I completely hosed a few SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB 2.0 2 GB Flash Drives at work when I deleted the original contents of the drives, installed the CruzerPro software that had shipped with some older Cruzer Professional drives, and then used the CruzerPro application to password protect the drives. This process rendered the drives completely unusable and unable to be formatted.
The problems
Clicking the drive letter in Windows Explorer returns the following error message:
Please insert a disk into drive X:.
Attempting to format the drive returns the warning:
There is no disk in drive X.
Insert a disk, and then try again.
This is what the drives looked like once I’d thoroughly broken them.
SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro USB Device Properties
The drive properties show:
Type: Removable Disk
File system: Unknown
Used space 0 bytes
Free space 0 bytes
Capacity 0 bytes
The Volumes tab shows:
Type: Removable
Status: No Media
Partition style: Not Applicable
Capacity: 0 MB
Unallocated space: 0 MB
Reserved space: 0 MB
Opening the Disk Management component of the Computer Management console shows that the drive is connected, but there is no unallocated space to partition or format.
Other things about the disk look normal. It shows up in the Device Manager as working correctly, without any warnings, for example.
I Googled around and found that many, many people were running into this problem where the drive starts reporting 0 bytes capacity and can not be formatted. Of the dozens of pages that I read, no one found a fix for the problem. The most common solution offered was to return the drive to the manufacturer for replacement. Well, I wasn’t going to publicize my mistake and return the drives, I was going to repair them.
Software that didn’t help
Feel free to skip this part if you’re not interested in reading about the many dead-ends I explored.
I knew of one nifty program that had helped me out before, so I tried running the “HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool v2.1.8″, which you are going to have to locate on your own, because HP no longer offers this for download. But attempting to format the drive with this utility returned the following error message:
There is no media in the specified device.
Someone suggested using this thing called “Apacer Repair v2.9.1.1″ to reformat the drive, so I tried that, but the software only reported “USB Flash Disk not found!” when I ran it.
Someone else recommended FreeCommander, but that failed to open the drive, too.
I tried the free trial of the utility from http://www.flashmemorytoolkit.com/, but it reported the same information as Windows XP – that the device contained a disk with 0 bytes capacity. Maybe the full version could have done more, but I put that on the back burner.
A number of people suggested attacking it with partitioning software, which I wasn’t looking forward to doing, but was willing to try.
What I should have tried to begin with
Then I had an idea. I had a clean drive that had escaped my earlier bungling. I plugged it in, copied the contents to my desktop and tried to run the U3 LaunchPad software. Nothing happened, so I started looking more closely at the files. One of the files was called SanDiskFormatExtension.dll, which sounded promising. Now I just needed to figure out how to run the SanDisk installer to reformat the drive. I tried all of the .exe’s and .msi’s that shipped with the drive, but nothing wanted to run from the folder on my desktop.
Just as I was running out of options, I opened the autorun.inf file and found a very interesting entry:
[Update] URL=http://u3.sandisk.com/download/lp_installer.asp?custom=1.6.1.2&brand=PelicanBFG
The fix
So, with nothing to lose, I pasted http://u3.sandisk.com/download/lp_installer.asp?custom=1.6.1.2&brand=PelicanBFG into Internet Explorer, thinking that it would at least get me some new files that might allow me to reformat the drive. I followed a few prompts and lo, the U3 Launchpad Installer software launched and restored the drive to its factory settings of 2 GB capacity formatted as FAT. It even replaced the original U3 files, making it truly good-as-new.
I’m astonished that this information isn’t more widely available, particularly on the SanDisk support site and forums, as this 0 capacity problem seems to affect a good number of drives and there are many threads where this issue remains unresolved.
Note that the page at http://u3.sandisk.com/download/lp_installer.asp?custom=1.6.1.2&brand=PelicanBFG requires you to install an ActiveX component, so you must use Internet Explorer.
Of course, if you’re not using a SanDisk drive, there’s no guarantee that this software will fix your drive, but it’s worth a try, right? Or maybe your device’s manufacturer has something similar.
