# Dead PNY



## ihatecomputer (Apr 15, 2013)

I lost my PNY USB memory stick a few nights ago. It was plugged in and working fine one minute while I was online but just a few minutes later the computer would not recognize it. Changing USB ports made no difference.

If I try to open an MS Word document I get: The selected drive is not in use. Check to make sure a disk is inserted. USB20FD (F) – shortcut

If I try to save an MS Word document I get: The selected drive is not in use. Check to make sure a disk is inserted. USB20FD (F) – shortcut

Clicking on desktop shortcut gives: Please insert a disk into Removable Disk (F.

F drive does not show up in My Computer but it does appear in Control Panel Hardware and Sound Devices and Printers Device Manager Disk Drives USB Memory Bar USB Device General: The Device is Working Properly 

When I plug the stick into another computer and go to my computer the memory stick is recognized but it says 0 bytes used and 0 bytes free.

Does anyone have a clue what has happened? Is there any way to recover the files, or is the memory stick permanently damaged?


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

USB Flash drive are volatile and known to fail for no reason. Always keep important files on more then one drive. Chances are great the files are lost. On the Computer that recognizes the drive, run *Check Disk*. Go to Start/Search and type *CMD *Right click the *CMD *results and *Run As Administrator*. In the *Elevated Command prompt* type the drive letter of the flash drive (eg) *G:* and press enter (eg)* G:\>* at this prompt type *chkdsk /f *and press enter. Type a *Y *for Yes to* Unmount* the drive. *Check Disk* will try to repair the file system. 
If that doesn't work, go to Start/Search and type* diskmgmt.msc* Right click the *diskmgmt *results and *Run As Administrator*. In the* Elevated Disk Management *window if your flash drive shows up here, right click the Partition/Volume and *Delete* it, or go up to the tool bar and press the *X*. This will delete all data. Right click the *Unallocated Space* and create a new simple volume.


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## E-50 (Dec 7, 2012)

check connections on USB connector just to make sure they are intact
how to recover data when usb drive is not recognized - YouTube - this is what can happen

how to recover data when flash drive is not working - YouTube - this is what you can try and do to get it working long enough to copy out your files


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