How to recover deleted files from a flash drive? What to do if the computer does not see the USB flash drive? What to do if the computer sees a USB flash drive, but it does not open?
If the size of the flash drive is determined incorrectly, or it is determined with a zero size, then most often it is either a hardware malfunction of the microcontroller, NAND memory cells or the internal firmware of the flash drive. The same situation if Windows reports “usb device not recognized”.
If the data is needed, then most likely you will have to give the flash drive to specialists, since to restore the information, you will need to dismantle the memory chips, read the dumps and process the information received. If the data is not needed, then you can try programs for repairing flash drives.
If you still have questions about flash drives, you can ask it in our forum, and our specialists will try to help you.
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A USB flash drive is an information storage device that can be connected to any PC via a USB interface. Quite often this device stops working normally, what should I do? Below, we will consider the most effective ways to treat a flash drive and fixes of typical errors when working with the device.
Important!
Follow all the steps sequentially - if the first method did not help, move on to the next and so on.
What to do if the flash drive stops working
In the modern IT industry, the KISS-principle is relevant in a narrow circle meaning "Make it easier!" Without a special need, there is no need to edit the registry, use complex hardware troubleshooting methods, or try to implement other procedures - it is worth starting with the simplest steps.
- Try connecting the USB flash drive to another PC, laptop or other device for communication via the USB interface. If the flash drive does not work, then with 100 percent probability it can be argued that the problem is in her - and it is necessary immediately go to utilities for recovering and fixing a flash drive.
- If the flash drive works on another computer, or at least it is detected by Windows (but "Explorer" and "This / My Computer" do not appear), then it is necessary troubleshoot the OS or file system using the instructions below.
- Disconnect the drive by pulling it out of the USB connector.
- Shut down the PC by selecting the "Shut down" option.
- Disconnect the system unit from the 220V power supply, hold down the power button for 5 seconds - this will remove the residual charge on separate modules of the motherboard.
- Connect your computer to a power outlet.
- Turn it on, wait until it is fully loaded and insert the USB flash drive.
- Try to connect it to a different connector, especially if you have previously used external front USBs for this task. The best option is the rear ports
- Sometimes the reason for the malfunction of the flash drive is the assignment of system identifier in the form of a letter, or the disappearance of this parameter altogether, to fix the problem with the OS, we will use the "Disk Management" utility
USB flash drive recovery utilities
Be sure to check the flash drive through utility"USB troubleshooter" from Microsoft - it does not come with the OS, but it is available for download from the official portal at the link. is free, and only works with OS W7 and higher.
It's easy to use - run the program and click "Next". 
After that, the software will try to find and fix typical problems with displaying a flash drive in the system. 
If a characteristic sound is heard when the device is connected, but it does not appear in the "Explorer", then open the "Device Manager"
Often problem with reading USB sticks appears after updating the operating system - it is provoked by incorrect entries in the registry left after connecting physical media.
Searching for them manually is rather long and better. use a special program to find and clear non-working keys in the registry.
Best suited for this Vit Registry Fix utility
(free and general search and cleanup) and utility
USBOblivion
(free and clears all data about previously connected flash drives from regedit).
Main advantages:
The interface is intuitive and there is Russian localization.
Download the program, start the automatic search, after it finishes, start the cleanup (after checking the boxes in the sections on saving all changed .reg keys in the archive, in order to "roll back" the operation if necessary).
Sometimes the flash drive does not work due to driver incompatibility for USB 2 and 3 versions. V in this case you need to download the updated versions on the official website of the motherboard manufacturer.
If the PC does not accept any flash drives, then you must completely reinstall all drivers for USB drives.
The easiest way to do this is through the "Device Manager" (hold Win + R and enter devmgmt.msc, click on "OK"). Find the "USB Controllers" section in the drop-down list and sequentially delete (right-click on the object, item "Delete") the subsections USBHostController, GenericUSBHub and USB Root Hub, then update the current hardware configuration and restart the PC.
As an option, run a full scan of the entire system.
- Start the registry (hold down Win + R, enter regedit and confirm the action by clicking on "OK").
- Right-click the HKEY_CURRENT_USER section and select Find, then type Explorer in the search box. If the folder contains NoDrives, then you need to select and delete it (with the Delete button). In addition, in the same registry editor, search for the StorageDevicePolicies parameter (under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE) and delete it (if present).
Sometimes all of the above methods do not give any tangible result.
If the flash drive is identified in the system (at the level of determining an unknown connected device), then you can try to restore the normal operation of the device, formatting it in a special way using a third party HDD Low Level Format Tool utility .
In this case, working with the device occurs at the level of physical sectors, and not the file system (as with standard formatting), which guarantees:
- Erasing bad sectors
- Elimination of any soft problems
- Permanently deleting all data from the media.
The program is free and available for download from the official site. After installing and launching it, select the required drive, click Continue. 
