software and analysis for USB flash drive data recovery

[computerdoc]

A client brought me a 2gb USB flash drive which causes XP to declare that it needs to be formatted. It contained close to the full 2gb of data. I used PhotoRescue to analyze the drive and it didn't find any directories and only found 50 files.

The user claims that sporadically it shows nothing and other times it shows everything.

I would llike suggestions for the best recovery software for this kind of situation.

What could be the cause for the apparent loas of data? A Kaspersky scan doesn't report any malware.

[trapped]

I just had one of the controller chips fall off one of my flash drives. Soldered it back on its working fine again. Maybe open it up and check for anything loose?

[ell]

A client brought me a 2gb USB flash drive which causes XP to declare that it needs to be formatted. It contained close to the full 2gb of data. I used PhotoRescue to analyze the drive and it didn't find any directories and only found 50 files.

The user claims that sporadically it shows nothing and other times it shows everything.

I would llike suggestions for the best recovery software for this kind of situation.

What could be the cause for the apparent loas of data? A Kaspersky scan doesn't report any malware.

A trick I heard was to plug the flash drive into a usb extension cable and that way you can squeeze on the connector then maybe get a good connection, its supposed to work well.

[JosephLeo]

It could be that the contacts aren't doing their job (which is making contact). Or they are loose. It's also possible that the USB drive is experiencing some data rot, or even worst the memory chip is going bad. It's also possible the chip isn't drawing enough energy and thus not powering up.

To many variables for me to really diagnose it with a description of the problem. You said you've already ran PhotoRec (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec)?

[computerdoc]

Thanks all for your suggestions.

I used pro Data Doctor Pen Drive recovery and I specified fat32 and it got most of the stuff back.