USB boot prep tool killed my flash drive

[MaximilianKohler]

I can't copy any files to the drive. When I plug in the flash drive I get a popup saying that the drive needs to be formatted before it can be used. Most of the time I can't format it (gives errors - cannot format this drive), but even when I'm able to I still can't copy any files to the drive. I get the error "file or directory is corrupted and unreadable". I can't even run chkdsk on the drive.

I've tried a number of programs to fix the drive: flash_repair 2.0, testdisk 6.14, icaredrs from here: http://freeware-fix.blogspot.com/2013/02/pen-drive-unreadable.html

WinToolKit's USB boot prep reads the drive as RAW format, 1 partition, correct size, bootable false, status OK. Running it through the Quick or Full(format) options don't seem to change anything.

Edited May 31, 2013 by MaximilianKohler

[Eric666]

Hi,

 

Try http://www.rmprepusb.com/ Maybe this free tool can help you with your drive. Note that the author's website is also full of tutorials etc for making bootable flash drives and much more. I just don't like his use of colors, but that is merely personal preference...

 

Regards, Eric666

[MaximilianKohler]

damn.. that program doesn't even detect the drive ._.

[MaximilianKohler]

Hmm, I have xp installed on another partition and under xp the drive showed up properly under the disk management and I was able to format it there.

I copied over my finished win7 install onto the drive but it's not bootable so I guess I'll have to find some other way of making it bootable.

If the original error that I got when trying to use WinCert's USB boot tool has to do with win7 or 64 bit there should be a warning. Not everyone might be as lucky to have an xp partition handy.

I guess I'll just stick to installing Windows7-USB-DVD-tool to make my USB bootable.

Edited May 31, 2013 by MaximilianKohler

[Mr_Smartepants]

You do realize that flash media only has so many write cycles and then they die...right?

Try it on a different machine.

If it's dead, then throw it out (or smash it with a hammer to vent your frustration) and buy another one.  They're cheap now.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Mr_Smartepants

[MaximilianKohler]

Ok, I got it to boot with the RMPrepUSB_Portable tool's "boot as HDD" option.

@Mr_Smartepants if you would have read my posts you would see that wasn't the case.

Edited May 31, 2013 by MaximilianKohler

[bphlpt]

I did read all your posts, and I also thought it sounded like your USB stick was dying, and your thread title kind of implied...  Glad you got it working.

 

Cheers and Regards

Edited June 1, 2013 by bphlpt