Recovery of USB flash drives has its own characteristics. The good news: these devices, unlike sd cards, are repairable. Therefore, if you cannot exchange a USB flash drive under warranty, why not take advantage of a 60-70% chance to repair it.

The article will consider various cases, typical problems associated with the breakdown of flash drives, and options for solving them.

Recover data or repair a USB flash drive?

They are not the same, although the concepts are interrelated.

The main task that the repair solves is to restore the operability of the flash drive so that it:

• was defined as a storage device in Disk management,
• was correctly defined in Explorer,
• read and write data.

As a result repair usb a flash drive can easily lose all data on it, while it will be available for writing and reading.

File recovery is possible only on a working USB flash drive.

The main reasons for the breakdown of a USB flash drive

How to understand that a USB flash drive needs repair:

• When a flash drive is connected, the LED on its case does not light up;
• The device is not recognized on another computer / laptop;
• The flash drive is defined as an unidentified usb device.

Damaging your usb media is as easy as shelling pears. Like any physical device, flash memory is subject to external influences(shock, thermal effect, water ingress, etc.). In addition, there are a number of software errors, due to which the flash drive does not work.

The pins of the USB connector are damaged

Often, the problem lies in the damaged contact between the controller and the USB connector.

How to check. To test your flash drive for this problem, test it on a different computer. Alternatively, insert another USB flash drive (if available) into the USB port of the same computer.

If other flash drives are readable on the PC without problems, the problem is probably in the current storage medium.

If you cannot read data from a flash drive only on this computer, the problem may be in the USB sockets of the PC or laptop motherboard.

How to fix.

1. Here is a link to a third-party guide on how to repair a USB connector: Self-repair of a USB connector on a laptop.
2. If you do not want to poke around in the wires, it is better to give a PC or a USB flash drive with a broken usb port for repair. The approximate cost of replacing usb is $ 20 - 50.

Hardware-mechanical problem: damaged controller

Most often, everything rests on the flash drive controller, which is the main link in the operation of the drive. The controller contains important microcircuits, and a disconnection of the contact or burnout of the leg will make data recovery on a USB flash drive very problematic.

How to fix a USB flash drive.

1. Replace the controller yourself (which is unrealistic at home).
2. Take the usb drive to the service - however, repairing the flash memory will cost a lot of money. You will not find a controller for a USB flash drive on sale. The laboratory can find a donor flash drive and "transplant" the faulty controller.
3. If the data stored on the USB stick is vital and you'd like to recover it, the lab can use expensive hardware and software to retrieve the data bypassing the hardware controller.

The cost of services can be found directly from the specialists in the company engaged in the repair of flash drives in your city. It can start from $ 30 and go up to $ 500 - 1000.

Re-flashing a damaged flash drive

The USB flash drive contains firmware - microcode with service data. If the usb firmware is damaged, the flash drive will inevitably stop working.

How to fix. Such a USB flash drive cannot be formatted with the usual universal software like SDFormatter. It will need a complete “trepanation” - flashing. This will require a proprietary utility from the manufacturer.

However, you can only reflash a USB flash drive by knowing the name of the controller. The difficulty lies in the fact that manufacturers, as a rule, use different types and models of controllers and can implement not only their own, but also others' developments. Therefore, it is not always possible to immediately determine the type of flash memory controller.

Fortunately, there are special programs that allow you to determine the type of VID & PID * for Transcend drives, Silicon power and etc.; we will list them with a link to the installers.

(* VID is manufacturer ID, PID is device ID.)

After the warranty repair, all photos on the smartphone and on the SD card are gone.

Answer... A very vague question. Produced warranty repair what - mobile device or memory card? All your claims against performers are governed by your contract.

As for data recovery on an sd-card, use specialized applications, which, in fact, this site is dedicated to.

A 2GB flash card from an old Nokia phone, the phone perfectly sees the flash drive, the tablet and other phones cannot. My equipment sees someone else's flash cards.

