Pretec flash drive recovery. Data recovery of a SmartBuy flash drive. Recovering a USB flash drive using proprietary utilities

Many users neglect the safe removal of flash drives, as a result of which drives stop working correctly: they are not recognized by the system, require formatting, does not read / write data, shows the wrong size (for example, 14 Gb instead of 16 Gb). If you are faced with a similar problem, then the question of how to restore a USB flash drive will probably become relevant for you.

Is it possible to restore the performance of a flash drive?

It may seem to some that restoring a flash drive is a pointless exercise. Drives from Transcend, Kingston, A-Data, and others have flooded the market by making flash memory cheap. Memory cards and flash drives from 8 Gb to 32 Gb are not so expensive that you cannot safely throw them away and buy new media. However, old flash drives and Micro SD memory cards are usually not thrown away at all: they lie on the table and wait to be restored.

Recovery is possible if the flash drive or memory card has not "died" completely (usually death occurs when the controller burns out).

But if the drive is simply not detected or shows the wrong volume, then the reason for this behavior is most often the failure of the controller firmware. How to recover a USB flash drive after such a failure, we will analyze in detail below.

Saving information and finding the right software

If the flash drive or SD card contains important information, then before flashing and restoring the controller (and with it the drive's performance), you need to extract the data. This can be done using the Photorec utility, which can work with media that does not have a file system detected.

After extracting the necessary information from the SD card or flash drive, you can start looking for a utility for flashing the controller. But in order to flash a controller, you first need to determine its model. To do this, we use the CheckUDisk utility (distributed free of charge) and the flashboot.ru website:


After completion of verification and receipt the information you need(VID PID of the drive) you need to download the utility to restore the operability of a flash drive or SD drive. Go to flashboot.ru and open the iFlash tab. Here you need to enter the VID PID values ​​and find the correct manufacturer of the memory card or flash drive (HP, Generic Flash Disk, Protex, Oltramax, Smartbuy, etc.).

If it is your model of flash drive or SD memory card in the database online service but no, that's okay: the main thing is that the VID PID and the manufacturer match. If the necessary data match, then you need to get information about the exact model of the controller for flashing and restoring it, as well as the name of the appropriate utility.

The table has the columns "Controller" and "Utility". You need to pay attention to the volume - the controllers of flash drives and SD cards for 16 Gb and 32 Gb may differ. You need to copy the full name of the utility and download it through the "Files" section on the flashboot.ru website or from another source. Often, along with the recovery program, instructions for its use are downloaded, which it is advisable to carefully read.

Controller firmware

Let's say you have a 16 Gb Protec flash drive. You find it by VID PID through the iFlash online service and download the controller firmware utility for free. What to do next? Carry out measures to restore a flash drive (SD memory card).

Universal instructions for restoring all flash drives:

If the firmware is successful, then you should see a positive status of the flash drive - "OK" or "Good". If during the operation there are problems, then an error code will appear: its decryption can be found in the help of the utility found by VID PID, or on other online services.

Restoring any flash drives (SD cards) is done in approximately the same way, however, the instructions may differ slightly for different utilities: you need to find the program for the controller firmware by VID PID and run USB recovery drive.

To restore a flash drive, you must additionally format it. You can execute it by standard means Windows or using special programs. It is recommended to run full, not quick format... It will take a little longer (especially if the volume of the drive exceeds 16 Gb), but you will be sure that the flash drive is now completely clean and functional.

How to recover an SD card or USB flash drive if the computer does not see them, does not read or write data? Flash drive problems are rarely caused by normal wear and tear. Most often, the reasons for problems with them are users ignoring the rules for safely removing the device, experimenting with various software in which these flash drives participate, as well as their initially lousy quality. Below we will consider a list of possible actions carried out in the Windows environment that can solve the problem, unless, of course, the reason lies in mechanical failure. And we, friends, will go from simple to complex.

Recovering SD cards and USB sticks in Windows environment

  • Note: below we will only talk about restoring the performance of flash drives, but not about saving the data stored on them. This is a separate topic, and on this account there is on the site, you can still use this program for. Most of the following methods for recovering SD cards and flash drives will lead to the loss of their data.

1. Hardware lock

SD cards, microSD adapters and flash drives can be hardware protected from writing data or even blocked for reading. On such devices there is a lock switch, which must accordingly be set to the "Unlocked" position.