If you’re trying to restore the drive’s contents or recover files, this method formats (erases) the drive and is not for you.
Wow thank you it works!, I actually tried this method before using the launchpad installer but it actually made it worse, but I tried it again using the installer you posted and it now works.
Thanks for this tip, but sadly the installer detects that my drive is not a Sandisk drive and refuses to run. If anyone finds a solution for a 4GB Maxell Retractor then please post it! Their website only seems to have win98 drivers on it.
mines say 0 bites but when i try to download it it says it needs activex
Please, i need the name the activex that is necesary.
But i paste the “javascript:InstallWizard()” in the bar of directions
and ask me for ” introduce one intelligent unity U3″
excuseme you for my english
what to do for a transcend 512 mb……….
after wipiing the cdrom parition restore it with the CORRECT version of LPInstaller.exe
I leave it to you to determind the correct version
damnable sepell check
what to do for transcend 8 GB ??????????????
Mine just isn’t recognising anything. I can’t save to it… and nothing is showing up.
dude we have same problem.. all you have to do is to right click on my computer, manage and find disk management.. below you will see your usb right click on the color black and simply format it..
I had a same problem with kingston 8 GB pen drive. I have tried many softwares to format the 0 byte usb drive. Finally the software which worked was this tiny executable http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L6PSHSO4. Hope this will help the drives other than SanDisk
I had problem with kingston 8 GB pen drive.I’ve tried this http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L6PSHSO4, but it says “USB Flash Disk not found!”…please help me…
worked for my Cruzer 2GB after I thought I would have to toss it. Thanks dude.
Well, uff, yes! yes! yes! I did it! I finally could format my Kingston data traveler 2.0 after many searchings on the web a link took me to here, and after trying many, many, many, solutions, I finally did it. It was a 0 bytes usb ( I have many files in it, of course) and I tried the solution that ardami found, it didn’t work, then I tired the Deepak’s solution and it work partially, because it said that a mistake occurred while trying to format the usb, and asked me to send an inform to microsoft and I did it. Then I checked on MIPC and as always tried to open unit E: and never could, but this time it said “the unit E: doesn’t have a format, do you want to format?” and I said “yes of course” (well I wanted to recover my data but it wasn’t possible) so I finally can read my usb and of course now it’s empty.
So I want to give a big handshake to ardamis and to Deepak, thanks a lot for your help.
hi! i am also having the same problem so if u could tell me what deepak said to u and how to do it .pls pls send it to my gmail acount deepak.adhana7@gmail.com
11.I had problem with kingston 2 GB pen drive.I’ve tried this http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L6PSHSO4, but it says “USB Flash Disk not found!”…please help me…
My 4 GB kingston usb also saying “usb flash disk not fount” Help plz
Tried both methods but unfortunately they did not work for my brand new kingston 8 gig….sucks
Hello,
I don’t is it ok to ask you this question or not.
I want to add one folder on pen drive that should not be removed when anyone format pen drive.
Is it possible to do?
If so then how?
Thanks,
Manish
“USB Flash Disk not found!”
same here
anybody got an idea?
or how to trick the programm that it thinks its an sandisk usb stick?
hello, where could i found the ActiveX…
sorry, my english is not good…
Thx Before
antonio2 please share your knowledge on how you fix your problem with you usb same problem here. can you please email it to me deletemoko@yahoo.com thanks in advance
hello guys i got some problem here ill try all your ways that have given but where can i find active x
either solution not working for my 4 gb moser baer usb drive
error: device not found in deepak’s solution…
after going to http://u3.sandisk.com/download/lp_installer.asp?custom=1.6.1.2&brand=PelicanBFG you need to click install launch pad now wait……… it may take a while but an active x installer bar will pop pu in the top of the page click install now wait……… you will be prompted to install launch pad click install and wait again……… a u3 installer pop up will show go threw steps and there you go.