Answer... If other flash cards do not open on your, as you say yourself, old Nokia, it is most likely because the phone simply does not support new technologies. Review the documentation and specifications for your device. Perhaps it's time to upgrade your hardware?

My micro flash drive 32GB broke in half. How can I restore information on this USB flash drive, tell me, please, where and who can help me, how to fix the USB flash drive?

Answer... Alas, this flash drive cannot be repaired or somehow revived. If the firmware on your flash drive “flew”, then you could give some chance for recovery. As for physical damage, it all depends on the damage. If the flash memory chips are intact, you can read the data through a PC 3000 Flash reader, etc.

Only Possible Solution(if the files are not very important) - purchase a new microsd card.

The flash drive does not open, does not appear as removable drive is not displayed in Device Manager. Physical impact is excluded, because there are three such flash drives, different people worked with them.

Answer... You have not specified the type of memory you are working with. In any case, if the flash drive or sd card does not open, I would advise you to check the operation of the flash card on other devices. Test it on other phones or devices to which you can pair it. If it is an sd card, try connecting it to your PC via a card reader.

Check if the attached device is detected in the device manager. If so, use any disk partitioning program or regular means Windows, or proprietary software available on the USB flash drive developer's website to format the USB flash drive to NTFS or FAT.

During the formatting of the flash drive (transcend), they pulled out the USB flash drive from the PC. It was clear that she would no longer work, the check confirmed this. The computer does not detect the USB flash drive, the indicator blinks all the time, it is not in "my computer", it is in the device manager, it says that it is working normally, it is defined as a storage device. Help restore the transcend flash drive!

Answer... The file table on your flash drive is likely damaged. You can still restore the operation of a flash drive if you create a partition on it and format it. You can reanimate a flash drive, as already mentioned, using specialized utilities like Acronis Disc Director, etc., but it is best to use the TestDisk application to break up and restore the transcend flash drive.

The flash drive was encrypted in TrueCrypt, I reinstalled the OS, mount the flash drive, the files are displayed, but when I try to open them, it gives an error - access is denied. Can you tell me if the information can be saved if the flash drive is not detected after encryption?

Answer... You will need a client program to work with Truecrypt. Alas, on this moment truecrypt.org is down and the project is closed. So try to find the app somewhere on the internet. After that, when opening files, you will need to enter a password to access your files.

The USB flash drive has been reset and the system requires formatting the USB flash drive, but I need to save very important and expensive files. Help!

Answer... Under no circumstances agree to format your USB flash drive! Instead, use data recovery software and try to recover the missing partition on your storage device. You can safely copy all saved information to HDD and then look for exactly what you need among these rubble.

There is a flash drive JetFlash Transcend 8GB. Has ceased to be determined by the system. Formatted it with JetFlash Online Recovery and it deleted all data from the flash drive. Is it now possible to recover the Transcend flash drive, that is, the data on it?

Answer... To restore a Transcend flash drive, the Unformat program is suitable. The chances of recovery depend on the depth of formatting. Anyway, use the deep scan option. Alternatively, try Recuva with a similar scan option.

There are a huge number of reasons why a flash drive does not work, and there are also many degrees of malfunction of your drive, depending on which the available number of methods for repairing such equipment changes.

Why are flash drives so popular?

It's no secret that USB drives are extremely common these days. It is no longer just a data storage medium, but a full-fledged accessory that haunts its owner everywhere. If literally 10 years ago only wealthy people walked with flash drives up to 2 GB, then today almost every modern person has a flash drive with a volume of 16 GB or more. However, despite the fact that modern people often face the fact that a flash drive does not work, not everyone is trying to figure out why this happens, how to fix it later.

Advantages and disadvantages

Not everyone understands why USB drives are so widespread these days, but this happened due to the huge number of advantages of such drives:

• Compactness.
• Absolutely silent operation.
• Enough rewriting potential.
• Resistant to external influences far superior to standard hard drives.
• Reliability of data storage for a long time.
• Versatility and availability.
• Sufficient storage space.
• Relatively low cost.