2. Problems not related to the drives themselves

Problems with SD cards and flash drives can be caused by the Windows security policy. You need to find out if access to removable drives (completely or in part of writing data to them) is blocked by the computer administrator. You also need to check the card reader or ports USB computer... If everything is in order with the latter, the card reader reads other SD cards, but problems still arise with the flash drive, no matter how you connect it to others USB ports, move on.

3. Windows Explorer

Standard formatting by means Windows explorer can help in simple cases such as unsuccessful writing data to a USB flash drive. Or when a smartphone, tablet, camera or other device cannot cope with this operation for SD cards for some reason. In any of current versions Windows in the explorer window on the drive, call the context menu, click "Format".

We leave the original file system and try to do a quick format first.

If it fails, we repeat the operation, but with full formatting (uncheck the fast one).

4. Windows Disk Management

The formatting procedure can be attempted in Disk Management. To run this tool in the system search field, enter:

diskmgmt.msc

In the disk management window, focusing on the size of the drive, we are looking for it among the drives connected to the computer. And in context menu, called on it, start formatting.

You can choose right away full formatting.

If the flash drive has a partition structure like a hard drive, you must delete each of these partitions. This is done using the option in the context menu "Delete volume".

And then, in place of the resulting unallocated space, you need to create a single section. To do this, in the context menu on this very unallocated space, start the operation "Create a new volume" and follow the instructions of the step-by-step wizard.

5. Programs for low-level formatting

Standard formatting tools may not help in complex cases, for example, when flash drives are displayed (in the same Explorer or Disk Management) as unrecognized devices with file RAW system... The latter means that either Windows environment does not understand the file system of the drive, or there is no file system as such in principle. Actually, this is what causes problems with a flash drive or SD card when it works on other devices, with other operating systems. In this kind of cases, you will be able to restore the USB flash drive. third party Windows programs, designed for the so-called low-level formatting.

Actually low-level formatting- This is a procedure that is carried out either in the production environment of manufacturers of flash devices, or in serious narrow-profile services. Various kinds of Windows software that claims to do this kind of operation actually does the usual full formatting, but with different mechanisms than those used operating system... Such programs do a good job of dealing with flash drive problems if these problems occur at the file system level. Consider two of these programs.

HDD Low Level Format Tool

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

Shareware portable program HDD Low Level Format Tool can format different types data carriers, in particular SD cards and USB sticks. After unpacking the archive with the program, launch it, agree to the license terms.

We choose free use.

Directly in the program window, indicate the problem drive and click "Continue".

We confirm the decision.

We are waiting for the completion of the operation and check the operation of the media.

SDFormatter

http://flashboot.ru/files/file/355

Completely free small program SDFormatter is another tool for the so-called low-level formatting. Works with both SD cards and USB sticks. Install SDFormatter into the system, run it, and indicate the problematic flash drive in the "Drive" column. Click "Format".

The program wants to be convinced of the seriousness of our intentions, we press “Ok.

Asks not to touch the drive while the operation is in progress.

Upon completion, we test the USB flash drive or SD card. If it does not help, we repeat the operation with the full sector rewriting settings (nothing more than full formatting). Click "Option", choose "Full (OverWrite)". And also click "Format" at the bottom.

If using the above methods failed to reanimate the flash drive, and it is still under warranty, you must stop at this stage. And do not take any more action, except to contact the seller with a request to replace the device. All the actions that are described below should be resorted to only when, in fact, there is nothing to lose. The instructions below apply to USB sticks, SD cards, and MicroSD cards. However, in the case of the latter, the probability of recovery is extremely small.

6. D-Soft Flash Doctor

D-Soft Flash Doctor carries out the so-called low-level formatting, and along the way also detects damaged sectors (cells). Well, and, accordingly, knows how to block them and replace them with backup ones. The program can help when flash drives or SD cards have difficulty reading individual files hitting bad sectors. The program is free, portable. I didn’t find the official site, but it can be downloaded for free on the Internet.

In the D-Soft Flash Doctor window, the first step is to run an error scan.

In my case, there were no damaged (broken) sectors.

But if in your case, friends, the scan results are different, and bad sectors are found, we start the recovery process.

In the window for carrying out this operation, it is promised that the process will not last longer than 10 minutes, but in fact, reassigning bad sectors on a drive with a volume of more than 4 GB can take quite a long time. So it is better to start the recovery operation at night.

