Various problems with USB drives or flash drives are something that probably every owner faces. The computer does not see the flash drive, files are not deleted or written, Windows writes that the disk is write-protected, the amount of memory is displayed incorrectly - this is not a complete list of such problems. Perhaps, if the computer simply does not detect the drive, this guide will also help you: (3 ways to solve the problem). If the flash drive is detected and works, but you need to restore files from it, first I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the material.
If various ways to fix USB drive errors by manipulating drivers, actions in Windows Disk Management or using the command line (diskpart, format, etc.) did not lead to a positive result, you can try utilities and programs for repairing flash drives provided by both manufacturers , for example, Kingston, Silicon Power and Transcend, and third-party developers.
On the official website of Silicon Power, in the “Support” section, a program for repairing flash drives from this manufacturer is presented - USB Flash Drive Recovery. To download, you will need to enter your email address (not verified), then the UFD_Recover_Tool ZIP archive is downloaded, which contains the SP Recovery Utility (requires .NET Framework 3.5 components for operation, will download automatically if necessary).
Similar to the previous program, SP Flash Drive Recovery requires an Internet connection to work and restoration of work occurs in several stages - determining the parameters of the USB drive, downloading and unpacking a suitable utility for it, then automatically performing the necessary actions.
You can download the program for repairing flash drives Silicon Power SP Flash Drive Recovery Software for free from the official website http://www.silicon-power.com/web/download-USBrecovery
If you are the owner of a Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 drive, then on the official Kingston website you can find a utility for repairing this line of flash drives, which will help format the drive and bring it to the condition it had when purchased.
You can download Kingston Format Utility for free from https://www.kingston.com/ru/support/technical/downloads/111247
ADATA USB Flash Drive Online Recovery
The manufacturer Adata also has its own utility that will help fix flash drive errors if you cannot read the contents of the flash drive, Windows reports that the disk is not formatted, or you see other errors related to the drive. To download the program, you will need to enter the serial number of the flash drive (so that exactly what is required is downloaded) as in the screenshot below.
After downloading, run the downloaded utility and follow a few simple steps to restore the operation of the USB device.
Official page where you can download ADATA USB Flash Drive Online Recovery and read about using the program - http://www.adata.com/ru/ss/usbdiy/
Apacer Repair Utility, Apacer Flash Drive Repair Tool
Several programs are available for Apacer flash drives - different versions of Apacer Repair Utility (which, however, cannot be found on the official website), as well as Apacer Flash Drive Repair Tool, available for download on the official pages of some of the Apacer flash drives (look specifically on the official website your USB drive model and look at the downloads section at the bottom of the page).
Apparently, the program performs one of two actions - simple formatting of the drive (Format item) or low-level formatting (Restore item).
Formatter Silicon Power
Formatter Silicon Power is a free utility for low-level formatting of flash drives, which, according to reviews (including in the comments to the current article), works for many other drives (but use it at your own peril and risk), allowing you to restore their functionality when no other methods don't help.
The utility is no longer available on the official SP website, so you will have to use Google to download it (I do not provide links to unofficial locations within this site) and do not forget to check the downloaded file, for example, on VirusTotal before launching it.
SD Memory Card Formatter for repairing and formatting SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards (including Micro SD)
The SD Memory Card Manufacturers Association offers its own universal utility for formatting the corresponding memory cards if problems arise with them. Moreover, judging by the available information, it is compatible with almost all such drives.
The program itself is available in versions for Windows (Windows 10 is also supported) and MacOS and is quite easy to use (but you will need a card reader).
You can download SD Memory Card Formatter from the official website https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/
D-Soft Flash Doctor program
The free D-Soft Flash Doctor program is not tied to any specific manufacturer and, judging by reviews, can help fix problems with a flash drive through low-level formatting.
