USB stick - win XP updates

Hello....

I had a USB memory stick plugged into my Win XP (pro) computer.

The machine then updated itself with the many various MS patches going
back a number of weeks. This it successfully did.

After a reboot, I found that the USB device was no longer available
(or the files on it) as xp reported it as requiring a format.

Why would this happen, and do you think its possible to retrieve the
data on the stick?

Thanks.

> After a reboot, I found that the USB device was no longer available
> (or the files on it) as xp reported it as requiring a format.
> Why would this happen, and do you think its possible to retrieve the
> data on the stick?

What if you unplug and re-plug in the USB?

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alo <alo@btinternet.com> wrote:
> Hello....

> I had a USB memory stick plugged into my Win XP (pro) computer.

> The machine then updated itself with the many various MS patches going
> back a number of weeks. This it successfully did.

> After a reboot, I found that the USB device was no longer available
> (or the files on it) as xp reported it as requiring a format.

> Why would this happen, and do you think its possible to retrieve the
> data on the stick?

I don't think it should write anything to the stick in the operation
you describe. Maybe an issue with the USB driver/port? Have you tried
the stick in a different computer?

Arno
--
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On Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:03:20 +0800, "Man-wai Chang to The Door
(+MS=32B)" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:

>> After a reboot, I found that the USB device was no longer available
>> (or the files on it) as xp reported it as requiring a format.
>> Why would this happen, and do you think its possible to retrieve the
>> data on the stick?
>
>What if you unplug and re-plug in the USB?

Different machines running xp all come up with the same response
"the disk is not formatted..... etc"

On 4-Nov-2009, alo <alo@btinternet.com> wrote:

> >> After a reboot, I found that the USB device was no longer available
> >> (or the files on it) as xp reported it as requiring a format.
> >> Why would this happen, and do you think its possible to retrieve the
> >> data on the stick?
> >
> >What if you unplug and re-plug in the USB?

This can arise if there was a delayed write failed message,
which can corrupt the drive.
Did the suggested unplug/replug work?
Google for delayed write fail, see if anything matches your
problem.
To prevent it I use a little utility called USB Safely Remove.
Think it ckecks if the drive is free and that everything has
been written.
If you are still stuck you could try some of the file
recovery utilities, but if it is the file table that is
corrupt you may have a problem.

alo wrote
> Man-wai Chang to The Door (+MS=32B)" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote
>> alo wrote

>>> After a reboot, I found that the USB device was no longer available
>>> (or the files on it) as xp reported it as requiring a format.

>>> Why would this happen, and do you think its possible to retrieve the
>>> data on the stick?

http://www.infinadyne.com/flashretriever.html
may be able to get it back, not free, but not all that expensive.

>> What if you unplug and re-plug in the USB?

> Different machines running xp all come up with the same response
> "the disk is not formatted..... etc"

Most likely it just died and the fact that XP was updating at the time it died is a coincidence.

They do die without XP updating.

On Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:33:44 +0000, alo <alo@btinternet.com> wrote:

>Hello....
>
>I had a USB memory stick plugged into my Win XP (pro) computer.
>
>The machine then updated itself with the many various MS patches going
>back a number of weeks. This it successfully did.
>
>After a reboot, I found that the USB device was no longer available
>(or the files on it) as xp reported it as requiring a format.
>
>Why would this happen, and do you think its possible to retrieve the
>data on the stick?

Maybe try the USB stick on another computer.

>Thanks.

Barry
=====
Home page
http://members.iinet.net.au/~barry.og

On Wed, 4 Nov 2009 21:30:23 GMT, "Ato_Zee" <ato_zee@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>On 4-Nov-2009, alo <alo@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>> >> After a reboot, I found that the USB device was no longer available
>> >> (or the files on it) as xp reported it as requiring a format.
>> >> Why would this happen, and do you think its possible to retrieve the
>> >> data on the stick?
>> >
>> >What if you unplug and re-plug in the USB?
>
>This can arise if there was a delayed write failed message,
>which can corrupt the drive.
>Did the suggested unplug/replug work?
>Google for delayed write fail, see if anything matches your
>problem.
>To prevent it I use a little utility called USB Safely Remove.

XP has that functionality built in.

>Think it ckecks if the drive is free and that everything has
>been written.
>If you are still stuck you could try some of the file
>recovery utilities, but if it is the file table that is
>corrupt you may have a problem.

Barry
=====
Home page
http://members.iinet.net.au/~barry.og