7. Re-flashing the memory controller

Programs for the so-called low-level formatting or their analogs, which in any other form claim to resuscitate all types of SD-cards and / or USB-flash drives, are powerless in the event of a controller software failure, when it needs to be flashed. This problem can have different symptoms, but more often it is either the computer does not completely see the drive, or it sees, it can even read the data, but cannot format it by any means. In particular, due to write protection, despite the fact that the hard drive is not locked.

By downloading free programs for repairing flash drives, you can restore and again restore the ability to use it for writing and reading.

In this case, you will have to sacrifice data, which then, perhaps, cannot be restored.

But the alternative to using these applications is both non-working and lack of information.

Diagnosing the problem

The main signs that the flash drive needs repair are:

  • Issuance of messages about the protection of USB-media from copying or about an unidentified device;
  • The impossibility of determining the drive by any computer;
  • Lack of disks in the list;
  • Inability to read (and, of course, write) information;
  • Negative result when trying to recover or format.

Sometimes the problem may lie in the USB connector or the lack of drivers on a particular computer. But, when problems are noted on each device, most likely the case is in the drive.

Utilities for flash drives

You can try to restore the USB storage device to work using the system utilities.

But when the problem is serious the best option will be restoration through a program specifically designed for repair.

Some manufacturers make their own apps that do the best job of repairing these particular brands.

However, they can be used to recover any brand of USB stick.

Advice: Special programs are designed for refurbishment, not refurbishment. It is not recommended to extract information with their help.

JetFlash Online Recovery

To restore non-working Transcend drives, the manufacturer has created a special utility that can be found and downloaded for free on its official website.

Adata

The manufacturer Adata also has a freely available program for recovering a USB drive on the official website.

In some cases, the application manages to save part of the data, even if the USB drive has been formatted.

Recovery, unlike most of such programs, is subject not only to video, audio and photo files, but also Word documents, electronic books and tables.

Universal programs

In addition to specialized software repairing mainly drives of its own brand, there are several applications that can restore the working state of most devices.

One of them is the D-Soft Flash Doctor, which provides the following benefits:

  • Menu and documentation in Russian;
  • Lack of localization for individual brands;
  • Creating a flash disk image for further work not on the drive, but on its virtual copy.

The following programs, not so well-known, but also free and quite effective, are:

  • ChipEasy, which is able not only to easily restore a USB flash drive, but also to recognize the manufacturer if its name is not written on the case or has been erased over time;

    • Now all that remains is to find the corresponding program in the Chip Model column, paying attention to the coincidence of the controllers.

    You can find and download it for free on the Internet.

    The principle of operation is approximately the same for all of them - more emphasis on recovery, less on data rescue.

    Thematic video:

    How to recover a USB flash drive that won't start? it is very easy!

    The best free USB flash drive repair software

Good day everyone!

You can argue, but flash drives have become one of the most (if not the most) popular storage media. Not surprisingly, there are quite a few questions regarding them: the most important among them are the issues of recovery, formatting and testing.

In this article I will present the best (in my opinion) utilities for working with drives - that is, those tools that I have used myself many times. The information in the article, from time to time, will be updated and replenished.

The best programs for working with a USB flash drive

Important! First of all, in case of problems with a flash drive, I recommend visiting the official website of its manufacturer. The fact is that on the official website there may be specialized utilities for recovering information (and not only!), Which will cope with the task much better.

For testing

Let's start with testing drives. Consider programs that will help you determine some of the parameters of a USB drive.

H2testw

Highly useful utility to determine the real volume of any media. In addition to the volume of the drive, it can test the real speed of its operation (which some manufacturers like to overestimate for marketing purposes).

Check Flash

A free utility that can quickly check your flash drive for performance, measure its real read and write speed, conduct complete removal all information from it (so that no utility could recover a single file from it!).

In addition, it is possible to edit information about sections (if they are on it), do backup and reanimate the image of an entire section of the media!

The utility's operation speed is high enough and hardly any competing program will do this job faster!

HD Speed

This one is very simple, but very convenient program to test flash drives for read / write speed (information transfer). In addition to USB drives, the utility supports hard drives, optical drives.

The program does not need to be installed. Information is presented in a clear graphical representation. Supports Russian. Works in all Windows versions: XP, 7, 8, 10.

CrystalDiskMark

One of the best utilities for testing information transfer speed. Supports various media: HDD (hard drives), SSD (newfangled solid state drives), USB sticks, memory cards, etc.

