Can't read flash drive


  1. RhinoCan
    Posts : 220
    Windows 10
       New #1

    Can't read flash drive


    I am suddenly having trouble reading two of my flash drives. They are both 32GB ADATA drives and were working yesterday but today I can't read either one. I've tried it from my USB hub and also directly in my laptop but in both cases, I just get "USB Drive (E:)" and "USB Drive (G:)" but when I try to read them, Windows tells me "Please insert a disk". Apparently, it's unable to read anything from the flash drives, not even the names I set them to (Flash 2 and Flash 4). Strangely enough, Avast detects that I've inserted them and runs a scan on them and doesn't detect any malware and does so in a very short time, just a few seconds.

    I'd like to use these flash drives again to do a recovery on my other laptop. I don't want to lose the data on them but I am prepared to do so; I don't think I had anything critical on them.

    Can anyone suggest a way to get these drives working again, either with the existing data on them or not?

    Currently running Windows 10.0.19041.746.
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  3. Bree
    Posts : 31,700
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       New #2

    RhinoCan said:
    I am suddenly having trouble reading two of my flash drives. They are both 32GB ADATA drives and were working yesterday but today I can't read either one. I've tried it from my USB hub and also directly in my laptop but in both cases, I just get "USB Drive (E:)" and "USB Drive (G:)" but when I try to read them, Windows tells me "Please insert a disk".....

    Try uninstalling them in Device Manager. To see them listed when they're not plugged in you'll need to select View > Show hidden devices. Right-click on them and uninstall them. If you're not sure which one to uninstall, uninstall all the USB drives with a greyed out icon (this indicates the device isn't currently plugged in). Windows will reinstall them when they are next plugged in.


    Can't read flash drive-image.png
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  4. RhinoCan
    Posts : 220
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Bree said:
    Try uninstalling them in Device Manager. To see them listed when they're not plugged in you'll need to select View > Show hidden devices. Right-click on them and uninstall them. If you're not sure which one to uninstall, uninstall all the USB drives with a greyed out icon (this indicates the device isn't currently plugged in). Windows will reinstall them when they are next plugged in.

    I did as you suggested and removed the appropriate entries but when I put the flash drives back in the hub or the USB ports on my laptop, it still wants me to "Insert disk" and Avast still scans them in about a second and tells me they're clean. I also tried them on another computer, a desktop running Win 10, and it behaves the same. For some reason, these flash drives appear to be hosed. I don't understand what happened between yesterday and today.

    Edit: Is there anything else I can do to salvage these flash drives, even if it means erasing them and formatting them from scratch? By the way, I upgraded to 20H2 just now but that doesn't seem to have helped the situation; the flash drives still show the same symptoms.
    Last edited by RhinoCan; 06 Feb 2021 at 00:29. Reason: Clarify
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  6. zbook
    Posts : 41,481
    windows 10 professional version 1607 build 14393.969 64 bit
       New #4

    Download and install Minitool Partition Wizard:

    MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download

    MiniTool Portable Partition Magic Brings Easier Disk Management

    Temporarily uninstall Avast:
    Avast Uninstall Utility | Download aswClear for Avast Removal

    Reboot

    Insert all problematic flash drives.

    Run:

    DiskParInfo.bat - Click here to go to the BSOD batch repository to download and run this batch file.


    Launch MiniTool-Partition > post an image of the results into this thread


    Open disk management > by default some columns are compressed > widen each Status and Volume > make sure the contents within the parenthesis are in full view and that none of the characters are cutoff > view disk 0 > widen this row as needed so that all of the characters are in full view > post an image into the thread
    Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of


    If the flash drives do not appear in
    diskpart results
    Mini-Tool
    Disk management

    then open the BIOS > take pictures > post images into the thread
    List of PC brands with their corresponding hot-keys
    How to Upload and Post Screenshots and Files at Ten Forums

    If they do not appear in the BIOS then test the flash drives on another computer.
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