Copy data from a flash drive without formatting. How to recover data if the flash drive requires formatting
You connected the flash drive to your computer, but instead of viewing photos or copying other data, you are faced with the fact that the drive requires formatting. What can be done in this situation? Try to extract files from a removable disk for free using the program [email protected] File Recovery.
Important: do not agree to formatting if a flash drive or memory card asks you to do it. After formatting, recovering deleted files will be difficult - photos may not open, videos may not play, etc.
Recovery without formatting
To extract files from a flash drive that needs to be formatted:
After the scan of the media that the system asks to format is completed, the “Super Scan” folder will appear on the left side of the program. Go to it to see what data was extracted from the removable drive. To recover photos, documents and other files for free, right-click on them and select the "Recover" option. 
Save found files to HDD, and not on a flash drive to avoid overwriting. If necessary, you can use the "Search" tab to find specific information.
Recovery after formatting
If you still formatted the flash drive, then it will be necessary to return the deleted data. File recovery can be done free of charge using the R-Studio program, which can return photos, videos and other data after formatting.
Note: if you have applied low-level formatting on a flash drive or memory card, then it is unlikely that you will be able to recover deleted files. Information can be returned if the drive was formatted quickly, by headers.
In addition, it is important that after deleting the files, the flash drive or memory card is no longer used. If accidentally deleted information is overwritten with other data (photos, videos), then you will not be able to restore the files.
In the scan settings window, you can specify what specific data you want to recover - music, videos, photos, documents. Check the box "Look for known file types" and select from the list what information to look for.
Click the "Scan" button; a disk map will appear showing the progress of data recovery after formatting. Here you can see how much time is left before the end of the procedure. After the search is completed deleted photos and the video under the formatted flash drive, the folder "Extra Found Files" will appear.
This directory contains all the data that could be found on a memory card or flash drive after formatting the media. Select the files you need and click Restore. Specify a place to save the computer's hard drive to avoid overwriting information on a flash drive or memory card.
Hello everyone... Today we'll talk about how you can recover a damaged flash drive. Due to their versatility, ease of handling and compact size, removable flash drives or otherwise flash drives have become widespread.
Unlike obsolete optical discs, flash drives allow you to store more information. They have a higher data overwriting potential and a higher retention period. As well as the best protection from external damage.
Alas, although flash drives are considered fairly reliable devices, they are not perfect. There are many reasons why a flash drive can fail. Physical failure of components. Controller failure. Damage to the file system due to the removal of the device at the time of recording. Development of the potential of memory cells - all this can lead to the flash drive becoming unreadable or simply no longer recognized by the operating system.
When connecting such a flash drive, the user may receive various errors. For example, " USB device not recognized”, “No access to the disk”, etc. However, this does not mean that the drive itself and the data written to it are irretrievably damaged.
If the flash drive does not have gross physical damage, in most cases it can be restored. The most common problems with flash drives will be described below. And also I will try to restore the damaged flash drive in various ways, if one does not help, the other will help. So, let's begin...
The flash drive is recognized by Windows, but its file system is marked as RAW
The prognosis in such cases is usually the most favorable. The reason for converting the flash drive file system to RAW is most often logical errors. In this case, the media is recognized by the OS. However, its contents are not available, and when you try to open it, the system prompts you to format it.
Indeed, formatting can restore a damaged flash drive, but this method is unacceptable if it has important files. Here you can go in two ways: restore the damaged file system or the data itself, using recovery programs deleted files type Transcend RecoveRx or .
After recovery, the flash drive can be formatted in any way convenient for you. To reconstruct the file system, we use the standard Chkdsk utility. Run a command prompt as an administrator and run the following command in it: chkdsk T: / f
Letter T in this example has a flash drive, you will have your own letter. In most cases, this simple trick allows you to restore access to the media. But it may also happen that when you run the command, you get the message "Chkdsk is not valid for RAW disks." In this case, we perform data recovery in the first way, and then format the flash drive.
The flash drive is recognized by Windows, but there is no access to data
If the media is recognized, but shows the wrong capacity, when you try to view the contents, the errors "No access to the disk", "Insert disk" and so on are given, most likely the firmware (firmware) is damaged.
Such breakdowns are most often caused by power failures, unsafe removal of the device from the USB port. Also, the cause of the errors described above can be failures and damage to the flash memory itself. In such cases, when trying to format the drive, the message "The disk is write-protected" is displayed.
