Flash drive recovery: controller definition, flash drive firmware. Silicon Power flash drive recovery Silicon power 8gb flash drive not working
In our world, almost everything breaks, and Silicon Power flash drives are no exception. The crack is very easy to spot. In some cases, some files begin to disappear from your media. Sometimes the drive simply stops being detected by a computer or any other device (it happens that it is detected by a computer, but not detected by a phone, or vice versa). Also, a memory card can be detected, but not opened, and so on.
In any case, it is necessary to restore the flash drive so that it can be used again. Unfortunately, in most cases you will not be able to recover any information and it will be permanently deleted. But after that, the USB-drive can again be fully used and write information to it without fear that it will be lost somewhere. It is worth noting that very rarely, after recovery, removable media from Silicon Power last a long time, they still have to be changed.
You can restore Silicon Power removable media using the programs that the company itself has released. Besides this, there is another software which helps in this matter. We will analyze proven methods that have been tested by users from all over the world.
Method 1: Silicon Power Recovery Tool
The first and most famous utility from Silicon Power. She has only one purpose - to fix damaged flash drives. Silicon Power Recover Tool works with removable media with Innostor IS903, IS902 and IS902E, IS916EN and IS9162 series controllers. Its use is extremely simple and looks like this:
![](https://i1.wp.com/lumpics.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/arhiv-s-programmoy-Silicon-Power-Recover-Tool.png)
Method 2: SP Toolbox
The second proprietary program, which includes as many as 7 tools. We only need two of them. To use Silicon Power ToolBox to recover your media, do the following:
![](https://i2.wp.com/lumpics.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/piktogramma-skachivaniya-SP-ToolBox.png)
Now the program can be closed.
Method 3: SP USB Flash Drive Recovery Software
The third program from the manufacturer, which with great success restores flash drives from Silicon Power. In fact, it performs the same process that users usually go through with the iFlash service. Read about what it is and how to use it in the lesson on recovering Kingston flash drives.
Meaning of use this service is to find desired program and use it to recover the flash drive. The search is carried out by parameters such as VID and PID. So, USB flash drive Recovery independently determines these parameters and finds the desired program on the Silicon Power servers. Using it looks like this:
![](https://i1.wp.com/lumpics.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rabota-programmyi-SP-USB-Flash-Drive-Recovery-Software.png)
Using this tool also does not make it possible to save the data contained in the memory of the drive.
Method 4: SMI MPTool
This program works with Silicon Motion controllers, which are installed in most Silicon Power flash drives. SMI MPTool differs in that it performs low-level recovery of damaged media. You can use it in the following way:
- program and run it from the archive.
- Click on the button " Scan USB" to start scanning your computer for a suitable flash drive. After that, your media should be displayed on one of the ports (column " Items» on the left). Click on it in this column to highlight it. Actually, if nothing happens, then the program does not suit your carrier.
- Then press the button " debug". If a window appears asking you to enter a password, enter the number 320.
- Now click the " start” and wait for the recovery to finish.
In some cases, it helps if you do the above steps several times. In any case, it's worth a try. But, again, do not rely on saving data.
Method 5: Recuva File Recovery
Finally, we have reached a method that allows you to restore at least part of the damaged information. Only then it will be possible to deal with the restoration of the device itself using one of the utilities described above. Recuva File Recovery is not own development SP, but for some reason is on this firm. It is worth saying that this is not the same program familiar to all of us. All this only means that Recuva will be the most effective in working with flash drives from Silicon Power.
To take advantage of its capabilities, read the lesson on our website.
Only when you choose where to scan for deleted or damaged files, select the option " On my media card” (this is step 2). If the card is not detected or no files are found on it, start the whole process again. Now select the option " In a specific location” and specify your removable media according to its drive letter. By the way, you can find it if you go to " My computer" (or just " Computer», « This computer” - it all depends on the version of Windows).
Method 6: Flash Drive Recovery
It is too universal program, which is suitable for most modern models of removable media. Flash Drive Recovery is not developed by Silicon Power and is not listed among the recommended utilities on the manufacturer's website. But, judging by user reviews, it is extremely effective in working with flash drives from this manufacturer. Using it looks like this:
![](https://i2.wp.com/lumpics.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/glavnoe-okno-programmyi-Flash-Drive-Recovery.png)
In addition to Recuva File Recovery and Flash Drive Recovery, you can use TestDisk, R.saver and other utilities to recover data from damaged media. The most effective such programs are listed on our website.
After the recovery of lost data has been completed, use one of the above utilities to restore the entire drive to working order. You can also use the standard Windows tool to check disks and fix their errors. How to do this is shown in the recovery lesson. flash drives Transcend(method 6).
Finally, you can format your removable media using other programs or the same standard tool Windows. As for the latter, you need to do the following:
- In the window " Computer» (« My computer», « This computer”), right-click on your flash drive. From the drop down menu select " Format…».
