Faulty USB Stick

[Big Jim]

I have a data recovery job in here that is a 4GB sandisk cruzer memory stick.

So far I have tried this stick in
windows 7
windows 8
windows xp
knoppix (Linux live CD)

none of them can read the drive
every computer registers the drive has been plugged in and can see the name of the drive, some even give me the file list I am looking for but as soon as I try and copy any data windows throws an error or freezes.

most machines it gets plugged into report that it needs to scan and fix errors but this mostly just freezes up whatever machine it is plugged into and doesn't actually start the scan process

Have also had unreadable errors from within windows.

Using Knoppix I have managed to copy the data to another USB stick but it looks like all the data is corrupt and unreadable.

Our recovery software doesn't even recognise that a USB stick is plugged in.
Is there a recovery tool I can use from within a Linux environment, perhaps on hirens boot cd I don't know

 

[JustInspired]

I would DDRescue the flash drive to an image file that can be mounted and scan with R-Studio.
I usually save my DDRescue image files with a .img extension and then mount with ImgDisk to read them with R-Studio.

 

[HFultzjr]

I have a data recovery job in here that is a 4GB sandisk cruzer memory stick.

So far I have tried this stick in
windows 7
windows 8
windows xp
knoppix (Linux live CD)

none of them can read the drive
every computer registers the drive has been plugged in and can see the name of the drive, some even give me the file list I am looking for but as soon as I try and copy any data windows throws an error or freezes.

most machines it gets plugged into report that it needs to scan and fix errors but this mostly just freezes up whatever machine it is plugged into and doesn't actually start the scan process

Have also had unreadable errors from within windows.

Using Knoppix I have managed to copy the data to another USB stick but it looks like all the data is corrupt and unreadable.

Our recovery software doesn't even recognise that a USB stick is plugged in.
Is there a recovery tool I can use from within a Linux environment, perhaps on hirens boot cd I don't know

Try ddrescue.

Create and mount an image. Do not try and recover from the original.

You can find it on a Parted Magic Live CD.

Here is a video tutorial on what you are trying to do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqq9A01geeA

If you are new to ddrescue I suggest viewing the following:
It shows the basics and is pretty easy to understand.

Be careful to specify the correct drives, as you don't want to overwrite the original, which it will do if specified incorrectly.
http://www.myfixlog.com/fix.php?fid=21

 

[Big Jim]

Try ddrescue.

Create and mount an image. Do not try and recover from the original.

You can find it on a Parted Magic Live CD.

Here is a video tutorial on what you are trying to do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqq9A01geeA

If you are new to ddrescue I suggest viewing the following:
It shows the basics and is pretty easy to understand.

Be careful to specify the correct drives, as you don't want to overwrite the original, which it will do if specified incorrectly.
http://www.myfixlog.com/fix.php?fid=21

Thanks that you tube guide is spot on.

However There seems to be another issue with this flash drive, it mounts ok and can be browsed in Linux but after a while it just disappears.
DDrescue got about half way and it just disappeared (although light on the actual usb stick flashing like crazy)
So I unplug it and replug it and set ddrescue going again, it looks like it has just picked up where the last one left off is that right ?

 

[JustInspired]

As long as you are making DDRescue create a log file it can be stopped and started. It will keep a record of what bits have already been done in the log.

 

[Big Jim]

Yeh I set it to keep a log.

So it has done the scan and was just stuck on splitting failed blocks, been like that for several hours, so I interrupted it and made a copy of the file before setting it going again, it now says retrying bad sectors.

The .img file it has created is unmountable/corrupt.

What options do I have now ?

 

[HFultzjr]

Yeh I set it to keep a log.

So it has done the scan and was just stuck on splitting failed blocks, been like that for several hours, so I interrupted it and made a copy of the file before setting it going again, it now says retrying bad sectors.

The .img file it has created is unmountable/corrupt.

What options do I have now ?

You can also have it run forwards to the "bad spot" then run backwards to the "bad spot.....can be done multiple times.

However, my Linux capabilities are not up to where I can be of much help command wise. I just know it can be done. I'm just learning it myself.

Maybe one of the other members with more experience can chip in.