# [SOLVED] Bricked USB Flash Drive.



## Walter Odim (Jun 29, 2008)

I'm not sure if my drive is counterfeit or not, as it had bricked before I was able to do any real testing. 

Bought it on Ebay for £13, it was meant to be 64GB but the capacity said 124 GB when it arrived.

I had put a few files on it, and safely removed it from the drive... However, today when I went to plug it in again (to check the *real* capacity, after being led to believe it was likely a counterfeit), it's no longer detected. It appears not in the device manager at all, nor is it functioning on any other computer.



It's receiving power, as it still gets warm.
It is not appearing in the disk management utility.
it does not appear on My Computer nor the device manager.

it is not detected at all and does not attempt to install any drivers upon insert.

I'm aware standard procedure would be to count my losses and just replace it - which I'm likely to do anyway, but for sake of a learning activity I'd like to try and see if I can repair it in any way. I don't believe it's physical damage, as it's been kept nice and safe in a padded case in a drawer.

What could the issue be, and what would you suggest for troubleshooting and/or repairing?


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## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2004)

*Re: Bricked USB Flash Drive.*

Counterfeit drives? Is this a new thing? Like a Western Digital is marked WD but it's actually an Westerian Digital?

Maybe I'm not understanding the issue, Walter. 

Anyway, all that aside, first thing I'd check, especially if it's a SATA drive, are both cables to the drive. Many inexpensive SATA cables don't connect all that solidly and can easily be bumped enough to only make partial connection.

But first things first. Is it a SATA drive? Or PATA?


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## Walter Odim (Jun 29, 2008)

*Re: Bricked USB Flash Drive.*



LMiller7 said:


> Be very careful where you buy flash drives, particularly the larger sizes. Fake flash drives are a serious problem. These are small capacity drives that have been modified to display a much higher capacity than they really have. Many of these fakes are very well done. A high percentage of large capacity flash drives sold on eBay and similar outlets, particularly with sellers in the Orient, are fakes.
> 
> For more information:
> eBay Guides - BEWARE of FAKE 128GB 256GB USB Flash Drives on eBay


From This thread.

Apologies for not making myself clearer- it's a USB flash/pen drive, not a SATA Drive.


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## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2004)

*Re: Bricked USB Flash Drive.*

Darnit, I missed the title. Again. I've got to be more careful about that. Sorry, Walter. My mistake, not yours.

I thought at that low cost, it was a used HDD.

Anyway, since thumb drives are so inexpensive, why not just toss it and buy a new one at your local computer shop?


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## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2004)

*Re: Bricked USB Flash Drive.*

Or rather, 'return it' and buy local.


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## Walter Odim (Jun 29, 2008)

*Re: Bricked USB Flash Drive.*

That's what I was considering doing anyway - but I was wondering if there was any way to save the data on there? I kind of want to attempt a repair/recovery just for the sake of learning more about it.

How much do you reckon I'd end up paying for a 128 GB flash drive?


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## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2004)

*Re: Bricked USB Flash Drive.*

They are £95 from Amazon...but you'll know it's good. They are £82 at Walmart over here in the states.

As far as recovering data, thing is, if it's no longer being recognized when plugged into the computer, well... 

But the good news is that there are several YouTube videos where users claim to have restored their flash drives. Maybe check there for your brand?


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## LMiller7 (Jun 21, 2010)

*Re: Bricked USB Flash Drive.*

£13 seems a suspiciously low price for a 128 GB or even 64 GB drive.
Fake drives have a very small real capacity, often 2 GB or even smaller. In many cases these are drives that have failed manufacturers tests but by way of dishonest employees have found there way into the hands of fraudulent sellers.

You need special software to determine the real capacity of these drives. And in the case of defective drives even this cannot be relied on. I wouldn't trust a fake drive for any purpose.

Even the best flash drives are the least reliable of modern storage media and should never be trusted for primary storage of important files. They should be used primarily as a transport media where the files are stored elsewhere. If you are in a situation where you need to recover data from a flash drive you have violated this rule.


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## Walter Odim (Jun 29, 2008)

*Re: Bricked USB Flash Drive.*



LMiller7 said:


> £13 seems a suspiciously low price for a 128 GB or even 64 GB drive.
> Fake drives have a very small real capacity, often 2 GB or even smaller. In many cases these are drives that have failed manufacturers tests but by way of dishonest employees have found there way into the hands of fraudulent sellers.
> 
> You need special software to determine the real capacity of these drives. And in the case of defective drives even this cannot be relied on. I wouldn't trust a fake drive for any purpose.
> ...



I was using it as a boot-device for Linux, so was nothing majorly important; just a handy transportable operating system.

I see! It seems I had definitely been duped then - £13 is ridiculously cheap, even for a 64 GB (which they had originally sold me). Why isn't there more to do to combat those dodgy sellers on Ebay? It seems to be full of these cheap high-capacity drives!

If it isn't detected by Windows, is there nothing I can do then? As far as I'm aware - the drive is completely unbranded... Suspicious, eh?


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## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2004)

*Re: Bricked USB Flash Drive.*



> Why isn't there more to do to combat those dodgy sellers on Ebay?


Because eBay is this >| |< far from being a criminal organization. All they care about is the profit they make from every sale. From both the buyer & seller. And in the US, we have some of the weakest consumer protections in the 1st world. But corporations are people and can do what they want legally. Even lie (Fox News - or as we call it here, Fake News).



> f it isn't detected by Windows, is there nothing I can do then? As far as I'm aware - the drive is completely unbranded... Suspicious, eh?


I don't think so, at least in Windows. But Ubuntu might be able to read it.


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## Walter Odim (Jun 29, 2008)

*Re: Bricked USB Flash Drive.*

Alright - I'll have a look to see if my Ubuntu installation can find it, otherwise this thread is solved. I already know I'd be best off to replace it. I'll be much more careful where I purchase from in the future!


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## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2004)

To tie up loose ends, at the top of this page, choose 'Thread Tools' and click 'Solved'. You can always come back and open a new thread if the situation changes. 

Just a little commercial here, consider supporting your local computer repair shop by buying a new flash drive from them. Might cost you a couple extra Euros but, well, local business and such. Who knows, you might know a couple of the people there already.


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## LMiller7 (Jun 21, 2010)

I see little point in trying to use this drive. I suspect that a large portion of the files are corrupt or overwritten by others. This is what happens when the file system is told lies about the drive it is writing to. Also remember that the drive probably has a real capacity of 4 GB or less with reliability that is very much in question.


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