It is this popularity that has led to the fact that the flash drive does not work for many users, because the more people use such devices, the more such cases appear. At the same time, it should be noted that, in fact, with all their advantages, such drives also differ in a number of disadvantages, which few people also think about. Quite often, it happens that the flash drive does not work due to its breakdown or even complete unsuitability for further use. The user often does not think that it is possible to recover files from such drives, unless, of course, some extremely important data has been lost. But in fact, in the vast majority of cases, instead of buying a new device, you can return an existing drive to work.

Why do they break?

There are many reasons why the flash drive does not work. What to do in each individual situation depends directly on why such a device broke down. There are only three main reasons:

• The USB flash drive was removed from the computer slot incorrectly.
• The device has exhausted its potential (data can be rewritten only a limited number of times).
• During the operation of the equipment, a power or voltage surge occurred.

In fact, this is far from a complete list of why the flash drive does not work. What to do in certain situations, in more detail in individual cases experts are already considering, and you just need to know how you could fix a broken device on your own or make it so that specialists can fix it later.

In the majority of cases, the controller initially breaks down in the flash drive. Determining a breakdown is often quite simple - you insert a device into a certain slot, but instead of displaying a separate disk to which you can copy some information, the system says that you need to completely format the new disk, the device is unavailable, or you you observe that the drive has been formatted in RAW format.

"Only for reading"

It often happens that the flash drive on the phone or computer does not work, and when trying to access the device, an error pops up with the message "Read only". This malfunction is due to the fact that the drive is already gradually starting to work out its life, as a result of which the controller switches the equipment into the so-called memory self-protection mode, which excludes the possibility of recording in order to keep it in a normal state physical structure devices. But at the same time, a situation often occurs that the blocking occurs for a more banal reason - the controller in your device simply broke, so the flash drive does not work in the car, at home or anywhere else.

Of course, this is unpleasant news for those who want to fix the device itself, since, in principle, this will no longer be possible, and the only thing that can still be done is to restore information from the drive, which is what many people do.

What if the device is broken?

As mentioned above, in order to determine what exactly needs to be done in a given situation, you first need to understand why the flash drive does not work on the computer. In particular, there are two options:

• Recovering information from a drive.
• Repair of the device itself.

You often have to choose among these options for the reason that in some difficult situations, when restoring information, the device remains unusable in the future, while all the information stored in the drive is lost during repair.

Guarantee

When you buy a USB flash drive in an official store, in any case, you must be provided with a specialized warranty card, which indicates the conditions and, of course, the terms in which you can get free repair or exchange, if you suddenly find that the micro flash drive is not working. If the USB drive breaks down during this period of time, then you have every right to take it back to the store and request an exchange for a new device for free. At the same time, you should initially understand that no one will restore information from your drive, they will simply provide you with a new one, since it makes no sense for the store to carry out repairs, and even more so to restore from your device.

Repair of physical faults

If we assume that the device itself was not severely damaged, and you roughly understand the reasons for the malfunction and you can donate data, then the first thing you should do if the USB flash drive does not work is to format it. However, you should make an informed decision: are you really ready to lose data, or would you still like to recover it. If you nevertheless decide that the files stored in the device are really important to you, then in case of physical damage, you will need to contact the company so that the information will be returned to you there using special equipment. However, as already mentioned, after that you will no longer be able to use the USB flash drive.

How do specialists restore?

In principle, it is recommended to contact specialized companies if you are faced with such a situation that the flash drive does not work. How to restore, the appropriate specialist will already decide, however, in the majority of cases, especially when it comes to physical damage, specialized equipment is used to restore printed circuit boards, or the memory chip is completely removed from the board, and data will already be extracted directly from it.

What do you need to repair?

If you do decide that you can risk the data on the device if the USB flash drive does not work on the computer, you will need to have the following tools:

• Soldering iron.
• Old USB cable.
• Pliers or wire cutters.
• A small flathead screwdriver.
• Magnifying glass.

It should be noted right away that you can independently carry out repairs only if we are talking about a broken connector. If for any other reason the micro-flash drive does not work, only a qualified specialist who has experience in this area and specialized diagnostic equipment will understand what to do.