A-Data 16GB USB flash drive (no model, red casing and cap). Autplay progress window shows files exist on drive. Drive is assigned a letter, but shows 0 bytes used/available. Booted to Windows XP sp3 Safe Mode. Inserted 16GB drive into USB slot. Was then able to copy all files to another drive. Next, went to the command line Start –> Run –> CMD ) then formatted the drive as FAT32. At the command prompt, type format /? for info on the format util.
Ok, so I just searched Google for about 5 hours trying to figure out how to fix the USBest USB2flashStorage USB problem. What happened is the part of the memory that tells the computer how to access the drive and how big the drive is got corrupted. You need a program called “Super Stick Recovery Tool” made by kingmax. Don’t worry that your drive isn’t a kingmax drive, it will work anyway because it is just going to completely write over that little part of the drive that got corrupted. just go to “http://www.kingmax.com/en_04_download.asp?usn=2″ and download
Super Stick Recovery Tool V1.0.2.19.rar
you can open the rar file with winrar or 7-zip. Inside is
Super Stick Recovery Tool V1.0.2.19.exe. Run it as administrator with the drive plugged in and click “Update”
about 5 minutes later– Problem solved!
*Warning* This erases everything on the drive, I have no clue how to get data off of it before you do this, but at least you can have a working jump drive rather than a paper weight.
Just so you know, I only tested this on a Verbatim 8 Gb drive that had the exact same problems you described. I tried lots of other tools and they didn’t work. Super Stick Recovery Tool Rocks!
haha Solution worked for me with iball pendrive and i suppose it will work for any pendrive
For Transcend USB, use this tool:
http://www.transcendusa.com/Products/online_recovery_1.asp
Thanks for the help, but none of these worked for me. What did work was the following. (Win 7) (HP v125 4G Thumb drive)
Open Command Prompt with admin rights.
*Type cmd in Start menu search box and hit Ctrl+ Shift+ Enter.
Or
*Go to Start menu > All programs > Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
As I was on an Admin account already I just hit Start key + R. Then type in cmd.
First type DISKPART and hit enter. You will see a text block saying version number. Takes a second depending on number of drives.
Next type LIST DISK command and note down the Disk number of your USB flash drive. it will be listed as disk 0, disk 1, and so on. My thumb drive was Disk 4 with my other four drives before it. You can also see the total size as well as free space for each drive. Here my Thumb drive was ** bytes, 0 Bytes free. While the windows manager displayed a 0 bytes, 0 free.
Replace the drive number “#” with the correct drive number for the following commands.
SELECT DISK #
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
(here you put the file type you wish to format in to. NTFS, FAT32, FAT16. FAT32 is standard.)
FORMAT FS=NTFS
(Format process will take a few seconds)
ASSIGN
EXIT
Hope this helps someone else, I’m just glad to have my drive back.
SOLVED
if ur problem is
- disk Management it shows it as as Removable Storage(+letter) with no media in it
- properties shows that it has 0 free space and 0 used space
- shows up in my computer but say insert disk
ok i had the same pen drive, same 4 gb and same problem
this is how i solved it
1. plug in the pendrive. restart the pc with a xp installation cd
and make sure u reboot into the xp installation
2. follow the prompts till u get to which drive to install the xp
3.delete the existing partition on the pendrive(it will be listed)
and create a new partition. this re-installs the mbr
4. quit the installation and remove the pendrive before booting normally
5. after booting plug in the drive and format it
– i used HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool but i think windows formatting
should work
– i did a quick format first before a full with ntfs
email me if u have any questions : jojomannoh@yahoo.co.uk
AFTER 10 HOURS OF SEARCHING MY 4GB Kingston Datatraveler usb 2.0 device IS
BBBBAAAAACCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!
A commenter suggested using the Lexar Image Rescue 4 Software, but this is not free software.
http://store.lexar.com/index.cfm?productid=L-IR4-DWN
Thank you very much, GreyGrue! I did what you wrote and saved my Verbatim U3 smart 4GB USB stick.