mikelustig Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 I have been using my 16GB Flash Voyager for about 2 months now, and a few days ago, upon inserting it it was no longer recognized normally, but instead as a USBest USB2FlashStorage device. It is still given a drive letter by Windows as a removable drive, but contains no media (like a card reader with no card in it). I have tried this in 4 different computers now, both Windows XP and Linux (Ubuntu 8-10) and the result is the same in all of the XP machines. I couldn't see the device at all using Ubuntu (I have verified that I can read other flash drives with the Ubuntu box). I have searched for this issue in these forums and elsewhere. Based on recommendations I have found, I have tried myriad flash diagnostic, data recovery, and formatting tools on the drive, but none of them recognize or try to act on it because the drive appears to have no media. The only recommendation that I have heard and been unable to try indicated that this may be caused by corrupted firmware in the controller chip (the USBest part) and that flashing a new firmware onto that chip can correct the problem. However, I have searched high and low for such firmware, and can not find it. Is it true that I could re-flash the firmware of the controller chip, and if so, can Corsair provide me with software to do so? I would like to try everything short of a data recovery company to get the data off of this drive before RMAing it. Thanks for your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted April 17, 2009 Corsair Employee Share Posted April 17, 2009 Let's get it replaced, please use the On Line RMA Request Form and we will be happy to replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikelustig Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 I'll take that as a "no" to the firmware question, too bad :(. Although it is now inaccessible to me, I believe that is possible that the data on the drive could be recovered by pulling the chips off of it and reading them directly, then reconstructing the data, or possibly replacing the controller chip in the drive with an identical one and reading the data off directly. I imagine that is what a data recovery company would do if I had the money for such a service. What I'm getting at is that the data on the drive is sensitive financial data, and although the risk is slim that it would ever be recovered, I don't feel comfortable RMA-ing it with even a 0.001% chance of that data getting into the open. Can I microwave or otherwise destroy the flash chips and still RMA it? And just to say I tried... is there anything (other than exotic methods involving precision soldering and raw flash readers) that I can do to try to recover the data from this drive? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted April 17, 2009 Corsair Employee Share Posted April 17, 2009 I am sorry I do not have the answer for that I would suggest contacting our Customer Service Our hours are from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific time Monday through Friday, please try to call them again at 888-222-4346 or 510-657-8747 Ext "3" and do not hit any other extension or send an email to rma@corsairmemory.com along with your RMA# and ask them to check the status for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stenrico Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 Hi, I bought the Corsair Voyager 16G from Newegg last Christmas and now, all of a sudden, is not recognized correctly by any computer I tried. It is detected as "USBest USB2FlashStorage USB Device", and says it has no media inserted! Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted April 21, 2009 Corsair Employee Share Posted April 21, 2009 Let's get it replaced, please use the On Line RMA Request Form and we will be happy to replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbvamsi Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 I have the exact same issue with a Voyager 8GB. It was working fine till an hour ago and now it is recognized as USBest device and when I try to open it or format it, it gives me a message asking me to insert media in drive F. This is a very new flash drive I have. I bought it only a month ago. I already created an RMA request. Hope I can get a reply back soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted April 23, 2009 Corsair Employee Share Posted April 23, 2009 It will take 24-48 hours to get a reply currently we are about 20-30 Hours back log on RMA requests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatAir Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 Exact same issue with the 32GB Survivor (CMFUSBSRVR-32GB) - very disappointing. I am an IT Professional. I constantly advise/harrass clients to Back Up Important Data - but hadn't taken my own advice here :o: I have "gone through" a lot of Flash Drives from various manufacturers. [c. 80% were damaged while carrying them in my pocket (connector becomming loose)] Thought the Survivor was the answer to all my prayers (once its heavy-duty cover is screwed-on, the drive cannot get damaged in your pocket). This obviously doesn't protect it from other failures - didn't anticipate the damned thing Failing with less-than 3 months of use. The Drive contains Data, that is of paramount importance. I have been trying to access it with various utilities for the past week, without success - though I haven't given up yet. I will continue trying for some time - If I fail, it will go to a Reputable Data Recovery Company, who can dis-assemble the drive & hopefully recover the Data. I have recovered many corrupted/accidently formatted/partly overwritten & failing, etc: HDDs, Pen/Flash Drives, Memory cards, Floppies, etc. I do not dis-assemble Drives, (except in the case of a Pen Drive where I am certain that the USB connector is breaking away from the minature circuit board). Corsair, Nederland, have assigned me an RSA # (without difficulty) - but returning the Drive to Corsair for a Replacement is not a rational option, at this time. Should speak to Corsair Customer Service also. Regards.