In addition, the program allows you to create an image of a flash drive for subsequent work not on a physical drive (to avoid further malfunctions) - this can be useful if you need to get data from a Flash drive. Unfortunately, the official website of the utility could not be found, but it is available on many resources with free programs.
How to find a program to repair a flash drive
In fact, there are much more such free utilities for repairing flash drives than are listed here: I tried to take into account only relatively “universal” tools for USB drives from different manufacturers.
It is quite possible that none of the above utilities are suitable for restoring the functionality of your USB drive. In this case, you can use the following steps to find the program you need.
Additionally: if all the described methods for repairing a USB drive did not help, try.
Today we will look at:
USB drives from Silicon Power have a simple and elegant design. By purchasing such a stylish product, we hope that the miniature storage media will last quite a long time.
It is very unpleasant when flash drives unexpectedly fail, while the drive contains valuable information that was not duplicated. According to customer reviews, 16 GB USB drives from Silicon Power are the most vulnerable to logical errors and physical influences. Don’t despair right away; in most cases, you can restore the performance of the storage device and save the information.
Signs that a USB device has failed and needs to be repaired or restored
- Flush is periodically or not detected at all.
- When turned on, it is detected as a connected device, but a message is displayed that it is not recognized by the operating system (unknown device).
- Inability to perform file access, read or write operations, and messages are displayed: “no access to the disk”, “disk is write protected”, “insert disk”, “file or folder is damaged. Reading is impossible."
- Defined as media with reduced or zero memory capacity.
- The message “Before you can use the disk in the G:\ drive, you must format it. Format?" After several tries, it turns out that "Windows cannot complete formatting."
Causes of malfunctions
- Logical – incorrect formatting, deleting and removing a device while recording, transferring or downloading information, incorrect use of a flash drive when watching movies on TV, file system failure.
- Mechanical - shocks, falls, etc.
- Thermal and electrical – static electricity discharges, power instability during power surges and overheating.
- Software and hardware malfunctions in the operation of electronic parts of flash drives.
- Damage or removal of the driver program for device recognition by the operating system.
- , written specifically to deliberately remove or distort information.
Solutions for restoring flash drives
When restoring the functionality of USB drives, it should be taken into account that in most cases this results in a complete loss of data recorded on them.
In case of serious logical errors in the file system, the knowledge of computer specialists is needed.
In case of mechanical, thermal and electrical impacts and destruction, the device is usually not suitable for use. However, if only the body of the flash drive is damaged, there is a possibility of recovering the information in service centers.
The “driver” program can be reinstalled by downloading it from the manufacturers’ official website using the link Silicon Power drivers.
As in the previous case, the program is launched without installation through the executable file “RecoveryTool (.exe)”. Screenshot of the start and scanning start screen:
Before scanning begins, a warning is displayed stating that while the program is running there is a risk of losing data from the media. By clicking on Start, the process of restoring the flash drive begins.
SoftOrbits Flash Drive Recovery is a program for recovering information from flash drives after repeated formatting. You can download the trial version from the official website softorbits.com.
The program must first be installed. The launch is carried out through the executable file “frecover (.exe)”. The screenshots below show the process of starting the trial version of the program, where you select the media to scan, select files for recovery, hard drive space for recording them, as well as a preview window for the recovered information:
To obtain final recovery results, you must purchase a registered version of the program on the Softorbits website.
Controller firmware
If the use of the above software does not lead to the expected results, there is a more complex option for restoring flash media - this is the so-called “controller firmware”. This option consists of using special utilities to recover hardware failures of a specific type of flash drive using known unique USB device identifiers - VID and PID.
If you carefully examine the window of the running USB Flash Drive Recovery program described above, you can see that the VID and PID values are automatically recognized during operation. If these numbers are entered into the database of identifiers of known flash drives on the Iflash website , It’s easy to find in the table the model of your flash drive from the manufacturer Silicon Power and a utility for restoring it (“flashing”).
Experiments along the way of using various options for restoring the functionality of your flash drive will certainly lead to the desired results and pleasant personal discoveries.
