USB Not Showing Up Under My Computer

[BobBobBob2]

I have an Ativa USB flash drive, that has been unaccessible for a day now. The other night, it was plugged in with a document open, and I noticed that the document was having a hard time saving. I made sure to save the document to the computer instead. A while later, I looked under Finder (I'm on a Mac), and did not see my flash drive there to eject. Closed and opened it again - still not there. So I took the USB out.

I plugged in my USB again, and it wouldn't show up under Finder again. Tried another USB - popped up perfectly. Tried the Ativa USB on other computers (2 pc's, and another Mac), still not showing up. It's definitely the USB.

I have many, many important files on this disk, of which I've backed up a few, but not all. I've tried a few recovering systems - such as Recuva - and my USB is still not working. On a PC, it makes the noise that would indicate it's plugged into the computer, but it's not under My Computer anywhere - same with Mac.

I really, really don't need to lose these files. The disk flashes as if it's working, but I don't know what's going on inside there that's not making it read by the computers or any type of recovery system. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[digitaldoc]

It sounds like you tried the USB drive in several computers with no luck opening it at this point. Recuva does not consistently work, and is more like rarely works.

It really sounds like your drive is dead.

 

[BobBobBob2]

No, I don't believe it is dead. Once, I tried wiggling it a bit in a PC USB slot, and it popped up very quickly under Drives, but haven't had luck accessing it yet. Also, when I check the drive under Disk Management, it's there, even with options to update driver software, which I'm a bit wary to do - is the same as formatting, and can wipe out all the files on the disk?

 

[digitaldoc]

If you format the drive, all the data will be gone.

Try it in another computer, preferably a desktop.