- When the formatting window opens, click on the " Begin". If it does not help, start the process again, but uncheck the box next to the inscription " Fast…».
Also try using other disk formatting software. The best of them are listed on our website. And if this does not help, we will advise nothing except buying a new carrier.
I congratulate everyone on the past Constitution Day and Youth Day, and I want to wish that we all live in peace and prosperity.
This time, I decided to write a short article about data recovery from flash Silicon Power 8GB. In fact, this case is no different from other similar ones - I just liked the design of the flash drive and the fact that the drive "lived" from the moment of purchase for a little more than a month.
Usually flash drives work quietly for 2-3 years, in mode regular use(office flash drive, for working with documents). USB flash drives over 8GB that have been produced since the 2010s have gotten worse and worse in terms of quality. For example, a month ago they brought me a Trancent 1GB flash drive for data recovery, which served the owner for over 5 years, in daily use mode. This example is far from unique, because flash drives up to 4GB very often serve for 4-7 years until the wear of the memory cells leads to blocking access to the memory by the controller itself. But new flash drives “live their own lives” and, after working for a couple of years, they can easily stop being detected in the system, have zero size and similar problems.
I have already written a question about the duration of the work of flash drives of different sizes, now you can go to the description.
Silicon Power flash drive diagnostics showed a controller malfunction - not detected in the OS. "Opening" the flash drive and a thorough check of the drive board did not reveal any damage.
Since there were no doubts about the type of malfunction, the turn came to act according to the standard scheme for such cases - dismantling the memory chips and assembling the drive data image. Since this case is fundamentally no different, this time I will do short description all processes, in the form of comments to photos and screenshots.
You can learn more about the method of recovering files from flash drives in the article "Method of recovering files from flash drives".
Flash drive before starting work:
View of a flash drive without a case. The small square chip is controller SM3257EN, and the chip is a rectangular chip, this is our main guest - a memory chip. On the other hand, there is no chip board, which is for the better - less work with a hot air gun. The first thing that caught my eye was an incomprehensible marking on the memory chip - 0664MT1E1SA which, to be honest, does not carry a semantic load. In fact, usually few people pay attention to the marking on the chip, since there are few useful information about the chip. The main thing that I pay attention to when examining a chip is the absence of any generation of chips, the type of package and, if possible, its manufacturer.
The next step is to remove the memory chip and clean the legs from excess solder and flux. I checked if all the legs of the microcircuit are even, and if there are any bent legs, which can interfere with reading the memory dump.
Since the chip package is a regular TSOP-48, there is no need to connect additional adapters. You can see photos and description of Flash Reader from AceLab, which I use here.
The memory dump was read for 40 minutes. After that, you need to determine the ECC and perform its correction. The screenshot below shows this process.
For the convenience of users, manufacturers of USB drives post software on official websites. Therefore, Silicon Power recommends using the UFD Recover Tool for flash drive recovery.
To do this, you need to go to the official website, register, download the program directly in the registration window. In addition, the same site has the software of the official partner of Piriform called Recuva File Recovery. It recovers files deleted from the drive.
When some USB memory devices are inserted into the slot, the computer does not correctly detect the size of the memory. There are cases when there was a marking of 32 GB on the case, and, when disassembling the chip, it turned out to be 1 GB.
Recovery features
The most common case in which the Silicon Power flash drive recovery program is in demand is the inscription in the window: "Error, write protection" / "The drive is write protected." The program for determining the controller used will help you choose the optimal utility that restores 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 identifying a player, a flash drive. It successfully interrogates most models, and, for rare exceptions, 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 the task we have chosen, because they cannot poll devices. Assemblies of the operating system 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 does not lag behind Western competitors. ANTSpec Software releases Flash Drive Information Extractor software. The advantage of the utility is compatibility with USB ports 3.0 by AS Media. The decrypted information is released only in versions of the program older than 7.0. I recommend this software for SMI, Phison, Innostor, Alcor controllers.
The last program you need to choose the right utility to recover a Silicon Power 8 Gb flash drive is ChipEasy. The utility interrogates the latest generation 3.0 connectors with errors, therefore, it is better to use the traditional 2.0 port. The principle of operation differs from the previous two, however, in the ranking, the program confidently takes third place.
Drive Firmware
In difficult cases, when the programs discussed above are not able to restore the Silicon Power 4 Gb flash drive, I recommend flashing the device with one of the utilities and programs. To do this, you need to find out the VID & PID, follow the instructions:
- flash drive is pulled out of the socket
- after starting the utility, the installation of drivers is confirmed, which, after flashing, closing the program, should be deleted automatically
- to do this, the menu should be manipulated: Driver> Uninstall drivers
- the flash drive is inserted into the PC, the OS offers to install the driver on it
- click "Automatic", after installation click Enum
- now the computer detects the device, you can click Start to flash
- OK status means firmware without errors, in otherwise You can decipher the problem by 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, double-click it, enter the VOD&PID of the flash drive in it. Users who do not know this option can use ChipGenium. After the firmware, the program should be uninstalled, otherwise, the drivers will not be deleted, 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 tools.
