# SanDisk U3 USB Flash Drive Problem



## FZWG (Dec 17, 2000)

Can anyone help with figuring out how to get a SanDisk U3 USB Flash Drive to work again?

It belongs to some friends, and every time they try to use it, they get the following:

U3 Launchpad error

An error has occurred while initializing U3 Launchpad: Drive is unavailable or unformatted. U3 Launchpad will close now. Please format the drive, disconnect the U3 device and try again.

The drive was working fine a couple of days ago, and after some MS Automatic updates, it went belly-up!

Anyone know of a way to read or recover the contents of the drive, or any free software to do so?

Thanks in advance for the help.


----------



## buddythedog (Feb 18, 2005)

Look on the SanDisk website to see if there are any updates for Launchpad.


----------



## FZWG (Dec 17, 2000)

Thanks for the reply.

Went there already, and nothing we tried worked.


----------



## buddythedog (Feb 18, 2005)

Any chance of trying it on a different system?


----------



## FZWG (Dec 17, 2000)

Yep, we tried that, but it was a no-go.

Been thinking about uninstalling the U3 launchpad software, and then seeing how it goes. I think if you do that then the drive just becomes a regular USB Flash Drive without the U3 technology.

Don't know for sure, though...


----------



## tusharg (Nov 27, 2006)

I got the same problem. This arises because probably the boot sector on your drive is damaged. You can download a utility "TestDisk" from the website below

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

Use this utility to repair your boot sector. Follow the documentation. It worked for me...

Good luck.
Tushar


----------



## FZWG (Dec 17, 2000)

Thanks, Tushar!!

Will certainly give it a whirl.

Were you dealing with a SanDisk U3 USB Flash Drive?

Were you getting the following:
U3 Launchpad error



Were you able to recover the data on the drive?


----------



## tusharg (Nov 27, 2006)

Yes. I was getting the same "U3 launchpad error" ?: drive is unformatted...

I used TestDisk to get the data back (it is a free utility). This utility told me that the boot sector in the drive is damaged and it repaired the boot sector. After that I was able to see the drive and all my data as it was before the problem occurred.  

Hope this is the same problem with you and you can fix it.


----------



## Andreqs (Nov 27, 2006)

tusharg said:


> Yes. I was getting the same "U3 launchpad error" ?: drive is unformatted...
> 
> I used TestDisk to get the data back (it is a free utility). This utility told me that the boot sector in the drive is damaged and it repaired the boot sector. After that I was able to see the drive and all my data as it was before the problem occurred.
> 
> Hope this is the same problem with you and you can fix it.


I have the same problem. I´ve tried TestDisk and no luck... it gives me an "write error"

tusharg, please, could you post what options you have used in that program?

Thanx


----------



## FZWG (Dec 17, 2000)

Ran Testdisk_win.exe:


Disk /dev /sdf - 1019 MB /MiB was selected
Partition table type: Intel/PC Partition
In Analyze, the following results appear: Boot sector doesnt have the endmark 0xAA55, bad ending cylinder (CHS and LBA do not match), no partition is bootable.
In Advanced selected: Boot Sector Recovery, and obtained: A valid FAT Boot sector must be present in order to access any data, even if the partition is not bootable.
Selected: Rebuild BS and received message: Extrapolated boot sector and current boot sector are different. 
Files can be listed, but not accessed
Selected MBR Code, and then Write a new copy of MBRcode to first sector. Got write error: Cannot write MBR Code
Have no clue as to what to do next.

Any suggestions?


----------

