Flash Drive syntax error
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Madpawn
215 pts.
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Q:
Flash Drive syntax error
Flash drive, USB Flash drives
I have a flash drive with very precious information on it, but today when I went to edit a document on it evey file I have on there comes up in jiberish computer language. when I try to open a file to get to some of my documents it says this file has a "syntax error" I've been looking around on the internet to find programs to fix this problem on my flash drive but I have found nothing that will fix my problem. Is there a program that can help me pull some of my precious data from the drive and fix the syntax errors?
ASKED: Aug 6 2009  9:39 PM GMT
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KyleFreeman
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Have you tried reading it on a different computer? I'd try that first to make sure it's not some sort of malware infection or hardware issue on your current computer.

When none of the computers you've tried can read the file names properly, the reason is that all of them are going to the same place in the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the flash drive. All hard drives have a kind of table of contents of all their files, folders, and subfolders in the MBR. If it has become corrupted, then it can't tell anyone visiting (i.e., the query from the operating system) what's there. Norton used to have as part of the Norton System programs one that would try to fix the MBR. See what you can find at shareware depositories (Tucows.com is one I know of off-hand, but there are many others) in a utilities section that can fix broken MBRs.
Kyle Freeman kylefreeman224@comcast.net
Last Answered: Aug 7 2009  4:58 PM GMT by KyleFreeman   80 pts.
Latest Contributors: KevinBeaver   7610 pts.
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Madpawn   215 pts.  |   Aug 7 2009  1:45PM GMT

i’ve tried it on at least 20 other computers (no joke) and nothing works, i’ve even tried different OS’s.

 

KyleFreeman   80 pts.  |   Aug 7 2009  4:59PM GMT

When none of the computers you’ve tried can read the file names properly, the reason is that all of them are going to the same place in the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the flash drive. All hard drives have a kind of table of contents of all their files, folders, and subfolders in the MBR. If it has become corrupted, then it can’t tell anyone visiting (i.e., the query from the operating system) what’s there. Norton used to have as part of the Norton System programs one that would try to fix the MBR. See what you can find at shareware depositories  <a href="http://Tucows.com" title="http://Tucows.(" target="_blank">Tucows.com</a> is one I know of off-hand, but there are many others) in a utilities section that can fix broken MBRs.

Kyle Freeman  <a href="mailto:kylefreeman224@comcast.net" title="mailto:kylefreeman224@comcast.net">kylefreeman224 at comcast.net</a>

 

Madpawn   215 pts.  |   Aug 7 2009  6:52PM GMT

well I’ve looked around and tried a couple of different software, but nothing really fixing my USB drives MBR. I did find Data Doctor, but It would not work due to all the files on the USB drive looking like ∙▄ε,”t┌▌. Q It could not write them to the hard drive. I’ve searched high and low on google for someone having my same problem, but maybe I’m not looking right or something, but I cant find a darn thing to fix my problem :’(

 

KevinBeaver   7610 pts.  |   Aug 10 2009  1:27PM GMT

Try Davory. It has saved me in the past…not with aUSB drive but with a hard drive.

 

Sonotsky   660 pts.  |   Aug 11 2009  1:55PM GMT

Not to rub salt in the wound, but when removing a removable drive from a Windows system, you should always use the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon available in your systray. If you left-click on the icon, it will pop up a list of connected devices that can be removed, or you can right-click and get a dialog box with a more comprehensive list.

I’ve had experiences in the past with just yanking a memstick from the USB port, and next time I connect it, my data was trashed. A wiser IT guru pointed out the cause to me; ever since, I’ve been safely removing hardware, and had no lost data.

To be honest, if this is what’s happened, there’s a pretty good chance that your data is gone for good. Hope you had a backup somewhere…

 

KevinBeaver   7610 pts.  |   Aug 12 2009  5:04PM GMT

What Sonotsky says is true. I’ve accidentally removed a USB drive without stopping it first and, sure enough, everything magically disappeared. You even have to be careful when Windows won’t let you stop/safely remove the device. Just because it won’t doesn’t mean you’ll be safe forcing the issue. If it doesn’t your best bet to be safe is to shut the computer down and remove it before/during reboot.

 
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