Problem with Flash Drive

[Calibretto]

Ok well I plugged in my A-Data 1GB flash drive and I opened it to find out nothing is in it. Everything gone. but...when I clicked on properties it still said I had 730 some megs taken up. But where is everything? And yes, all the folder options are the same as they've always been.

 

[MrCoffee]

sounds like the file system is corrupt, quite common with flash drives because people just whip them out of the usb slot without bothering to stop the device.
FAT16 is very fragile, I take it thats what you're using?


Try using a data recovery utility perhaps.

 

[Calibretto]

I've only taken it out without stopping it once or twice. My other flash drive I've taken it out millions of times without stopping it and it still works fine. I know I'm running FAT but don't know the little numbers after it.

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

Hello,

sounds like the file system is corrupt, quite common with flash drives because people just whip them out of the usb slot without bothering to stop the device.
FAT16 is very fragile, I take it thats what you're using?


Try using a data recovery utility perhaps.

...USB devices are hot-swappable. You can remove a flash drive from a USB port safely without having to stop the device using Safely Remove Hardware first.

...That is, if the drive is set to Optimize for quick removal in the drive's Policies in the Device Manager, then it's ok...rather than the Optimize for performance policy which constantly caches files to the system - in which case, you must stop the device using Safely Remove Hardware to prevent corruption.

All drives formatted under windows are default set with Optimize for quick removal policy.


Check for any errors on the flash drive...

In Command Prompt type CHKDSK /R x:

...Where x: is the drive letter.

Should recover bad sectors.

Once that is done, and it manages to fix the problem, I'd also ensure that the drive's filesystem is set as FAT32, because it supports large file sizes.

If it's filesystem is FAT12 or FAT16, you can convert it by going into command prompt again and typing convert x: /fs:FAT32 where x: is the drive in question.

 

[Calibretto]

That didn't do anything.

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

Hello,

Okay...go to folder options and uncheck Show hidden files and folders and uncheck Hide protected operating system files.

...do you see anything in the drive taking up 730MB?

 

[MrCoffee]

you could try right clicking on the drive and going into properties, there is some sort of checking utility you can run that might fix the corruption of the filesystem. Cannot remember what its called.

Otherwise use data recovery soft, its easier than it sounds and if the data is there you will find it.

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

...Error-Checking...it's the same as CHKDSK.

 

[MrCoffee]

thats the one

 

[Calibretto]

Re: Re:

Hello,

Okay...go to folder options and uncheck Show hidden files and folders and uncheck Hide protected operating system files.

...do you see anything in the drive taking up 730MB?

that didn't help either.