seeing. You could theoretically try to connect the drive to a computer running Linux and run {sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX (if is Input File, of is Output file)(sdX replace X with a b c d etc. use lsblk to figure out what device file is your flash drive)

 

[jumanji]

^ In a situation where the memory cells can no longer save the data faithfully - meaning the flash drive has reached the end of life - the controller in the flash drive will turn the drive into write-protected making it impossible to write any data further.. So you will only get the message that the drive is write-protected. No operation including deleting the volume or formatting it will be possible.

In this case the flash drive has only turned RAW and it is not the end-of-life syndrome.

I am still waiting for the screenshot of Windows Disk Management from the OP.

 

[cyrilhubert]

Hello Jumanji and LordShadowWing,
Thank you both you for your reply(ies).

To LordShadowWing:
The USB pendrive is an unused new pendrive. I kept it for a year before I used it for storing data and it went RAW. All data recovered using TestDisk by CGSecurity. The vendor told me to use it the day I bought it.When was that? 30th Aug 2013.
I used somewhere in Dec.2103.

To Jumanji:
The pendrive showed all freespace used.
LOL!
I think made the situation worse by playing with it using TestDisk and MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition.I tried partition it and failed.

I am just trying to learn from this lesson what I did wrong. I am ready to dump it or claim warranty from the manufacturer.

 

[jumanji]

It is still showing as RAW only.

Try to format your pen drive with HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool v2.2.3 HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Download - Softpedia

(Right click on HPUSBDisk.exe and run as administrator.)

If it does not work, do a low level Format with HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool . Download the Windows executable version 4.40 HDDGURU: HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool

After a low level format is completed you may have to do a regular format. Let us know how things went.

( Neither TestDisk nor Partition Wizard can kill a drive.)

 

[cyrilhubert]

Thank you Jumanji.
I did formatted my pen drive with HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool v2.2.3 HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Download - Softpedia. It failed.So I will follow your advice and see what will happen next.

 

[cyrilhubert]

Successfully low level formatted the flashdrive now going for high level formatting.
Windows was unable to complete the format.
Trying HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool v2.2.3.
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool reported there is no specified media in the device.

 

[jumanji]

I think we have exhausted all the possibilities to revive the drive. Looks like it was a premature death due to bad quality chips inside. What brand is it?

 

[cyrilhubert]

Kingston and possible a fake USB flashdrive of that make or brand.
Thank very much to Jumanji.

 

[Layback Bear]

Their has been reports of a lot of fake USB drives. Counterfeits from guess where.

 

[cyrilhubert]

China where workers who worked for the genuine makers would setup shops or factories sourcing the same parts and assembled themselves then sell for a fraction of the market price to dealers who want a fast buck.It sure wasted my sweat,toil,blood and my precious time.