# [SOLVED] Kingston Datatraveler 3G 4GB Problem



## Ghost ic0n (May 18, 2011)

Hello,

A friend gave me his USB and asked me to look into it. He stated that it would give him various errors whenever he would try to insert a file into it. Note that he was using Windows XP. As I'm using Windows 7 x64, I plugged in the USB and it shot up with the "Fix Removable Media" message. I ticked the "Attempt to recover bad Sectors" box as well and after around 2 minutes, the progress bar reached full and it just closed. When viewing in My Computer, I see this:









("F:" is the USB)

With that, I tried to format it and after around 2-3 minutes again (quick format and long, applies to both) it gave me a message of "Format Failed". When viewing its properties and in other Disk Management softwares (Acronis Disk Director Home 11 as well as Window's own Disk Management feature), it states that the drive has 0 bytes of space.

Now when I safely remove it and plug it back in and select to skip fixing the drive etc. (message comes every time I plug it), I see that it says (151MB free from 3.71GB) as if it's working properly. It is visible as "Healthy" in both disk management software I used previously but, I cannot delete its partition as the option is completely not there. Neither can it be formatted. And when I browse into it via My Computer, it's completely blank and has no hidden files either.

Should I use formatting software utilities or is it permanent damage caused hardware wise (though it looks completely fine and nothing is buggy)? Or is it just because it failed. All my friend said that he gave it to someone and he returned it all jacked-up as it is now. So, I do not have much knowledge of the previous damages it may have been given.

Thank you in advance for the support.


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## makinu1der2 (Jan 1, 2008)

*Re: Kingston Datatraveler 3G 4GB Problem*

It can't hurt to try and format the drive with software.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f149/usb-flash-drive-format-fix-577182.html

But if you are having problems with the drive on multiple PC's then it may be just time to replace it.


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## Ghost ic0n (May 18, 2011)

*Re: Kingston Datatraveler 3G 4GB Problem*

Thank you for the reply. Though, the provided solution didn't work for me. I don't know what that dude done to get it to this state. Must have been formatting it and his computer shutdown during the process or something hardcore like that.

Other than that, thank you again for the help. I guess it's time for him to replace it.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

With the drive plugged in go to Disk Management If the drive shows up, highlight the _partition_, and go up to the Tool bar. There should be an *X *there, click that to *Delete *the partition on the Flash Drive. the space becomes *Unallocated*. Now you can right click the *Unallocated* space and create a *New Simple Volume* follow the wizard.


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