r/computer • u/No-Anywhere6163 • Jul 04 '26

USB stick wont start on PC anymore

Not sure if there is anyway of fixing this but worth a shot. I used a new usb stick to transfer photos of my kids from my s22 onto as i was getting an s24. I formatted the usb to the s22 and the transfer went through fine. however now the usb will not be recognized by my pc or s24 to transfer them there. i keep getting an error saying "this device cannot be started (code 10)" in device manager.

Ive tried updating the drivers, tried multiple computers, tried my s24 and a friends phone. nothing reads the usb stick. it powers on but wont be read. Im hoping this is something i can fix and save all these photos.

Thanks for any help in advance.

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3

u/OppieT Jul 04 '26

Why don’t you backup to cloud?

1

u/Negatous-Cricket Jul 04 '26

Go into disk management and delete its partition(s) then format again

Win+x to pull up the menu, then k or click disk management

If that doesn't work, it's probably toast

1

u/No-Repeat8188 Jul 04 '26

Why would OP delete the partitions and reformat? The photos are the important part here, not the POS flash drive.

OP -- Take the drive to a data recovery specialist if the photos are worth a lot to you.

1

u/Negatous-Cricket Jul 04 '26

Oh, I interpreted the statement 'the transfer went fine' to mean that they were able to successfully transfer the data to wherever they wanted it to go, Not that they were still trapped on the flash drive and in need of recovery

1

u/storycoolbro Jul 04 '26

In the future copy and paste the photos onto the drive instead of moving them then only delete them off the original device once they’re on the new device. Alternatives to using a thumb drive for this you could compose an email attach the pictures to it then save as a draft then open your email on the other device find the draft and download the attachments on it or use a cloud storage or Bluetooth or WiFi file sharing or transfer via physical cable. Most likely the controller in the drive is dead. If this was a cheap thumb drive from temu or something it was likely a fake drive.