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-4.5 Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 I am also having the same trouble with an 8GB Flash Voyager... I searched around online and downloaded a product from DataDoctor.. http://www.datadoctor.in/data-recovery-software/pen-drive-data-recovery-software.html Tried the demo 1st and it found my data using the advanced mode. I then purchased the product and saved all of my data. The device still is being recognized as USBest device and will not work correctly in my laptop or other machines. I was very suspect that the device may have got a virus/spyware from being used in a customer system that was not protected properly. It does look like the device malfunctioned rather than neing infected with something. I to will be going thru the RMA process. Good Luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-4.5 Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 I would like to update my last post to stay the software I used found most items. My 8gb stick resulted in the finding of 12.3 GB of data. I have not had the chance to go thru all of the folders/files but obviously something was wrong with what it pulled from the stick. I tried again this morning to see if I could read the drive with this same program and it cannot recognize the device even being installed. I am thinking I was truly very lucky in saving any data from the stick. backup, backup , backup.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted May 11, 2009 Corsair Employee Share Posted May 11, 2009 Please use the link I posted previously and we will be happy to replace them or it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg_G Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Let's get it replaced, please use the On Line RMA Request Form and we will be happy to replace it. Not exactly the pinnacle of support efforts there buddy! I had the exact same problem with a 64Gb Flash Voyager (CMFUSBHC-64GB) yesterday, and as you can understand with over 25Gb of stuff on it, an RMA is entirely out of the question. So I began to dig a bit deeper (finding this thread on my travels - but finding no help). Eventually I managed to get my voyager to work again by uninstalling the drivers for the "USBest" device that seems to have appeared. I'm not sure if it's a case of windows mistakenly thinking my drive was an actual USBest device or if Corsair use USBest controllers in their own drives, but thankfully I've got my pen drive up and running again, so I thought I should do my bit and report back here for anyone else following the same problem path (seeing as the 'Guru' isn't really bristling with ideas) :sigh!: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted May 21, 2009 Corsair Employee Share Posted May 21, 2009 In most cases once that happens reinstalling the Mas storage driver may or may not work and replacing the drive is the best option. However most people who post like this do not have the knowledge to do this and I will not attempt to tell them, but would be happy if asked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helpfixmyflash Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 In most cases once that happens reinstalling the Mas storage driver may or may not work and replacing the drive is the best option. However most people who post like this do not have the knowledge to do this and I will not attempt to tell them, but would be happy if asked. Officially asking for help with replacing the Mass storage driver on my 16gb voyager, now reading USBest... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted March 8, 2011 Corsair Employee Share Posted March 8, 2011 You will need to replace the drive sorry but the system is not the problem in this case. Please use the link on the left and request an RMA and we will be happy to replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingskid Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Looking for guidance here. My 16GB Voyager just recently was recognized as a USBest device by my laptop and shows up with as Drive E in Explorer, but when clicked says no media. I tried this again on three different computers and had the same response. Then several days later I tried it again and it read correctly, but about 8GB of data had been corrupted. I really don't trust it anymore - is there any repair possible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted May 25, 2011 Corsair Employee Share Posted May 25, 2011 Please use the link on the left and request an RMA and we can replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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