Hello friends, Alexey is in touch again! In the last article we met with hard drives computer. Also, we actively use flash drives; we can’t live without them. Probably everyone has one.

What to do if for some reason important data has disappeared from your storage device somewhere - how to restore it? Agree, the situation is unpleasant. Especially if there were important documents. Many people are sure that it is impossible to recover files after deletion, but this is not true. If the “brains” of the flash drive are working properly, then the probability of saving data is almost one hundred percent. This is what our today's episode is about.

A flash drive is somewhat more reliable than conventional HDDs. In my practice, there are not many cases where they turned out to be of poor quality, defective and did not work. By the way, when purchasing, I try to choose classic shapes with a square metal USB connector.

I don’t like any new-fangled devices in the shape of a soccer ball or super thin ones (with rhinestones and other trendy bells and whistles), because these are the ones they brought to me for repairs and they flew into the bucket. And the “classic shapes” have never let me down, even after repeated washing in washing machine:) The flight is normal!

In today's review, we will have a powerful but easy-to-use file and partition recovery tool. Namely, the program Hetman Data Recovery Pack. This universal package includes an extensive toolkit for solving various problems.

Is it possible to recover deleted files from a flash drive after formatting?

Usually, deleted files are looked for in the Recycle Bin, but what if the media is accidentally formatted? What if the deletion was configured “bypassing the trash?” Don't worry, the data can be saved. I would like to tell you a little about how data is written to flash drive type media. The recording principles here are the same as for a hard drive.

Imagine a sheet of paper on which a table is drawn with a pencil, and in the table there is some data. When you erase only the table columns and their names with an eraser, the data remains on the sheet. But they become meaningless without a table.

And on the media, its own table is created - it is called a file system. This is where your data is stored. This is a kind of coordinate system. You cannot write files without first converting the surface of the media to a specific format. This procedure is called "formatting".

Formatting flash drives is done in the same way as hard disks. Only flash drives have their own specifics; if you format it in the FAT16 or FAT32 32 file system, then only up to 2-4 GB of information will fit on it. And if in NTFS, then everything will be fine. Format large media to NTFS.

After formatting, we erase the table of contents on the removable media. The computer stops “seeing” our files and it “seems” that there is no data on the media. But they are still there. And when we copy new information onto such a “clean” flash drive, we overwrite the previous one with it, the restoration here may be incomplete.

So, if you didn’t write anything onto your storage device after it was lost or formatted, you can try to save your lost information completely using special programs. We will begin our acquaintance with one of these.

How to recover files from a flash drive after formatting or deletion?

You cannot perform low-level formatting of media before recovery. After this, it is impossible to restore data, because all helpful information on removable media is replaced with zeros. This relatively long procedure is suitable for irreversibly destroying data.

So, Hetman Unreaser. Designed for recovery deleted files. The developers recommend installing it before data “disappears” from the computer. P The program recovers files, deleted from hard drives personal computers and laptops, SD, MicroSD, Compact Flash, USB flash drives, etc. The utility will recover accidentally deleted files or files lost after emptying the Recycle Bin. True, the menu is in English, but these are trifles, because the result compensates for the inconvenience and here I will try to explain what and how.

Interface Hetman Uneraser resembles the My Computer window, which displays a list of existing and deleted files and folders. To restore information, just select the file and click the “Restore” button. It's as simple as opening the file in Explorer.

A distinctive feature of the program is the ability to make an image of a flash drive or restore it from an image. After launch, click Wizard (a wizard that will guide you through all the stages of searching and recovering missing files. If the files have been deleted, the program will find the deleted files and folders. This is what it looks like if you opened the flash drive from the snap-in Computer:

The names of some folders and files will be saved. But this is not always possible. Right-click on the desired file/folder and click “Recovery” (i.e. restore):

The Wizard (or “recovery wizard”) will automatically launch and offer to save the files to HDD, either burn it to a CD or upload it to FTP.

Please note that you cannot restore data to the same media (from which you are restoring it). It must be someone else in simple words- not your damaged media. Otherwise, the remaining information will be lost.

We specify the recovery settings - the path to save and restore the original structure of files and folders. This setting will allow you to return everything as it was if you had other folders and files in the folder:

All that remains is to wait until the end of the recovery process. It can be long. Below we have a list of physical disks (Phisycal Disks). We select our flash drive in this list when we cannot find anything through Computer. A deep scan of the entire surface of the selected media will be carried out.

The file recovery mechanism will be slightly different when choosing this mode. The program (depending on the type of files found) will generate its own separate folder and put what he found there. If you know the type of file you are looking for, leave the checkboxes next to the one you need, the rest can be unchecked. note that Hetman Uneraser “sees” lost databases. This is another important difference from some other programs. Thus, all found information will be restored. The scanning process takes quite a long time, we are waiting.

If the flash drive was bootable, you will no longer be able to restore it to its original state. Another important point— file and folder names will most likely not be restored. The program itself will assign names to them during the search process. But these are trifles, the main thing is the content and the fact that the damage from the loss of information is minimal. It's a shame to lose several years of work in such situations. That's what programs like this exist for.