The case is more complicated than with the RAW file system. However, with the right approach, a non-working drive can be restored. For these purposes, special programs of the MPTool class are used, which allow performing the so-called low-level formatting.
Since all these tools are strictly specialized, you need to use your own “native” utility for each flash drive model and controller type. And for this, at least you need to know the device identifier (PID) and the manufacturer identifier (VID).
Connect the flash drive to the computer, open the Device Manager, in the category of mass storage or portable devices, find the connected drive in the category "USB Controllers" and open its properties.
In the list of properties, you need to find the parameter: Device ID or Device Instance ID. In the "Details" field, you will see a line in which there will be elements of VID_XXX; PID_XXX, where XXX is the manufacturer ID and device ID, respectively.
If you do not have the specified parameters, use the utilities to obtain complete information about removable media: flash drive Information Extractor.
Or CheckUDisk
After receiving the information, go to a specialized site flashboot, enter the received VID and PID in the corresponding fields and search. You will receive a list of drive recovery utilities.
If there is no utility that exactly matches the VID and PID of your flash drive, be guided by the manufacturer of the removable device. It is not possible to give a consistent instruction on the use of each utility. Because they are all different. The main thing when using them is to strictly follow the instructions of the master.
However, you can use the universal software tools to recover flash drives, for example, D-Soft Flash Doctor. This free program is not tied to a specific manufacturer and type of controller. And therefore it can be used to treat flash drives of various types.
Additionally D-Soft Flash Doctor supported by creating a disk image, scanning for logical errors. Using the utility is simple, you just need to select a non-working flash drive in the window and click the "Restore media" button.
The flash drive is not recognized by the system
In the cases discussed above, the flash drive, although not readable, was still recognized by the system. But what to do if Windows cannot recognize the connected drive? It doesn't show up in Explorer, nor does it show up in Disk Manager. And the only indication of the connection is a window with the notification "USB device not recognized."
As well as the item marked with a yellow warning icon in the device manager.
The error in this example can be caused by: software problems, and physical damage to the components of the flash drive. It is important to exclude hardware failures here. Since this almost always means that the flash drive will either have to be taken in for repair, or simply replaced.
First of all, try connecting the problematic drive to another USB port, or even better, to another computer. If no error occurs, the reasons must be looked for on your computer. Most often, these causes are damaged or incorrectly working external drive drivers.
Go to the device manager and find your USB flash drive among the devices. Since it will be marked with a yellow exclamation point, it will not be difficult to do this. If the flash drive ends up in the "Unknown Devices" category (which is most likely), try updating its driver. Using the context menu.
If the driver update of an unknown device fails, you will have to use one of the programs to search for drivers on the Internet, for example Driver Pack Solution . If a non-working flash drive finds itself in the USB Controllers category, open its properties and, switching to the Driver tab, click the Roll Back button.
Did updating/reinstalling drivers fail? Try another option - manually clear the registry keys that store entries about devices.
Using the method described above, find out the VID and PID of your flash drive, then open and expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEMCurrentControlSet/Enum/USB branch. In the last directory, look for subfolders. The names of which will contain certain VID and PID and delete all their contents.
Do the same with the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Enum/USBSTOR branch, and then restart your computer. What to do if none of the above methods helped? In this case, the most reasonable thing would be to take the USB flash drive to the maintenance service. Where experienced specialists will help you determine the causes of a gadget malfunction...
Today, a flash drive is an indispensable portable device for storing information in in electronic format. Each of us has at least one flash drive in the house, and some users have a whole collection. Unfortunately, this device is not reliable, in connection with which today the problem will be considered in more detail when the flash drive asks to format it.
The problem when the contents of the flash drive cannot be viewed due to the system requiring it to be formatted occurs due to problems in the file system. This problem can occur for several reasons:
- Incorrect ejection of the flash drive;
- The action of viruses;
- Damage to the file system as a result of a crash on the computer;
- Flash drive failure.
Unfortunately, if such a problem has already happened, then it will not be possible to refuse formatting almost 100%. However, after the procedure is done, you can restore all the information previously contained on it using special programs. But first, it’s still worth running a disk check so that Windows tries to find the problem on its own and fix it in a timely manner.
Method 1: Checking the disk using Windows
Where i: is the letter of the flash drive for which the check will be performed.