The program supports the Russian language, although it is as easy as shelling pears to start a test in it - just select a medium and press the start button (you can figure it out without knowing the great and mighty).

An example of the results - you can see the screenshot above.

Flash Memory Toolkit

Flash Memory Toolkit - this program is a whole set of utilities for servicing flash drives.

Full feature set:

  • detailed list of properties and information about the drive and USB devices;
  • a test for finding errors when reading and writing information to a medium;
  • quick cleaning of data from the drive;
  • search and recovery of information;
  • backup of all files to media and the ability to restore from a backup;
  • low-level testing of information transfer rate;
  • measuring performance when working with small / large files.

FC-Test

Site: xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/fc-test.html

Benchmark for measuring real read / write speed hard drives, flash drives, memory cards, CD / DVD-devices, etc. Its main feature and difference from all utilities of this kind is that it uses real data samples for its work.

Of the minuses: the utility has not been updated for a long time (problems with newfangled types of media are possible).

Flashnul

This utility allows you to diagnose and test USB Flash drives... By the way, errors and bugs will be fixed during this operation. Supported media: US and Flash drives, SD, MMC, MS, XD, MD, CompactFlash, etc.

List of operations performed:

  • read test - an operation will be carried out to identify the availability of each sector on the media;
  • write test - similar to the first function;
  • information safety test - the utility checks the integrity of all data on the carrier;
  • saving media image - saving everything that is on the media into a separate image file;
  • loading an image into a device is an analogue of the previous operation.

For formatting

HDD Low Level Format Tool

A program that has only one task - to format the media (by the way, hard HDD drives, and solid-state drives - SSD, and USB sticks).

Despite such a "meager" set of features, this utility is not in vain in the first place in this article. The fact is that it allows you to "return" to life even those carriers that are no longer visible in any other program. If this utility sees your media, try low-level formatting in it (attention, all data will be deleted!) - there is a good chance that after this format, your flash drive will work as before: without failures and errors.

USB Disk Storage Format Tool

Program for formatting and creation bootable USB drives... Supported file systems: FAT, FAT32, NTFS. The utility does not require installation, supports USB port 2.0 (USB 3.0 - does not see. Note: this port is marked in blue).

Its main difference from the standard tool in Windows for formatting drives is the ability to "see" even those media that are not visible regular means OS. Otherwise, the program is quite simple and concise, I recommend using it to format all "problem" flash drives.

Format USB Or Flash Drive Software

The utility will help in cases when the standard formatting program in Windows refuses to "see" the medium (or, for example, it generates errors during operation). Format USB Or Flash Drive The software can format media into the following file systems: NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT. There is a quick format option.

I also want to note the simple interface: it is made in the style of minimalism, it is as easy as shelling pears to understand it (the screen is presented above). In general, I recommend!

SD Formatter

Simple utility for formatting various flash cards: SD / SDHC / SDXC.

The main difference from standard program, built into Windows - is that this utility formats the media in accordance with the type of flash card: SD / SDHC / SDXC. It is also worth noting the presence of the Russian language, a simple and intuitive interface (the main window of the program is shown in the screenshot above).

Aomei Partition Assistant

Aomei Partition Assistant is a large free (for home use) "combine", which presents a huge number of functions and possibilities for working with hard drives and USB drives.

The program supports the Russian language (but by default, English is still set), works in all popular Windows operating systems: XP, 7, 8, 10. The program, by the way, works according to its own unique algorithms (at least, according to the statements of the developers of this software ), which allows her to "see" even "very problematic" media, be it a USB flash drive or HDD.

In general, to describe all its properties is not enough for a whole article! I recommend giving it a try, especially since Aomei Partition Assistant will save you not only from problems with USB drives, but also with other media.

Recovery software

Important! If the programs presented below are not enough, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the large collection of programs for recovering information from various types of media (hard disks, flash drives, memory cards, etc.):.

If, when connecting the drive, it reports an error and asks to format it, do not do it (perhaps, after this operation, it will be much more difficult to return the data)! In this case, I recommend that you read this article:.

Recuva

One of the best free software to recover files. Moreover, it supports not only USB-drives, but also hard drives. Distinctive features: fast scanning of media, a fairly high degree of search for "remains" of files (that is, the chances of getting a deleted file back are quite high), a simple interface, step by step wizard recovery (even completely "beginners" can handle it).

