Tip #3971 - Fixing Your Flash Drive
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Fixing
Your Flash Drive
I'm sad to report
that one of my flash drives suddenly died today. Has that ever happened
to you? It all happened when my Windows XP suddenly froze for some reason.
After rebooting my computer, the device was dead. It just simply would
not work anymore. XP detected it as a 0 MB device (and attempted to format
it as such), but nothing worked. What could I do besides go and buy a
whole new flash drive?
Well, luckily, after
a little research, I was able to revive my flash drive! And that's exactly
what I'm going to show you how to do today. Here’s the procedure:
1.) First, you'll
need to download and install the HP Drive Key Boot Utility, which can
be found here.
2.) Once you have
it downloaded, double click on the desktop icon and select the correct
flash drive you want to repair under the Device section.
3.) Next, select the
file system you want to format the drive to (FAT, FAT32 or NTFS).
4.) Checkmark Quick
Format.
5.) Click
Start.
After the download
and the installation, this utility will place a shortcut of "HP
System Tools" in your Programs Start menu
folder.
To make your drive
key bootable and/or capable of flashing firmware:
- Place your HP USB
drive key in an available USB port.
- Select the HP
Drive Key Boot Utility shortcut under the HP System
Tools folder.
- Follow along and
complete each step presented by the application.
During the interview
process, when asked to select the drive letter your key is using, if the
drop down box is unpopulated, please note that the drive key is either
not properly connected to the system or it is of a drive type called "fixed
disk." To determine the type of USB mass storage device your drive
is, double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop,
right click on the USB Drive Key and choose Properties.
The drive type will be displayed in the Properties pane. If the drive
is labeled "fixed disk" or "local disk," the following
steps must be followed to assign a drive letter to the USB drive key,
prior to running the HP Drive Key Boot Utility.
- Insert the Drive
Key.
- Log in as the
Administrator.
- Select Start,
Control Panel, Administrative Tools,
Computer Management.
- Select Computer
Management (local), Storage, Disk
Management (local).
- Select "Change/Add
Drive Letter" for the disk to map the Drive Key to.
- Choose a drive
letter.
Officially, this software
(HP Drive Key Boot Utility) is meant for HP disks, but unofficially, it
seems to work fine with formatting most flash media and even digital camera
cards. I hope you enjoy your newly repaired flash drive!
~ Ramachandran Kumaraswami
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