Unreadable flashdrive

[TinaR]

Hello,
My flashdrive is unrecognized by my computer. When I plug it in, it wants it reformatted. It's an 8GB FD and I'm unsure of the brand. When I tried to reformat it, it doesn't work. It's full of pictures for my school yearbook and I'd like it save and the data too.

Can you help? Someone.. anyone?
BTW, my computer runs Windows 7 and it didn't work on my husbands MAC.

 

[fzabkar]

Formatting is data destructive. Don't do it.

Have you tried any data recovery software?

That said, the fact that formatting failed would suggest that your drive may have a physical problem, unless it has a write protect switch.

 

[TinaR]

Formatting is data destructive. Don't do it.

Have you tried any data recovery software?

That said, the fact that formatting failed would suggest that your drive may have a physical problem, unless it has a write protect switch.

Thank you for responding.

No, I haven't tried any data recovery software. I'm not even sure where to begin.
Sadly, I did try formatting, so this may be a lost cause. Today, I plugged a different flash drive and it asked to be reformatted, but I didn't do anything, and it came out fine. Why is it suddenly asking about reformatting? This is new, what could I have done? Please help.

 

[fzabkar]

Windows will offer to reformat your drive if it doesn't detect a file system. That said, I don't understand what you mean by "but I didn't do anything, and it came out fine".

As for data recovery software, take your pick ...

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22free+data+recovery+software%22

 

[Ulrica-740]

Do not format it, if you still want to get back all your pictures.
Actually, in your case, you are supposed to try a flash drive recovery freeware that has helped a web friend to restore all his inaccessible data back from a WD pen drive.
Your problem is strangely similar to his pen drive problem. Therefore, I believe it will help you, too. Get this freeware: http://blog4mark.blogspot.com/2013/01/unformat-memory-card.html
Important note: You should remember to format this drive after the recovery process.
You should keep your important data backed up on separate drive in the future.