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USB memory stick: no media

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PerranOak:
I have a USB memory stick that suddenly died.

When inserted into the PC, Windows shows it and gives it a drive letter. However, it shows it as zero bytes and when I try to access it it says: no media or that Windows cannot access it.

I’ve looked around and mostly get great lists of waffle that are about as useful as “turn it off and on again”. Either that or recommendations to download all sorts of dodgy looking software.

Does anyone have a suggestion of some safe software that I could try please?

Cheers.

janoc:
If the memory stick doesn't let you access the medium, that likely means the flash has died. There is little any kind of "software" can do with that.

andy2000:
This can happen if the firmware on the flash memory got corrupted.  I have revived some by using the formatting software specific to the flash controller chip. 

I don't recommend it though since it will probably take hours to find the right version that supports both the controller chip and the flash chip.  It also assumes the flash chip is still in working condition.  Not to mention the risks of downloading software from various shady web sites.

PerranOak:
Thanks both.

It's a shame: it's a smart and convenient shape.

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