Thus, you should first obtain accurate information about the controller, the type of microcircuit. Then try to reanimate the media with a utility from the official site, and, in case of failure, use the firmware option with subsequent formatting using your OS.
A variety of problems with USB drives or flash drives is something that, probably, every owner of them 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 working, but you need to recover files from it, I recommend that you first read the material.
If different ways to fix USB errors drive by manipulating drivers, actions in Windows Disk Management, or using 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. You will need to enter an address to download. Email(not tested), then the UFD_Recover_Tool ZIP archive is loaded, which contains the SP Recovery Utility (requires the .NET Framework 3.5 components to work, will be loaded automatically if necessary).
![](https://i1.wp.com/remontka.pro/images/silicon-power-recovery-tool-usb.png)
Similar to the previous program, SP Flash Drive Recovery requires an Internet connection to work and recovery takes place in several stages - determining the parameters of the USB drive, downloading and unpacking the appropriate utility for it, then - automatic execution necessary actions.
Download Silicon Power SP Flash Drive Repair Software Recovery Software can be free from the official website http://www.silicon-power.com/web/download-USBrecovery
If you are the drive owner Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0, then on the Kingston official website you can find a utility for repairing this line of flash drives, which will help you format the drive and bring it to the state it had when you bought it.
![](https://i1.wp.com/remontka.pro/images/kingston-format-utility-usb.png)
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 you 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 associated with the drive. To download the program, you will need to enter serial number flash drives (so that exactly what is required is loaded) as in the screenshot below.
![](https://i1.wp.com/remontka.pro/images/adata-usb-flash-drive-online-recovery.png)
After downloading - run the downloaded utility and run a few simple steps for recovery USB work devices.
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 at once - different versions Apacer Repair Utility (which, however, cannot be found on the official website), as well as Apacer Flash Drive Repair Tool available for download at official pages some of the Apacer flash drives (search the official website for your specific USB drive model and check out the downloads section at the bottom of the page).
![](https://i2.wp.com/remontka.pro/images/apacer-usb-restore.png)
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 low-level formatting utility for 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 performance when no other methods do not help.
![](https://i2.wp.com/remontka.pro/images/formatter-silicon-power-tool-usb.png)
The utility is no longer available on the official SP website, so you will have to use Google to download it (I do not give links to unofficial locations within this site) and do not forget to check the downloaded file, for example, on VirusTotal before running it.
SD Memory Card Formatter for repairing and formatting SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards (including Micro SD)
The Association of SD Memory Card Companies offers its own universal utility to format the respective memory cards in case of problems with them. At the same time, judging by available information, it is compatible with almost all such drives.
![](https://i2.wp.com/remontka.pro/images/sd-card-formatter-tool.png)
The program itself is available in versions for Windows (there is support for Windows 10) 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
The free program D-Soft Flash Doctor is not tied to any particular manufacturer and, judging by the 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 no longer 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
Actually this kind free utilities there are much more to repair flash drives than listed here: I tried to take into account only relatively “universal” tools for USB drives from different manufacturers.
It is possible that none of the above utilities are suitable for restoring the health of your USB drive. In this case, you can use the following steps to find the right program.
![](https://i1.wp.com/remontka.pro/images/chipgenius-flash-memory.png)
Optional: if all the methods described are repaired USB stick didn't work, try it.
There are several solutions for backing up data:
- Embedded in operating system applications. Microsoft Windows provides ways Reserve copy data that involves saving files and data on external or built-in storage media. All modern versions of Windows already include the ability to create backup necessary files or all hard drive, if necessary. Provided Windows features are complete and independent, and are aimed at ensuring that you do not need to use third party services or programs.
- Copying data manually. You can always use the old proven way to back up data - manually copying data to an external storage medium. This is long, but if you work with a small amount of data, this solution may be quite acceptable for you.
- Online services. In recent years, the most popular modern way data backups are numerous online services. Companies that provide online backup of your files. A small background application installed on the computer creates copies of the necessary data and saves them to remote server. However, the volumes provided by such companies for storing your files in free version do not allow them to be used as a complex solution. Often the space offered for backing up data does not exceed 10 GB, so there is no need to talk about creating a backup copy of the entire hard drive. Such services are rather aimed at backing up a separate number of files.
- Create a disk image. This is the most complete data backup solution for advanced users. This method involves the use third party program to create an image of the entire disk, which can be deployed if necessary on another storage medium. By using this decision, you can in a short period of time get access to all the data that was on the disk at the time of its backup: documents, programs and media files.
Silicon Power flash drive models for 64gb, 32gb, 16gb, 8gb, 4gb, 2 gb:
- Jewel;
- touch;
- Blaze;
- mobile;
- xdrive;
- secure;
- Marvel;
- firma;
- Ultima;
- unique;
- Helios;
- LuxMini;