My silly flatmate
He's managed to do something strange to my USB pendrive. My laptop won't recognise it and won't let me format it.

Any suggestions?
(Meya, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 17:36, 25 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

it might be fucked
if you plug it in and it doesn't work then chances are it's fucked.

what did he do to it?
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 17:38, Reply)

I think I'm going to agree with you
It's really rather fucked. He owes me a new one now. Bah.
(Meya, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:49, Reply)

Let Hirens Boot disc do the work for you.
Sounds strange, but it looks at any drive without any need for it to be formatted.

www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd
( @RBFesquire Good luck b3ta, was nice knowing you. So long., Tue 27 Oct 2009, 17:40, Reply)

Not much without more detail about what the flatmate did but
A: Try it in another (preferably a known working) USB port.
B: Assuming this is Windows, check Device Manager for any unknown devices and manually remove them and then scan for hardware changes.
C: If the device is visible in Device Manager then check Disc Management to see if the drive is listed there and that it has a valid partition.

Good Luck!
(bill, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 17:44, Reply)

Get a new flatmate.

( girlinthehole, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 17:54, Reply)

He doesn't approve of this...

(Meya, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:08, Reply)

Well,
how about this?
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 17:56, Reply)

Tried that.
Didn't work either :(
(Meya, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:08, Reply)

could be encrypted
ask him
(PsychoChomp, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:00, Reply)

You could always
tell an amusing story, crack a shit joke or an anecdote involving painful genitals...?
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:05, Reply)

Well yes,
But I don't think that'd fix it unfortunately
(Meya, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:09, Reply)

While we are generally helpful bunch
and despite all recent evidence to the contrary, this isn't a tech support forum.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:10, Reply)

I know
And I appreciate the advice offered.
(Meya, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:11, Reply)

Hmm, actually, my consultation rate is £750 a day
and I'm proper qualified. So advice could be given if people are willing to pay.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:12, Reply)

Your Illustrator support post earlier
was a touch of genius.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:15, Reply)

My side-splitting hilarity is wasted on my students, unfortunately.
When I told them that 88.3% of Internet statistics were completely fabricated, they all carefully wrote the number down in case it came up in the exam.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:17, Reply)

students are idiots
how do you cope?
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 20:16, Reply)

I come on here and act disdainful and mean.

( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 21:19, Reply)

That's an act?
You really nailed it.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 21:31, Reply)

Ok, more details time...
I put some music on it and gave it to the flatmate.

Now when I plug it in the drivers think the pendrive is working, the USB port is working. However, every time I try to access it, it prompts me to format it. Which doesn't work.

In the properties menu it says:
Type: Removable disk
File system: RAW
Used space: 0 bytes
Free space: 0 bytes
Capacity: 0 bytes

EDIT - Ah well, will try other things. Mainly getting him to replace the bloody thing!
(Meya, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:07, Reply)

OK, it sounds like the hardware is OK and it has just got its knickers in a twist
Right Click on the My Computer icon and choose "Manage" then click "Disk Management" on the left hand side.

This should show you a list of the drives in the computer on the right.

VERY CAREFULLY find the drive letter of the broken USB key and delete any existing partitions, I'll say again VERY CAREFULLY as if you delete the wrong thing here things get messy quickly.

Now right click on the empty drive and create a new FAT32 partition. hopefully this will get you back to a blank usable drive.
(bill, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:26, Reply)

According to the Computer Management screen the layout is partitioned but there is no way to delete said partition. It also won't let me make a new partition from that screen.
(Meya, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 18:42, Reply)

That I hadn't realised
you might want to try this:
www.ghacks.net/2009/04/17/partition-usb-flash-drives/

Which describes a program that might help:
files.filefront.com/lexar+usb+formatzip/;10112841;/fileinfo.html
(bill, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 21:52, Reply)

Stuff it up your minge

(Bazongaloid, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 19:06, Reply)

stick it in a mac and use disc utility to reformat it as a pc drive
sorted
( mictoboy shitting in your cunt since, Tue 27 Oct 2009, 21:15, Reply)