I've got 3 old usb pens (about 5 years) it was a thing where you could just plug a cable into it and use as storage. I decided to pull them out and see what was on them. All 3 are saying 'USB device not recognised) when I plug them in. I can imagine one is faulty but hard to believe all 3 are. I have tried all the normal advice online such as resetting USB options in device manager etc. Also tried them on another (NEW) computer and same result. The last time I used them was probably on a pre windows 10 computer. about 5 years ago . Could it be just a file system thing? I feel that if I found an old windows computer and plugged them in they would simply work, any ideas? They don't appear in file explorer or disk management. Thanks in advance.

They decay over time which is probably the most likely cause, the odd one is corrosion on joints and contacts but usually not a problem if they've just been in a drawer or similar. Open the card with a hex editor and see if there's any data if so try carving otherwise we usually get something back with chipoff.

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Thanks for your help

I'd say first thing is determine if they're correctly detected:



This has little to do with the Windows version.

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Joep - http://www.disktuna.com - video & photo repair & recovery service