How to forcefully format a USB stick that my comp won't see?

[Rummy]

So I bought a cheap old stick this one time, and it was good and worked, for about a month. I tried it on a mate's macbook one time and it wouldn't recognise it, so I just presumed the thing had a problem with macs, but since then it hasn't worked at all. I plug it into a computer, and it makes the 'd-dunk' sound that computers make when you plug stuff into the usb! It recognises it to the extent I then get the Safely Remove Hardware option, and it knows it's a USB mass storage device.

 

However, that's all. Nothing else seems to recognise it! It doesn't show up in my computer, it doesn't show up in Disk Management(something I know little about but had suggested to me for formatting it). I'm wondering if there is any way I can somehow force this thing to reformat, I'm sure there must be some software out there that could, I just don't know where to start really. I'm hoping that might fix it up into working order again?

 

EDIT: Dunno if it's of any note, but it has a little red light in the back that flashes when it's doing stuff, quite standard. This thing flashes constantly after being plugged in now, indefinitely.

Edited April 10, 2009 by Rummy

[Guest Jordan]

If you can't see it in disk management, thats a big issue.

 

I'm guessing you've tried other USB ports?

[Rummy]

Ahh, yes, yes I have. Tried it on all the USB ports on this laptop, then I thought I'd try it on the XP comp downstairs, still no luck. It KNOWS it's a USB Mass Storage device, it KNOWS it's connected, it just seems to struggle with figuring out that it's a drive all itself, so I was thinking there must be something on the stick like a TOC that tells the comp what it is and what it's upto, and that's what's corrupted.

 

If you got/took an unformatted disk, floppy or hard drive/other form of disk, and put it in a comp, would it recognise it before formatting? My general inclination is to no, though it's been a long time since I've dealt with anything that needed formatting, and that was floppies way back in the day.

[RoadKill]

Ahh, yes, yes I have. Tried it on all the USB ports on this laptop, then I thought I'd try it on the XP comp downstairs, still no luck. It KNOWS it's a USB Mass Storage device, it KNOWS it's connected, it just seems to struggle with figuring out that it's a drive all itself, so I was thinking there must be something on the stick like a TOC that tells the comp what it is and what it's upto, and that's what's corrupted.

 

If you got/took an unformatted disk, floppy or hard drive/other form of disk, and put it in a comp, would it recognise it before formatting? My general inclination is to no, though it's been a long time since I've dealt with anything that needed formatting, and that was floppies way back in the day.

 

Unformatted/unpartitioned drives should still show up in disk management, so you can partition and format it (and assign it a drive letter). If it doesn't show up in disk management on more than one machine I'd say the stick is knackered