Xbox – Why won’t the Xbox read the flash drive anymore

xbox-360

I was playing NCAA Football 14 on my Xbox last night. This morning I turned on my Xbox and it wouldn't take me to the Xbox Dashboard. It just stayed at the startup Xbox 360 logo. I knew it didn't freeze because I could see the little green flames moving through the big "X" on the startup Xbox logo. Once I unplug my Sony 32 GB flash drive from the Xbox, it works just like normal, but without all of my hard earned saves on it. Now every time I start up my Xbox with my flash drive inserted, the Xbox won't leave the startup logo and my flash drive just starts softly flashing… Is there anyway I could transfer my Xbox content from one flash drive to another without using the Xbox? I'm really desperate because I have hundreds of dollars of data on this flash drive. Please can anybody help me?

Best Answer

Diagnosing this kind of thing can be hard, but not impossible. These are the things I would try:

  1. Plug your flash drive into another port on your Xbox 360. If this fixes it, you may want to have your 360 serviced, but your data should be safe. See "Servicing" below.
  2. Plug in a different flash drive on your Xbox 360 and see if it can boot, format the new flash drive and use it as a save device. If it can't then you should probably have your 360 serviced. See "Servicing" below.
  3. Plug in a powered USB hub (like the one that came with certain versions of Rock Band) into your Xbox 360 and plug the flash drive into that. If this fixes it, you may want to have your 360 serviced, but your data should be safe. See "Servicing" below.
  4. Plug your flash drive into another Xbox 360 and see if it has the same issue with your flash drive. If the new 360 will not boot, see "Data Recovery".
  5. If you don't have another 360 available, plug your flash drive into a computer and see if the computer can mount it. If the computer will not mount the flash drive, see "Data Recovery".
  6. If the computer will mount the flash drive, attempt to create a text file on it. If you cannot create a text file on it, see "Data Recovery".

Servicing

Call 1-800-4-MY-XBOX, explain the problem and the steps you took to diagnose it. They will be able to tell you what it will cost to have the 360 serviced, if anything, and approximately how long it will take.

Data Recovery

  • If the second 360 will not boot with your flash drive connected or if the computer will not mount the flash drive, then you will need to find a tool appropriate for the computer OS you use or a service to send the drive to.
  • If the computer will mount the drive, then I would suspect you can use a disk imaging tool appropriate for your platform to back up the data from your current flash drive and restore it to a new one.
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