Need help ASAP, USB Flashdrive dead!! *sob*

[chaoscreater]

I have a 16GB USB, the brand is Silicon Power, i use it all the time and it has tons of important files on there, it was working fine yesterday and today it doesn't work anymore, when i plug it into my PC it doesn't get detected, no message show up whatsoever, nothing.

I tried this on multiple PCs and none of them show up so i don't even know what's wrong with it, it can't be corrupted either since i didn't use it for anything other than copying a few files yesterday.

I've had it for a year or more now, and it never had any problems......

I never dropped it or anything either, and it's very durable, so i dunno wot's wrong. I tried this on at least 4 PCs......

 

[sminlal]

This is why you ALWAYS make backups of files that are important to you!

You can try putting it in the freezer overnight and then quickly plugging it in and seeing if you can get anything off it before it warms up. This is sometimes recommended for hard drives, but I can't see how it would hurt to try it with a flash drive in case there's a microfracture in some circuit trace somewhere.

 

[chaoscreater]

Ya i do make backups of my files, on my external hardrive. But the external HDD i have is a budget piece of crap (Seagate) and it often loses files coz it gets corrupted or w/e and i have to use chkdsk /r to fix the sectors, and if i'm lucky i'll recover those files, if not, i have to format it.

I plan to get a new external hdd soon, but i never expected this to happen to my flashdrive, it's a good quality one as well.......sigh

 

[chaoscreater]

btw did you say put in the freezer overnight?? Don't you have to wait till it defreezes a little before you can plug it in?? Or will it be okay if i just leave it in there for a few hrs, coz i'm sure ice will form on the tip of the USB if you leave it overnight?

 

[sminlal]

No, the idea is to remove it from the freezer and immediately plug it into the machine to try to pull something off while it's still cold.

 

[chaoscreater]

sigh i guess i'm out of options, i tried that this morning after leaving it in the freezer overnight like you told me, and it still doesn't get detected.....

So since i couldn't fix it, i thought i should open up the inside and see whether there's anything loose or w/e, and oddly enough, there seems to be 2 chips that combine together and you can separate them, i'll take a picture and upload it later but is it possible that if i buy the same USB, and open up the inside and swap the chips with this broken one, that i might be able to fix it?? It's kinda hard to describe, so i'll post pics later.


EDIT (added pics):

As you can see, the first image below shows the 2 chips are attached together:

This is front side:

And this is the 2 chips separated.

so ya, maybe it's wishful thinking but i'm planning on buying 2 more of the same USB since i use up 16GB easily, and i plan on taking apart the new USB when i get it, just like i have done to this one, and try to put the chip onto the new one coz i think maybe all the data information is on the chip that i separated, the base is for reading it and the top is where all the information is........anyway could this be possible??

 

[chaoscreater]

pics added, would appreciate if someone can give me some more ideas.......

 

[sminlal]

The two large chips (one on each piece) are the flash memory. I don't think it's going to do you any good to try to use the one of the old chips in a new USB device - the block layout isn't just "1st half in 1 chip and 2nd half in the other", and if you mix the old and the new chips I'm pretty sure the result would be gobbledygook.

 

[chaoscreater]

ya i thought so too

oh well, guess i have to be careful about backing up my files next time.

 

[alexkp]

Try this Trick USB Toggle 2.0 to 1.1

Attach the USB Drive to USB Port of your system.

Restart your System Press F2 Key or Delete Key to Acess BIOS Settings.

Goto Advance Settings (Note : This Setting Tab May Vary Depending on the BIOS )

Choose USB Configuration and Disable the USB 2.0 Controller and USB Legacy Support.

Click F10 Key or Click ESC Key and SAVE/EXIT.


This will help you fix the dead usb alive and usable

 

[BadAsAl]

Take a good look at the soldered connections where the part that goes into the USB port of the computer connects to the circuit board.
Try moving it around a little while plugged into the computer and see if you get any reaction. If you do then you are dealing with a broken joint somewhere. I had this happen and was able to get the computer to recognize the disk when I had it in a certain position. Found that some of the solder had broken off one of the joints and once I had someone solder the joint, I was able to use the drive and copy the data off.