USB totally damaged after used with Rufus

Question

Attempted to create a FreeDOS bootable drive with Rufus. The process failed and the drive was damaged.

• Software: Rufus 3.8p
• System: Windows 10 Enterprise 1709 x64

A lot of times when a similar problem is discussed online users respond (correctly) with different methods that can bring a system to identify a USB drive again. However, I want to clarify, and further show with pictures, that I am aware of all of those methods, have tried them, and this case is well beyond that. Those methods are:

• Using diskpart to "clean" the drive
• Using Disk Management to to convert the USB drive's partition between MBR and GPT
• Using Disk Management to re-assign a letter to the USB drive
• Using a third-party software to re-partition the drive (i.e. MiniTool Partition Wizard, Acronis tools, etc.)

I have used the following systems while attempting to "revive" this USB drive:

• Windows 7
• Windows 10
• Linux (primarily Ubuntu, but also others)

Regardless of the system, none of them can access the drive in any form, even though it is somehow recognized by the system.

The following images further demonstrate my efforts and the current state of the USB drive.

• Disk Management - Notice how Disk 1 shows nothing for partitions:

• USB Drive Properties - Volumes tab - Notice Unallocated space as 0 MB:

• USB Drive Properties - Details tab - This is a "ChipsBnkFlash_Disk":

• Diskpart - "There is no media in the device":

So as you can see, when people say online: "Oh, it's not broken, you just need to re-partition and/or re-assign the drive letter", they may be correct for other scenarios, but that's simply NOT my case here.

Can anyone make a suggestion as what to do next? (except putting the USB drive in the garbage)

UPDATE # 1: Additional output seen in Linux Ubuntu

Answer 1

In all likeliness, Rufus didn't ruin the drive, it just gave an already worn / failing flash drive that past push.

No Media USB Flash Drive

Disk Management 'No Media' essentially says, I see a storage device (which means controller of the flash drive works), but no media. Kind of similar to a diskette drive without a diskette. The flash drive's controller can not speak with the NAND chip for some reason.

This may be a physical reason due to trauma after you for example dropped the drive, but most common cause is the controller being unable to talk to the firmware. In turn this can be caused by NAND being worn or for example a damaged firmware (the flash translation layer) due to improper shut down for example.

Is it wise to repair a USB Flash Drive?

There are ways to re-write this firmware, but before I explain that I want to warn and advise against it: If we for example assume the main issue being wear, the NAND flash being worn then it makes no sense to try repair such a flash drive because in all likeliness it will fail again soon.

Also the tools we need for the repair often need to be obtained from dubious websites. Various of the tools I downloaded I used to repair this USB flash drive triggered my antivirus software and also they were flagged as suspicious etc. on Virus-Total.

Repairing a 'No Media' USB flash drive

1. Get the tool called ChipGenius. This tool will allow you to determine the controller chip.

2. ChipGenius will refer you to a Chinese website, USBDEV is another option.

3. Next step is getting a 'mass-production-tool' (mptool) for that particular controller.

My controller was a ChipsBank controller.:

It took some downloads to find an MPTool that supported my controller and that detected my USB Flash Drive. I ran the tool with default settings:

I recorded my first steps in attempting to repair a no media flash drive here.

Answer 2

Ask the USB flash drive manufacturer for service software. I've got one for mine some time ago.

Maybe something listed on http://usb-fix.blogspot.com/p/chipsbank.html would match this disk.

But... From my limited experience be prepared with backups and/or use it only with non-critical data.

Answer 3

If you have not done so already, review the Rufus FAQs There is a wealth of info there related to errors, compatibility, troubleshooting, etc.

If you think you have unanswered questions you can contact the developer via their website https://rufus.ie/ or email Pete Batard pete@akeo.ie.

Provide up front more detailed information. Make and model of flash drive, what specific options you selected when using Rufus, what "process failed" means (how? error message?), what did you do next immediately (windows removable media eject), and when you ran your attempts to "fix" it how you conducted each fix specifically. For each of the fixes whether it was same machine & same USB port, same machine different USB port, same machine different OS, different machine same OS, etc.).

As you are no doubt aware, you have a binary situation: 0. Failed Flash Drive; or 1. Healthy flash drive

0. Failed Flash Drive You will not find much traction with "Rufus damaged my flash drive" from Pete but ideally he or the content on his site can assist you to determine conclusively if the media is in fact "dead", and you can warranty (if option) or trash.

1. Healthy Flash Drive If this is the case then it is necessarily so that that your process to change its current state includes an issue with the methodology that isn't immediately apparent to you.

Answer 4

An important problem is that MS Windows simply ignores some aspects of disk volumes, because Windows itself don't use it: Primary partitions which are not at the first place, a GPT structure if you are not running on a host with UEFI, etc. Sorry, I'm not a MS Windows expert and I don't know about details. The result can be that you have a volume (hard disk, USB stick, etc.) which MS Windows refuses to see or see in the wrong manner, but the volume is OK. When running Linux, use lsblk --fs and fsdisk /dev/sd##### to display the structure of your volume. Then you will see what is on the volume. Use fsdisk if you want to change the structure.

The installation of FreeDOS on a USB stick is a little bit special. Please read the documentation of FreeDOS concerning such an installation.