So a friend has come to me with a problem. They have a dead USB thumb drive which no longer responds when plugged into a machine.

I've tried it in a Mac and it doesn't even respond, at least on a Windows XP machine it sees that it is there but can't show it in explorer, just that whatever is plugged in has malfunctioned. There is obviously current because the activity light on the drive illuminates.

I'm looking for suggestions, please. I have access to Mac or Windows hardware and am happy to experiment (and even to pay if the solution works!)

It's a bit late to recommend regular backups, but in the lack of that, what's the next best forensic advice?

Edit: I should stress that, if possible, we're trying to rescue the data, after all, thumb drives are basically disposable and hardly worth the bother if there's no emotional or functional reason for wanting to rescue it!