Well, I'm not sure if there's already been a thread like this. And I don't know where I'd put it, but it's about the PSP, so why not here?

So basically, my PSP can't read one of my memory cards.

It happened when I was at school, and my neice's dad (brother-in-law) was in the shower. Usually, being 2 years old, she'll behave well enough while she sits and looks at DVD covers while watching My Neighbor Totoro. But this time, she got to my PSP. It sits on a balcony-type ledge inside my house, which is over the staircase (opposite of where you walk). The drop from the ledge to the ground is about 8-9 feet high.

So my neice climbed up there and threw the PSP down the whole 8-9 feet. Apparently the UMD (Crisis Core) popped out, but that's about it. Her dad came out of the shower and put the PSP and disc in its rightful place.

Now here are the specifics to the hardware. I have a PSP-2000 here in the States. My memory card stick duo is the original Sony-PSP 32MB card. The system firmware is 3.95 (I haven't been able to update it in forever because I don't have wireless internet). The problem? Well, the PSP itself works fine. The UMD is fine, but the UMD drive works slowly. Which is okay. The problem is that the card does not read. My PSP stick drive can read the other stick duos I use in my camera. And when I put the the PSP32mb into my computer or camera as well, they don't even sense it. So no stick drives are broken, only the card itself. I get the generic "there is no memory card inserted" stuff.

Now I've searched online, and there were two general conclusions. One was to download a program called "PhotoRescue 2.1" which takes all your files and saves them into your computer for other memory cards. But this does not work. I wish it would, but how could it if NOTHING reads the card in the first place?

The second conclusion, which I take as risky, is to Format the thing. There's my biggest question. If I Format my stick, does it actually delete all my files on it, or just un-corrupt the card, or both? I haven't tried it, because I need the answer first. I don't even know if the Format menu will continue without saying "card is not inserted".

I REALLY don't wanna delete my data (all of which are only 8 game save files of Crisis Core), even at the risk of keeping the files corrupted. I wanna recover them somehow. I have a 70 hour save of Crisis Core with Lvl99 Zack, 255 stats on everything except luck (146), and all 300 missions beaten including Minerva.

So that's it. Is the only option formatting? If so, will everything be lost? Will formatting even work if nothing reads the card initially? What do I do if absolutely nothing works? Can I recover my data at all?

I'm not sure, but I can't think of anyway to get it off of there if nothing else can read it. I don't even know if formatting would help. You may just be screwed.

You could just download another Crisis Core save file with similar stats online if you are that worried about keeping your original one. They should be out there, although it isn't exactly quite as nice since you didn't do it yourself.

I've had my memory stick get corrupted before, but never so bad that another device won't read it...I hate to say it, but it sounds like your saves might be gone...sorry for your loss :( ...might as well try formating as a last ditch effort

Although this does give you an excuse to go buy a bigger memory stick :P

... So nobody else has any helpful advice?

really?

... *Sigh* Yes, strategyking, really. I was able to scrounge a free 32mb off my friend.

So... nobody STILL has any help?

oh, well, I feel sorry for you on 2 accounts :P my advice is to forgive and forget.
I mean, you have already beaten crisis core!