How to repair?

Initially, you should use a screwdriver to free the drive from the protective case by unscrewing the cover from it. Now you should take a magnifying glass and look at the printed circuit board with it in order to determine why the flash drive is not working. If there is any damage to the contact pads, you will no longer be able to cope with the problem on your own.

Use pliers to cut the end of the cable, while biting off the female end, if we are not talking about a male-to-male plug. Now strip approximately 0.6 cm of each of the wires inside the cable. If you don't have an extra cable, you can try soldering the pieces with an electrical wire to each of the prongs for the broken connector. This way you can make your own mini cable.

Now each of the wires should be soldered to the contact pads. It is worth noting that you need to connect the wires in the correct order from left to right - black, green, white and then ultimately red. If you used your own wires instead of a cable, then simply solder each individual wire to the corresponding pads, regardless of color. Now you just have to plug the other end of the cable, and connect the device to your computer. If the device has been identified, you can enjoy the repair done.

If you tried to connect, but the flash drive is still not recognized, then in this case the problem lies in something else, and a layman cannot determine this problem with the naked eye. That is why you should either consider enlisting the support of qualified specialists who can restore data or even the drive's performance, or you can simply throw the device away and think about which one to buy next.

V modern world people are used to using flash drives to transfer information. A few years ago there were disks, and before that there were floppy disks. Compared to these already outdated devices, the flash drive is much more productive and smaller in volume. Of course, with such popularity, they began to develop rapidly, and now you can already find an external drive from 1 GB to 516 GB.

Unfortunately, like any other technique, they can break. This happens for various reasons: they took out a USB flash drive while recording, or it broke from heavy loads, etc. Users began to look for options on how to repair a USB flash drive. If the problem is with the hardware, then you can simply throw it away. Another case is software glitches. In this case, you can try to restore the external drive. Don't just carry your USB stick to service center, since it is not difficult to bring a USB flash drive back to life, the main thing is to be guided by the rules. Let's take a look at how to repair a USB flash drive yourself.

The flash drive does not open

Perhaps you connected a USB flash drive, the computer sees it, but when you try to open the contents, errors occur. If the computer displays "No access", then, most likely, you need to clean the external drive from viruses.

What is the problem? After getting into the USB flash drive malicious files, they created an autorun.inf file. He is the reason why the external drive does not start.

How to repair a USB flash drive? In this case, you need to check the external drive with an antivirus. After you remove the malicious files, we need to manually remove the autorun.inf file. Go to "My Computer" and right-click on the USB flash drive. Then we select the "Open" item. A flash drive will open in a new window, we just have to delete the malicious file.

USB stick is not formatted

The reason why the flash drive does not open may be a memory failure. How to repair a USB flash drive? In this case, it is sufficient to format the external drive. Unfortunately, all content will be erased.

Go to "My Computer" and right-click on the external drive. Next, you need to select the "Format" item. Unfortunately, this method does not always help. If you failed to restore the external drive, then you must try the second method.

So, we need to go to the "Disk Manager" directory. To do this, press the key combination Win + R. In a new window, enter the command diskmgmt.msc and click "OK". The "Disk Manager" will open, where we need to select the USB flash drive and click "Format".

on the computer

To make sure that the problem with external storage, you need to get it out and try to insert it into other USB connectors located on motherboard... If the problem persists, then you need to check the USB drive on another computer.

How to repair a micro-SD flash drive? First you need to check it in other USB ports. If the problem persists, the problem may be in the card reader. Try changing it.

If the external drive is detected on another computer, then you need to try to uninstall the drivers. How to do it? Go to the "Control Panel", where we select the "Device Manager" directory. In the new window, we are looking for the line "Memorable USB device"And remove the driver.

After the steps taken, turn off the USB flash drive and restart the computer. After that, we connect the USB drive and install new drivers.