How to recover files from a flash drive if it requires formatting and does not open?

A fairly common issue is when the partition table (or file system) gets lost. We pull the media out of the slot at the wrong time. And now the flash drive is detected, but the information on it is no longer visible to us. As a test, I deliberately “killed” the partition on my drive. Now the computer convinces us that it needs to be formatted. But there is no need to do this yet.

As in the first case, our “coordinate system” was lost, but the files on the media remained the same. To restore them, you can use another set from the package Hetman Partition Recovery . The program recovers data from hard drives and any other storage media controlled by file FAT systems,NTFS.

When you start the program, the Wizard informs you that all data that was lost as a result of damage, deletion, formatting and the creation of new partitions will be restored. And also the logical structure of deleted files and folders will be restored. The next step is to select the media to be restored. As in the previous example, you can select a partition, or you can select a physical disk:

For quick search you can try to find it right away remote partition by clicking on the “Find Partition” button:

And to recover a large amount of data, we launch a full scan, which can take quite a long time. It all depends on the value of the information being restored, because you can wait:

The process has begun; The search results are displayed quite clearly and we see that there are indeed files and folders among those found:

The scan result will be like this:

All our files and folders are in place; we restore them according to the same principle as in the previous example. You can download a program to recover files from a flash drive. Also, look short video on how this program works:

In today's article we got acquainted with two programs from the Hetman set. And you can also safely use this set when working with hard drives. Let's continue the review using the example of memory cards that we use in cameras and smartphones using special program. And that's all for today. Good luck!

A USB flash drive is not recognized as a disk when connected to a computer or laptop? Can't you write anything on it? And you can’t even format the flash drive? In principle, all is not lost. Most likely the problem lies with the controller. But this can be fixed. And everything will take a maximum of 5-10 minutes.

The only caveat is that restoring the flash drive’s functionality is only possible if it does not have any mechanical damage(+ she appears in device manager). That is, if you disabled it not through “Safely Remove” (or something like that), then this can be fixed. At the very least, it’s worth at least trying to restore a non-working flash drive.

How to get your flash drive working again

Even if it seems that the USB flash drive has come to an end, you should not take it for repairs. And even more so throw it away. First, you can try to restore the damaged flash drive.

The instructions work for all USB flash drives: Silicon Power, Kingston, Transcend, Data Traveler, A-Data, etc. You can use it to restore file system and eliminate any problems (except mechanical damage).

So, the first thing you need to do is determine the parameters of the USB flash drive. Or rather, its VID and PID. Based on this information, you can determine the brand of the controller, and then select a utility that will help restore the damaged flash drive.

To find out these parameters, do the following:

1. Connect the flash drive to your PC or laptop and go to Start – Control Panel – Device Manager.
2. Find the "USB Controllers" section.
3. Double-click on it and look for the item “Memory USB device" This is your flash drive (let me remind you, it must be connected to the computer).
4. Right-click on it and select “Properties”.
5. In the new window, go to the “Details” tab.
6. In the “Property” field, select the “Equipment ID” (or “Instance Code”) item.

   

7. Look at the VID and PID values ​​and remember them.
   
8. Next, go to the website http://flashboot.ru/iflash/, enter your values ​​at the top of the site and click the “Search” button.
   
9. You are looking for the model of your USB flash drive (by manufacturer and memory capacity). In the right column “Utils” there will be the name of the program with which you can try to restore a non-working flash drive.
   

After that, all that remains is to find this utility by name or follow the link (if it exists) and download it.

Restoring Kingstone, Silicon Power, Transcend and other models is easy: just run the program and follow the instructions.

What to do if you haven't found suitable utility for your model? To do this, go to Google or Yandex and write something like this: “Silicon Power 4 GB VID 090C PID 1000” (of course, you should indicate the parameters of your flash drive here). And then look what the search engine found.

Never use programs that are not suitable for the VID and PID parameters of your controller! Otherwise, you will “kill” the flash drive completely, and you will no longer be able to restore it.

In most cases, recovery of a damaged flash drive is successful. And after that it will be detected when connected to a PC or laptop.

This is how you repair a flash drive yourself using a free utility.

And most importantly: in this way it is possible to restore a damaged flash drive in 80% of cases. While most specialized programs may not be able to cope with this task.

Any loss always causes only negative emotions and leads to disappointment. The person begins to actively regret that he did not make attempts to prevent such losses. You can lose not only specific items, but also important data, which the user would prefer to store on a flash drive. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever in this world, so if it is very important for you to ensure secure storage We recommend that you make sure to make backup copies of some information and content in order to avoid incredible disappointment later.

Recovering lost data after formatting is easy.

When saving important data to a memory card, some unpredictable consequences cannot be ruled out. Many users decide to make backup files, ensuring their storage on special resources on the Internet. However, some users are afraid of information leakage, so they reject this method. Of course, you can use a second digital medium on which you can record all the important information.

However, even in this case, it is impossible to guarantee 100% data retention. Life is sometimes accompanied by an evil fate, the arrival of which is quite difficult to predict. For this reason, at some point you may need to find out how to recover flash drive files after formatting. Fortunately, software developers kindly share software products that can be used to perform recovery after formatting a flash drive.