If this step did not help you, you can safely format the USB flash drive, and then proceed to the second or third method (your choice).
Method 2: Data Recovery with Recuva
If you are not familiar with Recuva program, you must have heard of the CCleaner tool. These programs are united by the fact that they came out from under the wing of the same developers.
The Recuva program has paid version, however, on the developer's website you can also find a version of the program that is distributed completely free of charge. Fortunately, it is quite enough to perform data recovery.
Method 3: Restoring with R-STUDIO
Another pretty effective tool for recovering deleted files. The program is paid, however, it will be more than enough if you need to recover data from a USB flash drive right now.
Most media type USB flash drives are formatted at the factory, so you do not need to further format them before using them normally. But you may need to format this media if you want to use it as a drive to store a backup of your computer's logical partitions. It is also possible that there is a need to use a flash drive with an operating system of a different version or platform. When formatting such a USB drive, all data on it is destroyed, which should always be remembered. Do not forget about copying data to another location before formatting the flash drive.
Format Variations
Virtually all hard drives modern computers one of the two leading formats is used - File Allocation Table (FAT) or New Technology File System (NTFS). Portable storage media such as USB flash drives, memory cards are usually formatted in the same format, which makes them compatible when exchanging data with hard drive computer. The process of formatting portable storage media itself is very simple and does not require the user to have any special knowledge and use of special software. But it is necessary to remember about the destruction of data during formatting and take care of creating a backup copy of everything that is stored on the media.
Create a backup
Before formatting and destroying data on portable media, check to see if it contains any information that you might still need. To do this, insert USB flash drive in free USB port computer. Select "Open folder to view files" in the "Open folder" dialog box (which opens immediately after inserting the flash drive into the port). Carefully review the contents of all folders on the portable media. Save important data to local disk by simply dragging the desired files or directories to the desktop or directory for backups. A similar procedure is very simple to do through any file manager.
Formatting portable media
After you have transferred important data from the flash drive, you can start formatting it. During the formatting process, a new file system will be created on the media, which will cover (erase) all data stored on it in the old file system. Press the "Windows" button (open the start menu), open the "Computer" item and find your USB flash drive or memory card in the list of storage media connected to the computer. Call with the right mouse button context menu on the media icon. Select "Format" from the menu. In the new dialog box, in the "File system" section, select one of the types of the new file system "NTFS", "exFAT" or "FAT". At the bottom of the dialog box, click on the "Start" button and the formatting of the media will begin. Wait for Windows to complete the operation. Depending on the media capacity, this may take up to several minutes.
Using portable media
Once the media has been formatted, it can be used on a computer with a compatible file system. Flash media can be used to increase the capacity of the disks built into a computer or as a place to store backups. In addition, using a flash drive, you can transfer large files between computers in the absence of a network connection. With their help it is also very convenient and safe to carry confidential information eliminating the risk of data leakage.
Using portable storage media important information This is the mistake of many people. In addition to the fact that a flash drive can be easily lost, it can fail and valuable data will be lost. An example of this is the situation when it is not readable and asks to start formatting. How to access the necessary files, we will talk further.
Immediately clarify that we are talking about such an error, which is shown in the photo below.
It usually occurs when the file system is broken, for example, due to incorrectly ejecting a USB flash drive. Although it does not work, its contents are not damaged in this case. To extract files, we use the following methods:
- program;
- program;
- program;
- chkdsk command.
It should be said right away that data recovery from a portable device does not always end in success. The probability that the above methods will work can be estimated at 80%.
Method 1: Handy Recovery
This utility is paid, but has a test period of 30 days, which will be enough for us.
To use Handy Recovery, do the following:
As you can see, using Handy Recovery is quite simple. If the error persists after the above procedures, use the following program.
Method 2: File Recovery
To do this, we refuse to format, and then call the context menu on the icon of the problem disk and select "Properties".
For a long time, such digital information carriers as disks and floppy disks have long gone out of everyday use due to small capacity, the complexity of rewriting and relatively large dimensions. Now they have been replaced by flash drives - small-sized media that can be placed inside the phone and put in any of the available pockets.
The modern market offers a huge range of USB flash drives of a wide variety of colors, sizes, configurations, designs and the capacity of the media itself, which varies from one or more gigabytes. Unfortunately, they also have problems. One of the cases when a flash drive is not formatted - Windows cannot complete formatting: few people know what to do in such a situation. Actually, we will gradually move on to this problem.
