Question Two USB flash drives make connect sound but never mount. Dead?

[Mugsy]

A friend needs my help figuring out what's wrong with several of his USB (2.0) thumb drives. Three of his 5 drives simply went dead.

When I plug them in (both his PC and mine), Windows makes the "connect" sound, but the drives never mount (so I can't scan or even reformat them.) Windows "Disk Management" does not detect them either. I've tried multiple ports (both USB2 & 3.0) and it makes no difference.

Are the drives trashed?

PS: Linux does not detect them at all.

 

[twowheelstom]

would it be a drive format version issue?

 

[rgd1101]

usb 2.0? really old drive that he found?

 

[Mugsy]

would it be a drive format version issue?

If the drives were simply unformatted, the Windows Disk Manager would still detect them (as would Linux.)

Neither do.

And ("rgd1101"), USB 2.0 thumb drives aren't all that old. In fact, you can still buy them.

 

[rgd1101]

so did your friend just bought them? then just return them

 

[Mugsy]

No. They are not new. They are many years old and contain data he needs.

 

[rgd1101]

thumb drive? they are not good for long term storage.
there are pro data recovery service that probably do hardware recovery

 

[Mugsy]

None of this is helpful. 🙁

 

[Rogue Leader]

None of this is helpful. 🙁

Unfortunately we aren't miracle workers. Thumb drives are very simple, basic, and digital devices. By digital I mean it either works, or it doesn't. In your friends case, it doesn't. Normal data recovery techniques simply don't work with basic data storage chips like that.

Are the drives trashed?

Yup

 

[punkncat]

I have to admit a significant level of variation in the dependability of USB (flash) drives. I have a couple of SUPER old ones that have been washed, dried, bent, left sitting unused for years and still work, and others that failed the second time I tried to use them. Even if they aren't in a format that modern install can't read, they should either throw a warning for that or shown in some way via Disk Manager.