For those who will scan their USB flash drive for the first time, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the mini-instructions for recovering files in Recuva:

R Saver

Free * (for non-commercial use on the territory of the USSR) program for recovering information from hard drives, flash drives, memory cards and other media. The program supports all the most popular file systems: NTFS, FAT and exFAT.

The program sets the parameters for scanning the media independently (which is also another plus for beginners).

Features of the program:

  • recovery by accident deleted files;
  • the possibility of reconstruction of damaged file systems;
  • recovering files after formatting the media;
  • data recovery by signatures.

EasyRecovery

One of best programs for data recovery, supports a wide variety of media types. The program works in all versions new windows: 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits), supports Russian.

One of the main advantages of the program should be noted - a high degree of detection of deleted files. Everything that can be "pulled out" from a disk or flash drive will be presented to you and prompted to restore.

Perhaps the only negative is that it is paid ...

Important! How to get back deleted files in this program can be found in this article (see part 2):

R-STUDIO

One of the most popular data recovery software, both in our country and abroad. A wide variety of media are supported: hard disk drives (HDD), solid state drives (SSD), memory cards, flash drives, etc. The list of supported file systems is also striking: NTFS, NTFS5, ReFS, FAT12 / 16/32, exFAT, etc.

The program will help in cases:

  • accidental deletion of a file from the trash (this happens sometimes ...);
  • formatting the hard drive;
  • virus attack;
  • in case of a computer power failure (especially important in Russia with its "reliable" power grids);
  • in case of errors on the hard disk, in the presence of a large number of bad sectors;
  • if the structure is damaged (or changed) on the hard disk.

In general, a universal harvester for all kinds of cases. The same only drawback is that the program is paid.

Remark! Step-by-step data recovery in R-Studio:

Popular manufacturers of USB drives

It is, of course, unrealistic to collect all manufacturers in one table. But all the most popular ones are definitely present here :). On the manufacturer's website, you can often find not only service utilities for resuscitating or formatting a USB drive, but also utilities that greatly facilitate work: for example, programs for archiving, helpers for preparing bootable media etc.

Note! If I have bypassed someone, I suggest using the tips from the instructions for restoring the USB drive to work:. The article describes in some detail how and what to do to "return" the USB flash drive to working condition.

This concludes the report. Good job everyone and good luck!

With a situation where a flash drive is not displayed correctly (here you can try formatting for a start) or the information on it suddenly disappeared, sooner or later most users meet. But do not despair - it is likely that you yourself will be able to reanimate the device and successfully restore the photos and documents saved on it, or "revive" the file system.

Thanks to our recommendations, you can save not only on the services of a master, but also on special programs- we will consider exclusively free software for repairing flash drives. However, it should also be borne in mind that for devices from different manufacturers different utilities are intended.

If you don't know your USB drive model

do the following:

Go to the Start menu and in the "Run" line write mmc devmgmt.msc, then press Enter. Under Universal Serial Controllers USB bus find your USB Mass Storage Device, select it and click right click mice. Open Properties, then go to the Details tab and in the dropdown select Device Instance ID (or Hardware Codes). Write down or remember the PID and VID.

Then go to the FlashBoot.ru website and enter the VID and PID data in the special field. After that, you will receive information about your device and the utilities that are best for repairing it.

Recovering a Transcend flash drive

To restore devices of this brand, the official Transcend RecoveRx utility is best suited. With its help, you can conduct an in-depth search for already deleted files, which you can later also recover: photos, documents, audio and video files.

By the way, RecoveRx supports all types of storage devices, including memory cards, MP3 players and external hard drives. This program works very simply - you just need to specify the type of files or select all.

The second method is the online recovery of flash drives from the JetFlash Transcend series. To use it, you must download JetFlash Online Recovery (and your Internet connection must be active). Once launched, the tool will automatically restore all of your data.

Recovering a Silicon Power flash drive

If you have a Silicon Power flash drive, you're in luck - the manufacturer has partnered with Recuva. The File Recovery tool provides an intuitive interface, allows you to quickly scan the device and mark those that are subject to reincarnation. You can read more about the features of this program.

Recovering a Kingston flash drive

In case you have lost files on the media of this company, the utility for recovering the flash drive can also help you. If you have problems with the operation of the device, then most likely you will have to format it, and this should not be done Windows tool, and the official Kingston Format Utility. Just launch it, select your device and click "Format".

SanDisk flash drive recovery

SanDisk USB drives are guaranteed for five years, so if you ever run into problems, feel free to go to the store or contact the manufacturer (e-mail.

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