How to Repair a Memory Stick

Repair a Memory Stick

Removable media such as memory sticks are incredibly convenient because of their large storage capacities in small sizes, but they are also notoriously prone to having their data become corrupted without warning. There can be several different causes for the problem that you will need to troubleshoot to repair the memory stick.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 1 Power on your computer, and wait for the operating system to fully load up. Click on the "Start" button and then choose "Control Panel" from the list of options. Scroll down through the new window that will pop up, and double click the icon labeled as "Device Manager." Wait for your operating system to pop up a new window, and then click on "Continue."
2. 2
   Locate the entry for the card reader or for the device you have connected to the computer through a USB cable in the list of options. Click on the plus sign directly next to the entry. Double click the name of the device that will appear. Scroll down to the entry labeled as "Device Status." Check to see if the status reads as "This device is working properly" or "This device cannot start."
   3
   Click on the "Driver" tab if the status does not say that the device is working properly. Click on "Update Driver" and wait for the new driver to download. Restart the computer and attempt to use the memory stick again.
   4
   Click on "Start" and then choose the "My Computer" option. Check to see if the memory stick appears in the list of connected drives. Click on the button labeled as "Map a Network Drive" if the memory stick does not appear in the options. Click on the drop-down menu and choose a driver letter. Click on "Browse" and then double click the location of the memory stick. Click on "OK" and attempt to use the memory stick again.
   5
   Right click on the drive letter corresponding to the memory stick if it does appear in the "My Computer" options. Wait for a new menu to pop up, and click on "Format."
    
   6 Choose "NTFS" from the drop-down menu, and then click on "Start." Wait for the format process to finish. Restart the computer, and attempt to use the memory stick again. 
   
   7 Open your web browsing program and navigate to a website that offers a file recovery program (see Resources below) if formatting the card fixed the problem. Download and install the program.
   
   8 Run the file recovery utility and select the location of the memory stick from the drop-down menu. Select the type of files that were on the memory stick, such as images or video files. Click on the "Start" button to recover the files that were deleted when the memory stick was formatted.