USB stick doesn’t mount, but is detected. How to repair

usb-flash-drive

I have a USB stick plugged in my PC, which is running Windows 7.

  • In 'Computer', it won't show up.
  • In 'Disk Management' (diskmgmt.msc) it won't show up (but sometimes it will).
  • But in 'Devices Manager', under Universal Serial Bus Controllers, it is showing up.
  • When trying to format, IOCTL error occured.

When plugging in the USB stick, the light on the stick starts to flash, plus the USB stick is listed on the Devices Manager screen, its properties can be viewed. The stick is detected as USB stick, but it is not seen as storage disk (not mounted).

I've tested it on multiple PCs and they're all saying the same.

How can I make the USB stick work again? Recovering the data on the stick is not in the scope of this question.

Best Answer

How can I make the USB stick work again?

You can't.

If no computer can "see" it, you can't use your computer to fix it.

If you had time, skills and resources, you might be able to disassemble it, identify the faults and repair or replace the faulty components. This would probably cost more than purchasing a hatfull of new USB sticks.

Update: the following advice seems to have been helpful for some people

Assuming that the drive has been properly partitioned and formatted, then this USB drive probably still needs to be enumerated for this computer. Open Control Panel. Go through Administrative Tools to Computer Management. Under Storage, click on Disk Management. Locate the USB drive and it probably needs to have a drive letter assigned to it. Do so (Right click and change drive letter - make sure it's not in use at time). Should take care of the problem.

Obviously this is only useful on those occasions when the device does show up in Disk Management (you said it sometimes did).

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