It's no secret that removable USB devices in the form of regular flash drives sometimes cause their owners a lot of problems due to their inoperability. And the information on them may be lost. In particular, this applies to Silicon Power devices. Restoring 16 Gb USB drives of smaller or larger capacity has its own characteristics. The main emphasis will be placed on them. But for all other removable media that support the USB data transfer interface and connection to the corresponding ports, this technique may be equally suitable.
The first signs of media damage
Unfortunately, it is the drives of this manufacturer that often refuse to work in normal (stationary) mode, when reading, editing or moving data must be done.
And here comes the very first problem associated with Silicon Power. Restoring USB drives of 16 gigs or more is impossible only because the operating system does not recognize them.
On the other hand, it is possible that failures and more serious problems may occur, both with software, which may often be missing in Windows systems, and with damage to the media itself, when not only the USB device, but also the controller responsible for it is not detected .
Silicon Power: USB flash drive recovery. General principles
Nevertheless, we will assume that the flash drive has no physical damage, nor has it been subjected to overheating or exposure to electromagnetic or other radiation that could cause failures at both the physical and software levels.
For this purpose, special utilities and software applets are used. On Windows systems, you can recover a Silicon Power 16 Gb flash drive only by specifying a disk scan through the command console. Let's move on.
Silicon Power USB drive recovery: features
The main problem is that devices from this manufacturer are not always detected by the computers to which they are connected. In other words, the installed operating system, be it Windows, Mac OS or Linux, cannot identify the file system.
Silicon Power devices, in principle, are initially supplied formatted, but only at the level of compatibility with memory cards (ext2/3/4), and Windows systems are not designed for this. Even the notorious version of the tenth modification is not always able to identify such a drive.
Formatting
The easiest way to fix the problem is considered to be formatting the media.
In this case, you cannot use only clearing the table of contents; you need to perform a complete formatting, which seems to completely destroy the data. No question - you can restore information even after this. For Silicon Power, recovery of USB drives must be done using special programs.
Recovery programs
In this case, programs for identifying deleted files and folders like Recuva (one of the most popular utilities) are not taken into account only because they are an absolute fake in the world of software and are not capable of restoring absolutely anything!!!
The R.Saver program or its analogue R-Studio looks much more acceptable. The interface, of course, is somewhat different, but both programs restore the file system regardless of what format the data was originally saved on the media.
It is also interesting that the initially launched scanning process of any removable device, be it a memory card or a regular flash drive, will scan the device so deeply that many users simply cannot believe their eyes. They see files deleted 5-10 years ago!!!
Restoring the controller
Restoring USB drives seems more difficult for Silicon Power in cases where problems arise directly with the controller (main chip). If it has no physical damage, which is usually the case, the point comes down to “reflashing” it.
To do this, you will need to download the appropriate firmware, having previously set the values of the VEN and DEV identifiers, which can be seen in the driver properties section in the standard “Device Manager”, as shown in the picture above. But in this case, you will have to pay attention to the fact that the process of restoring the operation of the controller can take quite a lot of time, and the information located on the media is almost always destroyed.
If such procedures do not help, the controller will have to be replaced, although in this case it will be easier to buy a new flash drive and not do stupid things. The issue of recovery is relevant only when the media contains particularly important information. This is where USB recovery utilities like R.Saver or similar software products come in handy, as they can read data in such a way that they can easily identify any deleted information even after the media has been completely formatted, be it a computer hard drive, flash drive or memory card. In other cases, such methods, although applicable, are not recommended. And interfering with the operation of the controller can cause many problems that were not present before.
