USB drive unusable and reporting 0 bytes capacity [duplicate]

I had a problem with my USB drive. When i plug it in windows 7, what happens is when I click on USB the message "Please insert a disk into drive X:".

The drive properties show:

Type: Removable Disk

File system: Unknown

Used space 0 bytes

Free space 0 bytes

Capacity 0 bytes

I usually remove it without 'ejecting' or 'safely removing' it, can this be related? How can I solve this problem?


Try this, from the Symbianize forum:

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.

Otherwise, you can download the latest version of the U3 Launchpad Installer executable from the Sandisk KB.

Of course, if you’re not using a SanDisk drive, it’s rather unlikely that this software will fix your drive, but maybe your device’s manufacturer has something similar. There are also a number of good ideas in the comments below, so definitely read through them for more options.

If you’re trying to restore the drive’s contents or recover files, the all of the methods described on this page will format (erase) the drive and are not for you. Good luck.


Try Use Software; Apacer Repair v2.9.1.1 free trial of the utility from http://www.flashmemorytoolkit.com/ HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool v2.1.8 and, hwat happen if you plug it in ubuntu 10.4 again? it's same ?