USB stick or drive not recognised
You plug it in and nothing happens, or a message appears you would rather not read.
What you notice
- The stick does not appear in the file browser.
- You are asked whether to format it, while there are files on it.
- It is seen on one computer but not another.
- It is recognised but you cannot open anything on it.
- There are photos on it that exist nowhere else.
What we do about it
If you are asked whether to format: do not. That is precisely the moment most data is lost for good. The question does not mean the files are gone.
We read the stick or drive on our own equipment and see what is still on it, before anything is done to the medium itself.
If one computer does see it, that says something about the file system rather than a fault. That is often good news.
Do not keep trying. Every attempt on a struggling drive lowers the odds.
Tell us what you are seeing. We will take it from there.