Why are my 16 GB USB Flash Drives unable to open, in spite of getting detected?

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I have some 16 GB SanDisk USB Flash Drives with me, on which I have stored some really critical data. They have been working smoothly for the past 2 years. I have never handled them badly, tossed them around, transferred them here and there, messed around with them, and so on. They have been kept safely in one location only, and have also not been re-written too much. They have just been used for accessing data, or adding a few hundred MBs of data once in a while. I have been using them throughout on a Windows-7-64-Bit-SP1 Operating System.

Now, out of the EIGHT SanDisk 16 GB USB Flash Drives that I have, only TWO are still working properly (ie: getting detected and opening also). ALL of them are formatted in FAT32 file system format only. The problem started around a few days back, when I was just checking my USB flash drives and then this "RUNDLL" error message just came up:-

"There was a problem starting [...] The specified module could not be found"

But those USB drives were able to get detected, show how much they were filled, able to be safely removed, and so on.

ALSO, I have noted that ONLY those USB flash drives that open VIA a SHORTCUT face this problem. But those that open DIRECTLY, face no problem at all!

1. So any suggestions on how to get my data back?
2. Can this fault be "repaired" to make those USB flash drives usable again?
3. How should I format my USB drives to make sure that they open DIRECTLY, without shortcuts?

Thanks in advance.


 
Solution
hang-the-9
A note on storing files, external flash drives are handy, but are not good to store "critical" data on, especially if you have no other copy of it. Best use for flash drives is storing temporary storage items (move from one system to another, copy a movie to watch on a TV/media player, give some pictures you took to a grandma 1,000 miles away to look at, etc...). For backups, you want an external or internal hard drive, and even then do not keep a single copy in a single place.

As above, try the drive in another computer, that error does not sound like an issue with the hard drives physically or with the file system so they should all be OK. Just don't try 10 things at once to fix them and don't format them even if it asks you to if...
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GObonzo

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Apr 5, 2011
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another user on here just recently had the same type of issue occurring. the drives that wouldn't load correctly were "fixed" by loading them into a separate system. Windows had created some type of cache file on the drives that was causing the problem. when loaded on the second system the file was overwritten and the problem was fixed.

don't really get what you mean by "shortcut". you mean a shortcut to that drive letter the drives usually use?
try accessing the USB drive's drive letter directly from "My Computer" or "This PC", however your OS labels it.
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

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Mar 25, 2010
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A note on storing files, external flash drives are handy, but are not good to store "critical" data on, especially if you have no other copy of it. Best use for flash drives is storing temporary storage items (move from one system to another, copy a movie to watch on a TV/media player, give some pictures you took to a grandma 1,000 miles away to look at, etc...). For backups, you want an external or internal hard drive, and even then do not keep a single copy in a single place.

As above, try the drive in another computer, that error does not sound like an issue with the hard drives physically or with the file system so they should all be OK. Just don't try 10 things at once to fix them and don't format them even if it asks you to if you want a good chance of getting to the data.
 
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