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Currently, my SanDisk Cruzer Blade 4GB have become a 64MB Firebird RAW flash drive (thumb drive). I don't know why it become like this but when I plug it into a PC, it suddenly transform itself to become a 64MB flash drive. (From 4 GB to 64 MB, that is a huge change!)

I read the following articles:

and notice that their solutions do not work at all.

Some of their solution is as follows:

  • Using the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, which did not work for me as it could not format.

  • Using the h2testw to see if it is genuine, which did not work for me because it is a RAW partition.

  • Return to the vendor, which I doubt since the product only have 1 year warranty and it has expired.

I also notice that the flash drive is very fragile as after a few use, the flash drive have become something like the following: (The upper cover of the USB connector was broken or torn)

enter image description here

So, wondering if someone have any good solution to fix it back so that at least I can retrieve my data on the fragile thumb drive.

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  • What operating system? Have you tried reformatting it by right-clicking on the drive and selecting format? (if you're using windows)
    – Thraka
    Nov 19, 2012 at 6:58
  • I tried on Win 98, Win XP, Win 7, Win 2008 and also tried reformatting it by right-clicking on the drive and selecting format but it just don't format.
    – Jack
    Nov 19, 2012 at 7:14
  • Try running GParted, delete all partitions, create a new partition, format and if successful see whether this utility can test the drive. (Use data recovery utilities though if you want to recover existing data, and don't repartition/format in that case!)
    – Karan
    Nov 20, 2012 at 14:51
  • @Karan, the problem is that I can't even delete any partitions, neither can I create or format it.
    – Jack
    Jan 17, 2013 at 4:40
  • Does USB Flash Drive Tester have anything useful to say about the drive?
    – Karan
    Jan 17, 2013 at 4:53

2 Answers 2

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Try running CHKDSK, open a command prompt and run

CHKDSK Pathname  e.g. CHKDSK E:\

This will look for errors and attempt to correct them.

Perhaps the volume is dirty: open a command prompt and run:

fsutil dirty query PathName

This will tell you the status of the disk, and it will run CHKDSK if it is dirty.

If nothing else, you will need to contact the place of purchase for a refund/replacement.

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Your USB has most likely become corrupt.

Open CMD and type in diskpart

when CMD shows in the output DISKPART> type in list disk

locate your 64MB USB drive. Mostly USB's are recongised as disk 2, BUT PLEASE CHECK THIS OR YOU MAY LOSE IMPORTANT DATA!

type in sel disk (number)

WARNING: PLEASE MAKE SURE IT HAS SELECTED THE USB AND NOT A PARTITION ON YOUR HARD DRIVE!

when it outputs disk (number) is now the selected disk type clean

Wait for the process to finish.

Close DISKPART and press WIN+R and type in diskmgmt.msc

Check to see if the full 4GB is there (In windows' case, 3.7GB*)

If it is, right click the partition and select "New Simple Volume"

Follow the steps and select "Quick Format"

You should now have your full 4GB Back.

*Windows technically does not use Gigabytes, but instead Gibibytes. Learn more here:

EDIT: If it does not even let you run CLEAN, your USB drive has most likely triggered the read-only function in the firmware, which is irreversable

What is a Gibibyte?

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