Find the Low-levelFormat tab and accept the operation by clicking on Formatthisdevice. 
The duration of the procedure depends on the type of flash drive and its capacity, on modern PCs the process takes on average 30-60 minutes... Once completed, you should safely remove the device and restart your computer.
Flash drives have become an indispensable product that allows you to record large amounts of information. Various problems can arise when using them. For example, this should include a situation when a computer sees a USB flash drive, but is not able to read it. The reasons for this may be related to the technical or software side of the drive. In any case, you need to consider the main remedies.
General health check
When the flash drive does not open, you should connect it to another connector on the device. It is possible that the USB port is simply not working. You can try connecting to another computer or laptop. If it is impossible to read the information on it, a problem is provided directly with the flash drive itself.
Examine the surface of the product for various problems and defects. If they are, then this is what can cause the problem. In case of visible defects, information recovery is possible. When the cause is an electronic problem, you shouldn't hope so.
Device Manager
In a situation where the flash drive does not open, you need to go along the following path: "Start" - "Control Panel" - "System" - "Device Manager". Here we are especially interested in the section "USB Universal Serial Bus Controllers". The update is carried out by right-clicking and selecting the appropriate option. This is demonstrated in the screenshot.
We recommend that you use Safely Remove the device when you need to remove it from the port. As practice shows, problems do not arise in the usual state. Problems appear when files are extracted into the process of writing.
Using File Explorer
You can open the USB flash drive in another way. It is recommended to use a guide. To do this, right-click on the drive and select the appropriate item. If you were able to open the USB flash drive in this way, you need to copy all the information and carry out the formatting process. After that, the data is overwritten back.
If it still failed to open, but the properties indicate the definition as a removable disk, you can take certain actions. They are about formatting. All data will be lost, but this is the only way to be able to use the product again.
Virus exposure
When the flash drive does not open, it can be assumed that it has been infected with a virus (or directly with the computer). Even after treatment, access may be blocked. This is due to the fact that the malware creates an autorun.exe file with an autorun function. It should be removed with special programs or manually through the registry.
Another option is to make the "Organize" - "Folder Options" - "View" settings, where "Show hidden files and folders" is set. When this is done, all you need to do is find the autorun file and delete it.
The flash drive has become a necessary attribute in the life of most people. A universal storage device is useful both in everyday life and in work. However, no one is immune from situations when a USB flash drive cannot be opened on a computer. Errors in the operation of the system are not rare, so you should not be very worried if such a situation has occurred. It is enough to know the order of actions that will help fix the problem that has arisen. Read what to do if a USB flash drive does not open on a computer or laptop.
Often, the normal operation of a flash drive is disrupted by malware or viruses. Infection occurs almost imperceptibly. Flash drives are especially vulnerable to this. When one drive is used on multiple computers, the likelihood of infection will be high.
When connecting a device, the first thing to do if the flash drive does not open is to check the drive for threats.
The probability of detecting viruses depends on how updated the anti-virus databases of the installed program are. An outdated antivirus, however good it is, cannot detect most modern malware. In the program itself, you should mark the infected flash drive and put a full scan.
Anti-virus programs can not always access the USB flash drive. Many malicious applications can change the boot path of the drive, thereby blocking access from system requests. In this case, you will need to manually delete the file created by the virus.
If the type of objects is not configured in the system, then some of the information may be hidden. You can open it in the system menu. Through "Start" we go to the "Control Panel". Select the icon with the name "Folder Options". Click on the "View" tab and scroll the slider to the very bottom. In the last line, put a dot in front of the inscription "Show hidden files", and click on "Apply".
After that, all hidden data will be displayed in the system. Then, through the file manager, open the USB flash drive and delete the file called "autorun". It is in it that the boot parameters of the device are contained that interfere with normal operation. After that, we restart the antivirus and check for infected objects.
After checking and removing, the flash drive must be removed and reinserted into the USB port. The system will emit a characteristic device activation sound and will automatically open an overview of the files stored on the device.
The flash drive stopped working after updating or reinstalling the system
Sometimes the question arises why the flash drive does not open on the laptop after updating or reinstalling the system. When a USB flash drive does not open on a computer, what if the system is just installed? Operating systems are not immune to errors. This can be influenced by many different internal and external factors. System installations with an error are not uncommon.
With such failures, when reinstalling or updating the system, failures occur in the system devices. System drivers for storage and recording devices are often damaged. Flash drives also fall into this category.
When connected, the computer simply does not respond to the device in any way and does not display it. How to fix a USB flash drive in this case? No additional utilities are required for the repair. Owners of Windows versions 7, 8, 10 need to go to the control panel and find a USB troubleshooting program.
It is also worth noting that the system software is not always fully present. In this case, the utility should be downloaded from the official Microsoft website.
The program is quite easy to use and after launching all that is required is to click "Next". The application will independently conduct a full scan of both the system and the registry with associated keys that refer to the USB flash drive.