So, due to the low cost, many users acquire several media at once. Saving information on them is no worse than on disks, but the methods for deleting old and recording new information are much more simple and convenient.
Constant overwriting, deleting old files and adding new ones lead to the need to format the USB drive. But it also happens that when trying to format, the system gives the user information about the impossibility of completing the cleaning of space on the flash drive.
Why can't I format my flash drive?
There can be a great many reasons for such a Windows reaction: from problems with USB connectors, a broken flash drive, system errors, to the employment of a file located on the media in the operation of the system itself. But this is not a reason to say goodbye to your favorite assistant and send it to the landfill: there are a huge number of ways to fix the error and restore the media. As a rule, in 90% of cases it is possible to restore normal operation and return the device to service.
However, even with such inspiring forecasts, do not forget about 10% of cases, because the flash drive could simply exhaust the resource allotted to it, and nothing will be fixed. But to establish this fact, it will be necessary to perform a number of measures to identify the final "diagnosis".
Before proceeding with formatting, you need to be sure that there is no important data on the device. And if important files still remain there, then it is important to first restore them using a special program that will initially get the information, and then completely clear the contents. This issue is covered in more detail in the Data Recovery article. Before starting any recovery operations, the USB drive must be inserted into any connector on a computer or laptop.
Disabling antivirus programs
One of the reasons for the impossibility of formatting may be anti-virus programs installed to combat malicious files. To check this option, just disable the antivirus and try formatting again. This operation can be carried out in a standard way through "My Computer", right-clicking on the icon of the corresponding flash drive, where from the drop-down menu select "Format", and then confirm the operation.
Ideally, the formatting process should start, which will clean the media in the established format. But if cleaning in this way fails and the same window appears, you should try the next method. To implement further methods, all running programs or applications must be closed or terminated so that they do not access files on the flash drive and do not interfere with its cleaning.
Formatting using standard OS tools
For this method, you do not need to search for special utilities on the Internet, but you can simply use the standard Windows software. To do this, the Disk Management menu is first launched through the operating system. This launch can be done in two ways.
1) By pressing "Win" + "R" from the keyboard, after which the "Run" command window will appear on the screen. In the line of the pop-up window, we drive in diskmgmt.msc and confirm the action with the corresponding button on the window or with the "Enter" key. This method is supported by all versions of Windows.
2) Click the "Start" button, then select "Control Panel". Whichever method is used, in the menu that appears, click on "View: Category" and select "Small Icons".
The next step is to click on the "Administration" item and then go to the "Computer Management" section.
The window that opens will consist of three areas, in the left of which you will need to select "Disk Management".
After going to "Disk Management", all information about connected devices, their volume, type, and so on will be displayed. To format the flash drive, you will need to find it in the list, since it will then be impossible to recover data from the media or disk. Right-click on the drive icon, and select "Format" from the menu that opens.
If the “Delete volume” function is active in the opened menu of the USB drive, then you should first select this action, as it will help allocate space on the disk. After distribution, select the "Create a simple volume" column. The Volume Creation Wizard will walk you through the steps that require you to confirm the next step. After creating the volume, the flash drive can be formatted.
How to format a USB drive in safe mode?
First, the safe mode itself is launched - the system reboots and “F8” is pressed at startup. After that, a menu will be displayed that allows you to select startup options, where the transition to safe mode is carried out. In different operating systems, this mechanism may differ.
From safe mode, formatting is done using the command line. But at the same time, you need to make sure that no data from the flash drive is used by programs, for example, it is not checked by the same antivirus. Command line is invoked universal method- by pressing "Win" + "R", after which the command "cmd" is entered into the line and confirmed by the "Enter" key.
The following command “format x:” appears in the command line window, where x must be replaced with the corresponding name of the flash drive, under which it is displayed on the computer, and confirmed with the “Enter” key.
Formatting a flash drive using special programs
If the above methods did not give the desired result, then you should seek help from special utilities, which has established itself as the best "doctor", even for seemingly hopeless devices.
A program designed not only to format storage media, but also to quick creation boot disks. To erase data here, you must perform the following sequence.
- To plug USB stick to a computer or laptop through any connector.
- Download the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool and run it as an administrator: otherwise, the utility may simply not start.