If the reinstallation does not bring results, then you need to clean the registry branches. They contain all the information about your device. First, we need to collect this information, or rather, find out several parameters (PID and VID). To find out this data, you need to return to the "Device Manager" directory and right-click on the USB flash drive. Go to the "Information" item, where the device code will be displayed.

After that, press the key combination Win + R, in a new window, enter the regedit command. This will open the registry editor, where we need to find two parameters, the first ends with the word USB, and the second USBSTOR. We open these directories and look for identifiers, after which we delete them. We reboot the computer and check the performance of the external drive.

External storage is detected but dimensions are not displayed

If you find yourself with such a problem, then there were memory failures. How to repair a USB flash drive? In this case, you need to download the ChipGenius program. So we can find out the VID and PID of your external drive. After you have found the model of the flash drive chip, you need to go to the flashboot.ru website, where you need to enter the received data. We start the search. So what have we found? These are the appropriate drivers and utilities for your removable disk. After installation, your USB stick should work.

How to repair a USB flash drive if all else fails

Of course, there may be various problems with an external drive that do not allow you to restore a USB flash drive according to the problems already described. There is another way to bring your removable disk back to life. However, this method is suitable specifically for a flash drive, memory cards cannot be restored this way. If you are tormented by the question of how to repair a Transcend flash drive, then try this method.

Where do you start? We take our USB drive and remove the plastic cover. We need to put our device into test mode. Flip the USB stick as shown in the picture. There is a small button in the corner that needs to be closed. As a rule, it is necessary to close contacts 29 and 30. How to do this? Take a needle and press in the right place.

We insert the removable disk so that the computer detects the USB flash drive and it becomes available. Only after that we open the contacts. However, do not disconnect it from the computer, as it will not work yet. Next, you need to install drivers and utilities, we have already covered how to do this.

Output

After these steps, your USB device should work. If it doesn't, then there may be a hardware problem. In this case, it is easier to throw it away than to restore it. As you have already noticed, it is not difficult to repair a USB flash drive if the problem lies in the software part. However, in order to quickly and efficiently restore your device, you need to immediately identify the problem.

Hello everyone! In this article, we will talk about such cases when the flash drive is not detected at all on any computer. So it will be detailed instructions for restoration.

I must say that the experimental USB drive is already familiar to you from past publications, since not so long ago we restored information from it and. If you have not read it yet, you can familiarize yourself with it.

The situation changed for the better only when a good old utility called Hard Disk Low Level Format Tool... She helped solve the problem and save money by bringing the drive back to life.

So what needs to be done. The first step is to install the above program from the official website of the developers. It is small, weighs very little. We launch it and select the "Continue for free" item:

Then, in general, our flash drive appears, which in the very Windows system 10 is not defined at all. That is, there is no it anywhere and that's it:

Select it and click the "Continue" button below to proceed to the formatting process. In this case, you probably shouldn't warn that all data will be lost as a result of this process. 😉

In the next step, go to the "Low-Level Format" section and click the "Format This Device" button:

After that, the program will once again ask about the seriousness of our intentions. Here, just like in the registry office, we say "Yes" again:

That's all, friends, now you just have to wait for the low-level erasing of the USB drive to complete. After that, the long-suffering flash drive was finally identified in the system, but upon the first access to it, it was "asked" to be formatted again. Well, let's not contradict:

We start the repeated procedure using the standard tools of the great and terrible Windows:

As a result, guys, the flash drive that had not been detected before successfully worked. Therefore, we can safely say that the detailed instructions for recovery were still successful.

If you still have any questions, ask them in the comments to the publication. And that's all for now and see you again. In conclusion, as always, let's watch another interesting video.

A USB flash drive is an information storage device that can be connected to any PC via a USB interface. Quite often this device stops working normally, what should I do? Below, will be considered the most effective ways flash drive treatment and fixes for typical errors when working with the device.

Follow all the steps sequentially - if the first method did not help, move on to the next and so on.

What to do if the flash drive stops working

In the modern IT industry, the KISS-principle is relevant in a narrow circle meaning "Make it easier!" Without a special need, there is no need to edit the registry, use complex hardware troubleshooting methods, or try to implement other procedures - it is worth starting with the simplest steps.

