USB stick no longer recognised....can it be saved?

[Rudyard]

My sis in law has a USB stick with tonnes of work on it. All of a sudden it no longer gets recognised on any computer, when you plug it in it just does nothing. Tested on many computers now.

Is there any hope for recovery or any tricks/gadgets that can extract data from a dead stick??

[Bjs]

Carefully open the device and check the usb socket and pins have no broken connections ... very easy to damage

Next would be to buy the exact same unit and take it to a competent technician and have the flash memory module transferred to the new device, replacing its flash memory ... then recovery might be possible

Over voltage damage means its gone for good

Note: Anything that is considered important should be mirrored to prevent such disasters from occurring

[Rudyard]

Carefully open the device and check the usb socket and pins have no broken connections ... very easy to damage

Next would be to buy the exact same unit and take it to a competent technician and have the flash memory module transferred to the new device, replacing its flash memory ... then recovery might be possible

Over voltage damage means its gone for good

Note: Anything that is considered important should be mirrored to prevent such disasters from occurring

Thanks BJ I shall try the options you mentioned. Is it easy to tell if the pins have been damaged?

[Bjs]

50/50 ... if the usb male socket end is loose in anyway its possible a solder joint has worked itself free ... you'll need a soldering iron with low wattage use with a very fine point to repair it.

[jman98]

Rudyard - Trust me when I tell you that if you didn't already know exactly what Bjs said about soldering it back together, any attempt by you to do this yourself will likely destroy the device. If that ends up being what needs to be done, I'd suggest that your sister pay an expert technician to do the job.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

You could try FileScavenger. I had a USB flash drive that none of my PCs would "see" anymore, but FileScavenger could still access it even though Windows said it wasn't there.

[stiltman]

You could try FileScavenger. I had a USB flash drive that none of my PCs would "see" anymore, but FileScavenger could still access it even though Windows said it wasn't there.

Thanks Xylob
I too have a usb drive that's no longer recognized in any Windows/Linux/Mac I've put it in. I think I'll give that app a try