- Wait for the media to be detected and appear in the Device menu.
- Select the appropriate file system format for the purpose of the media.
- Set the media name to be displayed on the PC.
- Next, choose a quick format.
- The process starts with the "Start" button.
Depending on whether the Russian or English version is installed, all commands will be displayed accordingly, but the instruction for formatting in any language version is performed in the same sequence as above.
There are also situations when portable memory cards for mobile devices for some reason also cannot be formatted. In these cases, you must use the SDFormatter program. When launched, it should be displayed as a normal window.
In the column "Drive" you need to select the device that will be formatted and press the "Option" button. After that, a new window will appear with two columns, in the first of which you need to select “FULL (Erase)”, and in the second set “ON” to improve the structure of the media and the quality of its further work.
All of the above methods are designed to recover a flash drive, but if they do not help, try to perform measures to restore the device with other programs, for example, D-Soft Flash Doctor, EzRecover or Jet Flash Recovery tool.
Specifying Attributes Using the Command Line
As a rule, the above methods and programs are more than enough, but if they turned out to be ineffective, then you can resort to the next method. To complete it, you will need utmost care, since the whole process will take place in several stages.
The universal combination "Win" + "R" invokes the command line. As before, the transition to the "Run" section is performed, then the "cmd" command is entered, which is launched by clicking on the button or pressing the "Enter" key. In the window that appears, write the command "diskpart" and confirm it.
After that, the “list disk” command is installed in a new window, which will display the connected disks. Here you select the media you need for formatting, which is determined by the capacity of the flash drive.
Having found out its number, you must enter the command " select disk", In which n is replaced by the number of the media intended for formatting, and press "Enter".
After that, you need to make changes to the attributes, for which the following command is written: "attributes disk clear readonly", and is launched by the "Enter" key.
Upon completion of the procedure, to complete the work, the command "exit" is entered into the command window and launched. Then you need to try out the standard formatting methods in the operating system.
Conclusion
If this method did not remove the window with the information: “Windows cannot complete formatting”, then you can try to perform all the procedures on another computer or laptop. It is possible that the reason for the failure to format was in the PC itself or the USB connector. In this case, it is better to check the last option immediately by inserting the USB flash drive into another connector.
We hope that the methods suggested in our article helped you recover the USB drive and format it as originally intended. If the article was useful, share it with your friends, perhaps it will help save their flash drives from disposal. Thank you for your attention!
Hello guys! Today I will tell you why the flash drive does not open, asks to format it and what to do with this trouble. Flash drives have long supplanted floppy disks and disks as a means of transferring data between computers and other gadgets.
They are easy to manage, mobile, have an impressive amount of information storage. However, along with this, flash drives have some drawbacks - they are not very reliable. You never know at what point the flash drive will not be able to open and instead a message will pop up asking you to format it. If you have flash drive for some reason does not open, but instead asks her format, then this article will tell you what to do in such a situation.
Such a failure indicates damage to the file system. However, the files themselves often remain intact and intact. The main thing is not to rush, otherwise the documents cannot be saved. To recover documents, you will have to use one of the paid programs - File Recovery 12.
The flash drive does not open, asks to format it, what to do and how to work with the program?
To begin with, if your flash drive does not open, it asks you to format it, you need to download the File Recovery 12 program and then install it. After that, read on for what to do next.
1) Run File Recovery. On the left, select the name of the flash drive that has problems.
2) Click on "Super Scan" at the top.
3) In the window that appears, specify the file system of your flash drive (for example, NTFS). If in doubt, it is better to check several options at once. Then click "Scan".
Thus, you have started the process of scanning the flash drive.
4) After scanning is completed on the left in the "SuperScan" section, find your USB flash drive and select it. On the right side of the working window, the files that were stored on it will be displayed.
To recover documents, right-click and select "Recover".
Then specify a location to save the recovered files and click on "Recover".
So you started the process of recovering documents. The larger the document, the longer the recovery process will take.
You can find the restored file in the place where you specified the save path.
In this program, you can restore all documents at the same time. You just need to select them and select " Recover"(As described in the case of one document). To find a specific document on the left in the menu, click "Search". So, you will start searching for a specific object.
That's all friends, now you know what to do when. All programs of this purpose are paid. Ask all questions in the comments. I wish you all health and wellness!
With Uv. Evgeny Kryzhanovsky
