Buffer I/O error on dev sdb and unable to read partition table

Question

My USB flash drive is no longer working after using it at one of this self-service-photo-print-machines. The software on that machine crashed when I was scrolling through my photos on my flash drive and just wanted to change the viewing order of the files. I was not able to read anything from the flash drive after that crash.

Inserting the drive on my Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS and looking into the /var/log/syslog, I see the following (related) error messages:

kernel: [2661765.200803] usb-storage 4-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
kernel: [2661765.201724] scsi host6: usb-storage 4-1:1.0
mtp-probe: checking bus 4, device 9: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb4/4-1"
mtp-probe: bus: 4, device: 9 was not an MTP device
upowerd[2591]: unhandled action 'bind' on /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb4/4-1/4-1:1.0
upowerd[2591]: unhandled action 'bind' on /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb4/4-1
org.xfce.FileManager[2344]: thunar-volman: Unsupported USB device type "usb".
org.xfce.FileManager[2344]: thunar-volman: Unsupported USB device type "usb-storage".
kernel: [2661766.632180] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     JetFlash Transcend 64GB   1100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
kernel: [2661766.632813] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
kernel: [2661766.634459] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 123404288 512-byte logical blocks: (63.2 GB/58.8 GiB)
kernel: [2661766.635203] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
kernel: [2661766.635205] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
kernel: [2661766.636058] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
kernel: [2661766.640941] scsi_io_completion: 4 callbacks suppressed
kernel: [2661766.640944] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
kernel: [2661766.640947] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Not Ready [current] 
kernel: [2661766.640949] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Medium not present
kernel: [2661766.640952] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00
kernel: [2661766.640953] print_req_error: 4 callbacks suppressed

The flash drive seems to be recognized, although the size is wrong, it has 128 GB.

After those messages, however, the Buffer I/O error appears:

kernel: [2661766.640954] print_req_error: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
kernel: [2661766.640957] buffer_io_error: 3 callbacks suppressed
kernel: [2661766.640958] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
kernel: [2661766.641870] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
kernel: [2661766.641873] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Not Ready [current] 
kernel: [2661766.641875] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Medium not present
kernel: [2661766.641877] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00

The following part is repeated 8 times:

kernel: [2661766.641878] print_req_error: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
kernel: [2661766.641881] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 0, async page read
kernel: [2661766.642774] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
kernel: [2661766.642776] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Sense Key : Not Ready [current] 
kernel: [2661766.642777] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 Add. Sense: Medium not present
kernel: [2661766.642778] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00

The final part is as follows:

kernel: [2661766.649002] print_req_error: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 24
kernel: [2661766.649004] Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 3, async page read
kernel: [2661766.650832]  sdb: unable to read partition table
kernel: [2661766.653438] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
org.xfce.FileManager[2344]: thunar-volman: Unknown block device type "disk".
colord-sane: io/hpmud/pp.c 627: unable to read device-id ret=-1

I am worried about the unable to read partition table part, but that might be related to the Buffer I/O.

I have no idea how to restore my flash drive, as # smartctl -a /dev/sdb results only in

/dev/sdb: Unknown USB bridge [0x8564:0x1000 (0x1100)]
Please specify device type with the -d option.

Manually setting the type with # smartctl -d scsi -a /dev/sdb gives the following output (local time and serial number removed as they should not be important)

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Vendor:               JetFlash
Product:              Transcend 64GB
Revision:             1100
Compliance:           SPC-4
User Capacity:        63.182.995.456 bytes [63,1 GB]
Logical block size:   512 bytes
LU is fully provisioned
scsiModePageOffset: response length too short, resp_len=4 offset=4 bd_len=0
Logical Unit id:      0x00010200000608040x2020030102060804error: SCSI name string
Device type:          disk
scsiModePageOffset: response length too short, resp_len=4 offset=4 bd_len=0
SMART support is:     Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is:     Disabled
Temperature Warning:  Disabled or Not Supported

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Health Status: OK
Current Drive Temperature:     0 C
Drive Trip Temperature:        0 C

Error Counter logging not supported

scsiModePageOffset: response length too short, resp_len=4 offset=4 bd_len=0
Device does not support Self Test logging

Again, wrong size.

Any suggestions how I could try to get access to my flash-drive are greatly appreciated!