Conclusion
Thus, based on all of the above, the only conclusion we can draw is that problems with USB drives of this type can be eliminated quite simply, provided that the malfunctions were associated exclusively with software problems. What to use? Don't be afraid to do even full formatting. Firstly, it will save you from problems with the file system and media recognition at the system level. Secondly, after using software products like R.Saver, information can still be restored. Some "minds" claim that this is not so. Judging by the reviews of users and specialists who give recommendations on various forums on the Internet, this sequence of actions seems to be the most preferable, unless, of course, we talk about physical damage to the media. In such a situation, if the user does not have extremely important data saved on the damaged media, it is easier to buy a new one than to engage in recovery procedures.
Manufacturers of USB drives place software on official websites for the convenience of users. Therefore, Silicon Power recommends flash drive recovery using the UFD Recover Tool software.
To do this, you need to go to the official website, register, download the program directly in the registration window. In addition, on the same site there is software from the official partner of the Piriform company called Recuva File Recovery. It restores files deleted from the drive.
When you insert some USB storage devices into a slot, the computer incorrectly detects the amount of memory. There are known cases when the case was marked 32 GB, and when disassembled the chip turned out to be 1 GB in size.
Recovery Features
The most common case in which the Silicon Power flash drive recovery program is in demand is the message in the window: “Error, write protection” / “The drive is write protected.” A program to determine the controller being used will help you choose the optimal utility for restoring a Silicon Power 16 Gb flash drive. At the same time, it is very important to know the type of microcircuit, since the software edition depends on it.
The ChipGenium program copes better than others with the task of recognizing a player or flash drive. It successfully interrogates most models, and for rare exceptions it takes data from the VId\PID database, displaying information about them with a high degree of probability.
Old versions of ChipGenium (3.0, 3.1) are useless for our chosen task, since they cannot poll devices. Operating system builds of the ChipXP, Zver, Windows PE editions will also not allow you to display the correct information. ASMedia controllers 3.0 are not designed for this utility.
The domestic software manufacturer is not lagging behind its Western competitors. ANTSpec Software produces Flash Drive Information Extractor software. The advantage of the utility is its compatibility with USB 3.0 ports from AS Media. Decrypted information is released only in program versions older than 7.0. I recommend this software for SMI, Phison, Innostor, Alcor controllers.
The last program needed to select the correct utility to recover a Silicon Power 8 Gb flash drive is ChipEasy. The utility polls the latest generation 3.0 connectors with errors, therefore, it is better to use the traditional 2.0 port. The operating principle differs from the previous two, however, the program confidently takes third place in the ranking.
Drive firmware
In difficult cases, when the programs discussed above are not able to restore a Silicon Power 4 Gb flash drive, I recommend flashing the device with one of the utilities and programs. To do this you will need to find out the VID&PID and follow the instructions:
- The flash drive is pulled out of the connector
- after launching the utility, the installation of drivers is confirmed, which should be removed automatically after flashing the firmware and closing the program
- To do this, you need to manipulate the menu: Driver > Uninstall drivers
- The flash drive is inserted into the PC, the OS offers to install a driver on it
- click “Automatic”, after installation click Enum
- Now the computer detects the device, you can click Start to flash the firmware
- OK status means firmware without errors, otherwise you can decipher the problem using the error code (Menu Help > Error Code List)
At the penultimate stage, a problem is possible - the computer does not detect the device. In this case, go to: C:\Program Files\Program nameDriver\InfUpdate.exe, launch it by double-clicking, register the VOD&PID of the flash drive in it. Users who do not know this parameter can use ChipGenium. After flashing the firmware, the program should be uninstalled, otherwise the drivers will not be removed, and the OS simply will not see the flashed flash drive. At the last stage, in order to restore the Silicon Power b32 Gb flash drive, the drive is formatted using Windows.
Thus, you should first obtain accurate information about the controller and the type of chip. Then try to revive the media using the utility from the official website, and, if unsuccessful, use the firmware option followed by formatting using your OS.
Step-by-step instructions for USB flash drive recovery 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 Kingston DataTraveler 2.0.
The right column will contain the name of the program we need or a link to it.
All. Now search Google for the program by name or download it 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.
