From: Rod Speed on
alo wrote
> Man-wai Chang to The Door (+MS=32B)" <toylet.toylet(a)gmail.com> wrote
>> alo wrote

>>> After a reboot, I found that the USB device was no longer available
>>> (or the files on it) as xp reported it as requiring a format.

>>> Why would this happen, and do you think its possible to retrieve the
>>> data on the stick?

http://www.infinadyne.com/flashretriever.html
may be able to get it back, not free, but not all that expensive.

>> What if you unplug and re-plug in the USB?

> Different machines running xp all come up with the same response
> "the disk is not formatted..... etc"

Most likely it just died and the fact that XP was updating at the time it died is a coincidence.

They do die without XP updating.