Hello
I'm really hoping someone can help me with this.
I've just got a brand new 16GB USB Flash Drive from Play.com. Its their own brand, and I've been using the 4GB version for years without any trouble.
I bought the 16GB version to transfer files larger than 4GB, so I proceeded to format the drive from FAT32 to NTFS through My Computer on a laptop running Vista. The format went through fine, giving a "Format Successful" message upon completion, so I used the Safely Remove Hardware icon to remove the drive and did so when a message popped up saying it was safe.
I then inserted the 16GB in a computer running XP SP3, and this is where more than two hours (so far) of annoyance started.
The 16GB drive now displays 0 Bytes used and 0 Bytes free. Double clicking it in My Computer gives a message saying there is no disk inserted.
I can't format it again.
I've uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled, but to no avail.
I've read about creating a partition on it, but can't seem to do so.
I've booted in Safe Mode to try reformatting but got the same error messages.
I've used an HP Formatting Utility, but still get messages saying there is no disk in the drive.
I've tried the stick in multiple USB ports on two computers and the laptop, but no change.
My other USB sticks still work, so its the new 16GB drive that is the problem. From all the Googling I've done, I think its been formatted to RAW, meaning the operating systems can't read it.
I have no idea what to do now. Does anyone have any more suggestions? Any help would be very much appreciated.
Just to clarify, I'm not trying recover files from it. It hasn't had any files on it. I'm trying to make it usable.
Thanks.

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