Matt, thanks for the great reply.  "dd if=/dev/sdN of=/dev/null bs=512
count=1" produced no error. Dmesg reported :

[  842.633468] usb 5-1: USB disconnect, address 3
[  846.956017] usb 5-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address
5
[  847.093455] usb 5-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[  847.094812] scsi8 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[  847.095755] usb-storage: device found at 5
[  847.095765] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[  852.092605] usb-storage: device scan complete
[  852.093690] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access     LEXAR    JD FIREFLY
1100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[  852.097287] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] 3932160 512-byte hardware sectors (2013 MB)
[  852.098169] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[  852.098181] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
[  852.098187] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[  852.100540] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] 3932160 512-byte hardware sectors (2013 MB)
[  852.101411] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[  852.101417] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
[  852.101423] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[  852.101432]  sdb:
[  852.163712] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[  852.164313] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0



So I tried dd if=/dev/sdN of=/home/usb bs=512 count=3932160 and got no
errors, so the hardware is fine.

I could not get dd_rescue to work.

I decided that the MBR must be corrupted, so I downloaded an MBR replacer
for USB drives. It ran without error, but the flash drive still shows as
blank with no file system. I am guessing that what I need next is an MBR
editor that will allow me to report the 2MB VFAT32 file system again without
reformatting and losing all the data. I think the device would work fine
again if I just let QTParted rebuild the partition table and format, but I
would like to try and save the data first.

Mike





If "dd if=/dev/sdN of=/dev/null bs=512 count=1" returns errors, then
you've probably got serious hardware problems.  You could try using
dd_rescue to make a copy of the disk, but I wouldn't hold out too
much hope for that.  Whatever you do, turn off any automounter
thing, because it'll do stupid things when presented with a failing
disk.  When you plug the drive in, what does dmesg say about the
drive?  Reproduce those messages for us.

--
Matt G / Dances With Crows
The Crow202 Blog:  http://crow202.org/wordpress/
There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see