1. Try connecting the USB flash drive to another PC, laptop or other device for communication via the USB interface. If the flash drive does not work, then with 100 percent probability it can be argued that the problem is in it - and it is necessary immediately go to utilities for recovering and fixing a flash drive.
2. If the flash drive works on another computer, or at least it is detected by Windows (but "Explorer" and "This / My Computer" do not appear), then it is necessary troubleshoot the OS or file system using the instructions below.

1. Disconnect the drive by pulling it out of the USB connector.
2. Shut down the PC by selecting the "Shut down" option.
3. Disable system unit from the 220V power supply, hold down the power button for 5 seconds - this will remove the residual charge on separate modules of the motherboard.
4. Connect your computer to a power outlet.
5. Turn it on, wait until it is fully loaded and insert the USB flash drive.
6. Try to connect it to a different connector, especially if you have previously used external front USBs for this task. Optimal option- ports at the back
7. Sometimes the reason for the malfunction of the flash drive is the assignment of system identifier in the form of a letter, or the disappearance of this parameter altogether, to fix the problem with the OS, we will use the "Disk Management" utility

USB flash drive recovery utilities

Be sure to check the flash drive through utility"USB troubleshooter" from Microsoft - it does not come with the OS, but it is available for download from the official portal at the link. is free, and only works with OS W7 and higher.
It's easy to use - run the program and click "Next".

After that, the software will try to find and fix typical problems with displaying a flash drive in the system.

If you hear a distinctive sound when connecting a device, but it does not appear in Explorer, then open Device Manager

Often problem with reading USB sticks appears after update operating system- it is provoked by incorrect entries in the registry left after connecting physical media.

Searching for them manually is rather long and better. take advantage of special program to find and clear non-working keys in the registry.

Best suited for this Vit Registry Fix utility (free and general search and cleanup) and utility USBOblivion (free and clears all data about previously connected flash drives from regedit).
Main advantages: The interface is intuitive and there is Russian localization.
Download the program run automatic search, after its completion, start the cleanup (after checking the boxes in the sections on saving all changed .reg keys in the archive, in order to "roll back" the operation if necessary).

Sometimes the flash drive does not work due to driver incompatibility for USB 2 and 3 versions. V this case need to download updated versions on the official website of the motherboard manufacturer.

Why does not he see the flash drive. If the PC does not accept any flash drives, then it is necessary to completely reinstall all drivers for USB drives.

The easiest way to do this is through the "Device Manager" (hold Win + R and enter devmgmt.msc, click on "OK"). Find the "USB Controllers" section in the drop-down list and sequentially delete (right-click on the object, item "Delete") the subsections USBHostController, GenericUSBHub and USB Root Hub, then update the current hardware configuration and restart the PC.

As an add-on, run a full scan of the entire system.

1. Start the registry (hold Win + R, enter regedit and confirm the action by clicking on "OK").
2. Right-click the HKEY_CURRENT_USER section and select Find, then type Explorer in the search box. If the folder contains NoDrives, then you need to select and delete it (with the Delete button). In addition, in the same registry editor, search for the StorageDevicePolicies parameter (under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE) and delete it (if present).

Sometimes all of the above methods do not give any tangible result.

If the flash drive is identified in the system (at the level of determining an unknown connected device), then you can try to restore the normal operation of the device, formatting it in a special way using a third party HDD Low Level Format Tool utility .

In this case, working with the device occurs at the level of physical sectors, and not file system(as with standard formatting) that guarantees:

1. Erasing bad sectors
2. Elimination of any soft problems
3. Permanently deleting all data from the media.

The program is free and available for download from the official site. After installing and launching it, select the required drive, click Continue.

Find the Low-levelFormat tab and accept the operation by clicking on Formatthisdevice.
The duration of the procedure depends on the type of flash drive and its capacity, on modern PCs the process takes on average 30-60 minutes... Once completed, you should safely remove the device and restart your computer.