usb device not recognized - can DD fix?

I purchased DD and True Image about six months ago to fix a specific installation issue i was experiencing when setting up new machines for sale. It has been a wonderful experience and every time i use the stuff i feel like I'm learning more. DD has terrific pre-install hard-drive partition setup that is quick and effective.

Today I'm wondering whether there is some fix for the periodically experienced 'usb device not recognized' error. This has happened three times to me within the past year and every time it is a flash drive 'dying.' I'm wondering if they are truly dead because they have a short life span (3 months ) or if there is some way to access them in DD once I get this error and I can then reformat them or whatever.

Once I had a similar situation with a Smart card in a camera and it just needed to be reformated. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with how to 'trick' windows, or DD boot disk into recognizing the usb device and fixing whatever the problem is?

I have several machines available, run Win XP on most. Today I was setting up a new machine and there is some problem with the usb on the front of the case. I used my flash in the back port fine, tried it in the front, it lit up but then was usb-unrecognized. I tried it in the back again but whatever happened had killed it. have tried it in 3 machines now, all solid systems, and still getting the usb-unrecognized.

so ... anyone know how to fix this or can it be fixed with one of these programs?

thanks so much.

 

If any of the computers are new enough, DD may be able to work with the flashdrive when booted into the Safe Mode version. In order for this to work, the BIOS has to support it. If it does work, DD will treat the flashdrive like a standard hard drive and allow all standard hard drive procedures to be performed on it. You could delete the partition, recreate it and see if it's usable.

If you have Linux installed or run a Live CD version (Knoppix, Ubuntu, etc.), you could use the "dd" command to "wipe" the flashdrive. That would tell you if there were any errors on the drive. However, after the wipe, you'd have to reset the partition table otherwise Windows may not work properly with it.

Three months seems really short for a flashdrive. Even the really cheap ones should last much longer than that. Have they all died after being plugged into the same computer?