Bitcoin Forum

So someone told me to set up a cold wallet. The USB has been sitting in my drawer almost 18 months now. I have a lot of money in there and now I want to sell it.

So I plugged it in to my USB and I'm getting this error:

http://i58.tinypic.com/2jb77nd.gif

Any techies know what to do?

what kind of USB you are talking now sir ?

hardware wallet ?

It's some kind of encryption. I have the password written down with pen and paper. Where do I put the password?

I have had this issue happen to me with a few different USB devices (flash drives) and have been able to solve it every time by doing the following: Finding another computer on which the device will open properly, ejecting the device properly, and then connecting the device to the computer that previously stated it was not recognized. Then voila! It is now recognized. This has happened to me about 5 times with two different devices, and this method has not failed for me so far.
A simple restart of the Windows computer can sometimes solve this problem.

Are you able to open the drive once you plug it into your PC and see the file on it?  I'm guessing not but just making sure.  If you can't then it could be that the usb drive is bad now.  I would try plugging it into a different USB port on the same machine to see if you get any different results. 

So I tried BYclouder Data Recovery (Pro version), but that doesn't work either.

Remove the USB Device, turn off the computer and then disconnect the power cord.
Wait at least 30 seconds, reconnect the power cord and then turn the computer back on.
Plug the USB Device into the computer.
Be sure to connect the USB cord or USB device per the device manufacturer instructions

Try plugging it into another computer.

Can you post the brand of your Flash Drive here?
Maybe it has a software :)

plug in your pendrive in other ports and see if it works.

1. Open RUN (Windows Logo + R) and type “devmgmt.msc” and click OK
2. Now expand Universal Serial Bus controllers
3. Attach your device which is not recognized
4. You will see an Unknown USB device (Port reset failed) with yellow sign in Universal Serial Bus controllers
5. Now right click on it and click Uninstall to remove them
6. Now restart your PC and reinstall the USB drivers again. That’s it

If not working, then Uninstall all devices under Universal Serial Bus controllers one by one and reinstall.

Was this ever solved?

Let's hope so. USBs are not very trustworthy and one needs to be very careful. I have learned that the hard way actually, lost about $10 worth of alt-coins.

i had the same problem with my flash drive. whatever i did windows could not recognise the device. after so many tries i found out that the problem was from my USB port not the flash itself!

You better backup your wallet in few diffrent location instead of just the USB, USB could fail anytime and your BTC gone..

Please , do not Uninstall all the USB devices unnecessarily , that will not help , if the above process doesn't help ,as you say

It's some kind of encryption. I have the password written down with pen and paper. Where do I put the password?

The main problem which happens to me all the time here is easily solved if i use a different port
Their might be some reason it is happening because of Encryption, if it's something like Trezor or any other hardware USB wallet then contact their support.

Plug it into another computer let it install the drivers and then plug it back into your other one. I get that error quite often with my flash drives and seldom with my external. It always works.

you could plug it to another port or restart windows, but the only way is to use it with another machine to see if it is windows or the usb itself

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/usb-device-not-recognized

Hmmm ... I'd start a computer with an Ubuntu Live CD and plug the USB stick in it.
You should be able to access any file on the USB Key.

If that won't work, I recommend using pywallet ( https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=34028.0 )
Make pywallet look on the USB key partition for private keys.

If you have another computer (or a way to access Skype) I can help you with the manipulations.
I already recovered a lot of lost altcoins with pywallet ...

Feel free to PM me. :)

I also have my cold wallet stored on a USB flash drive and this thread gives me shivers.

@OP, did you ever solve this problem?
If yes, what steps you took?

I would now consider putting double-encrypted copy of my cold wallet in some kind of cloud storage also.

I had this problem and solved it... plugging it in another USB port.
I know, it's stupid and simply, but worth trying!

I have observed that this method does not work when the usb itself has gone bad. It just won't install on the computer.

The ghost of bitcoin is telling you not to sell it :D

But seriously, the drive can be damaged , so if I were you, I would take it to a device repair shop and see if they can clone the data from it.