Recovery process

So, if you want to figure out how to recover a formatted flash drive, you must understand that software is a skillful assistant for solving problems when you need to restore files after formatting from a flash drive. However, such programs cannot be considered as a magic wand that will be able to recover data from a flash drive after formatting in any case.

First of all, information can be recovered from a flash drive that was formatted, but then subsequently no information was written to it. Otherwise, when the formatted flash drive continued to be practically used, recovering data from the flash drive after formatting will simply be impossible.

It will also be quite problematic, and in most cases definitely impossible, to return lost information if the removable media had to be formatted without in a fast way, and resorting to deep formatting. There are several programs that will act as a lifesaver for those who are looking for an answer to the question of whether it is possible to recover a formatted memory card.

Using RS Partition Recovery

If you do not yet have a program such as RS Partition Recovery installed on your computer, we recommend that you download it and then install it. After successful installation, run the program. Next, in the window that opens, select the digital drive on which the lost information was previously stored.

After this, the following window will appear on the screen, in which you will be asked to select the appropriate option for analyzing the state of the digital media. Of course, it is best to give preference to the first option “Full analysis”, in this case the chance of recovering lost data from a flash drive will be higher. The program then proceed to automatic search and systematization of the content that it can be guaranteed to restore.

After this process is completed, the folders to be “resurrected” will appear on the screen. All you have to do is study them, find those that are of particular importance to you. This program contains filtering functions that provide a more comfortable and successful search.

Once you have discovered what is so important for you to recover, in the top horizontal panel you will easily find the “Recover” option, click on it and the automatic process of returning an important loss will be carried out without your participation.

If you are trying to figure out how to recover several documents from a flash drive after formatting, there is nothing complicated in these steps either. You just need to drag all the documents one by one to the recovery panel, and you can simply right-click on them and select the “Add for recovery” option.

If you use this method, it becomes possible to return all the necessary documents at once. It is only important to take into account that the recovered files should be saved in a folder located on the PC; it is strictly forbidden to create it on the digital storage device used by the program.

Using R-Studio

R-Studio - another one software providing the return of lost documents. If you want to figure out how to restore a formatted memory card, you can use such a program and make sure that no difficulties arise when using such software.

After installing and launching the program, you must select the digital drive on which your lost documents were previously located. Just click on it once so that it appears in the media selection line. Additionally, in the same window you can enter the format of the files that are important for you to return. This will significantly limit the scope of the search and also help speed it up.

By clicking on the “Scan” button, the process of searching for the files you have identified will begin. You can be nearby and visually observe all the changes occurring on the screen, but you are, of course, strictly prohibited from interfering with this automatic process, so as not to provoke a software failure.

After the scanning is completed, you can find the line “Extra Found Files” on the screen; by clicking on it, all documents that the program can successfully recover in a short period of time will be displayed.

You can select them all, or you can check the checkboxes next to those that are of information value to you. All you have to do is click on the “Restore” button and wait a while for the program to complete the process.

So, as you can see, there are no difficulties in returning lost data from digital storage devices if you use the necessary programs and strictly follow the instructions provided.

Step-by-step instructions for restoration USB flash drives in which I will try to answer the question in an accessible language How to recover a flash drive independently and without much effort.

Sometimes you help a person, and then he will tell everyone that you are so good and there are already crowds of people thirsty for help. This is roughly what happened when I restored several flash drives colleagues.

Now the people bear not only their own flash drives, but also flash drives your friends, acquaintances and relatives. Well, at least someone else would bring a bottle of beer or a cookie.

It’s not difficult for me to help, but when I suggest you learn how to do all this yourself, you refuse. Next time I’ll just sew them off. If you don't want to study, pass by.

I’ll finish with the lyrics here and move directly to the topic of the post..

If your flash drive stopped be determined like a disk, doesn't want to formatted, does not allow you to write down information or something else happened to it, BUT it has no mechanical damage, then you know that all is not lost. Most likely a glitch controller and you will have to tinker with it a little. This procedure takes approximately 5 minutes.

I’ll say right away that there is no universal programs For recovery all varieties flash drives. You will need to find exactly the one that can work with your controller. flash drives.

First we need to define VID And PID non-working flash drives.

Determine VID and PID for flash drive recovery

Stick it in flash drive into your computer and run device Manager. Start – Execute - mmc devmgmt.msc.

Then go to the section Universal Serial Bus Controllers.

We find ours in the list flash drive. Usually, everything flash drives have a name USB storage device.

Press the right button on the device and open Properties.

Go to the tab Intelligence.

Select the item from the drop-down list Instance code devices or Equipment IDs.

In this window we see PID And VID.

Finding a flash drive recovery program

We go to the website FlashBoot.ru and enter the received VID And PID.

Click on the button Search.

In the results we look for your manufacturer and model of the flash drive. I have this Kingston Data Traveler 2.0.

The right column will contain the name of the program we need or a link to it.

All. Now search in Google program by name or download from the link provided. Launch and follow the instructions. Usually, in such programs for recovery There’s only one button, so you shouldn’t have any questions.

That's all!

If you have any questions, ask in the comments.