The troubleshooter, after the identified malfunctions, will correct all the information in the keys and system drivers automatically and ask you to restart Windows. After rebooting, the problem will be resolved.
Damage to the file system on the flash card
If after connecting the flash drive slowly blinks and does not open, there is a possibility that errors have occurred in the file system that prevent the device from booting and displaying normally.
The problem can arise if there is a power outage while working with the drive, if it is removed incorrectly, when trying to reflash a USB flash drive or format it in some of the non-standard file systems, for example, RAW.
Without special knowledge and skills in working with the means of accumulating information, it is better not to apply the above methods. This threatens not only with the loss of information, but also with the complete failure of the device.
First, try to open the media on other computers to rule out an error in the operating system itself. If the device behaves the same, then you will have to resort to the help of third-party utilities to fix the error.
IMPORTANT. If the file system is damaged, one of the distinctive symptoms of this will be errors when writing files to a USB flash drive.
To confirm that the error lies in the root of the flash drive system, use the "VID & PID" utility or "Flash Drive Information Extractor", the programs have an intuitive interface. After starting the check, the utilities will give out complete information on the device and the presence of errors in it.
Flash Drive Information Extractor is a free program for obtaining information about flash drives, which has the ability to determine the USB controller model, model and type of memory
To restore the flash drive, use the programs "ChipEasy" or "CheckUDisk". Both applications have Russian versions and only a few menu items. They automatically search for bad sectors and fix them. When finished, safely remove the device and reinstall it. To make sure that there will be no more interruptions in the detection of the device, scan the USB flash drive through the programs again.
Physical device malfunctions
Another error, due to which the computer does not open the USB flash drive, can be physical damage to the media. Careless storage or use of the memory card may cause interruptions over time.
Such interruptions, first of all, can be caused by the loss of information from the carrier. In more advanced cases, the device itself starts to work slower or, in general, stops opening.
A flash drive, with its external simplicity, is a complex electronic device inside. It contains a set of microcircuits and chips held together by special contacts. They can be damaged due to negative physical impact, such as:
- the fall;
- moisture;
- dust;
- power surges.
In many cases, after such influences, the flash card becomes faulty. The only thing that can help in this case is contacting specialized repair shops. Of course, the likelihood of the medium being repaired is extremely small, but if there is important information on it, specialists can extract it using professional devices for this.
Flash drive name error
The reason why the flash drive does not open on the computer may lie in its name. Because of this, the computer system cannot correctly identify the device and an error occurs that interferes with normal operation.
If the assigned USB drive letter coincides with the existing drive letter on the hard drive partitions, the system will give priority to the hard drive, and the inserted USB drive will be ignored.
To fix this error, the first thing to do is go to the command line. Enter the command "diskmgmt.msc" into it. The program for working with drives will open. In the program, select the USB flash drive, right-click and select the item responsible for changing the letter. In it, specify another Latin letter and click "OK". Then remove the device and reconnect it to your computer.
Conclusion
The methods listed above tell you how to fix a USB flash drive if it stopped opening, but there are a lot of cases. There are situations when a flash drive can simply fail due to factory defects. In this case, it is no longer possible to try to fix it or restore data on it. Physical damage, due to which drives fail, is also far from uncommon. Therefore, be careful when choosing a flash drive and caring for it. Such actions will help to increase its service life during operation.
Friends, hello everyone! Now we will talk about how to recover data from a flash drive if it does not open at all or has been formatted. This topic is in great demand among the population, so let's figure it out together.
And the first rule that you should know in such moments is that after data loss, in no case should you do any operations with files on the storage medium. This will lead to the complete destruction of the lost files and folders, since they will be overwritten in the structure.
But right now we will have a more complicated situation than the usual erroneous disk formatting. The fact is that when connected, a USB drive seems to be determined by the Windows 10 system. This can be understood by a typical sound signal when connected to a USB connector:
But the flash drive itself does not open, that is, its:
Well, let's take some action. And the first thing that comes to mind to the author of the article is to use a free program called R-Undelete Home.
We can say that this application is the home version of the very powerful and paid utility R-Studio, which can recover data even on completely deleted or reformatted ones:
So let's download it from the official site and get down to business. Immediately, we note that the Home version can fully work only with the FAT file system. There are some payment restrictions for NTFS:
But since flash drives are usually marked in FAT, then in our case this is an ideal free option. Before copying the program files to the system, an important message will appear, the meaning of which must be clearly understood:
It should be said here again that it is strictly forbidden to copy any new files to the section where you want to find previously deleted files. Otherwise, the file table will be overwritten and the chances of a successful outcome of the entire rescue operation will decrease significantly.
So, we make the first launch of the R-Undelete Home program to recover data from a USB drive that does not even open in Windows 10. And lo and behold, it is present in the list of drives:
The process of scanning files will begin, after which you should select the "Next" option again:
At the next stage, mark the desired recognized section (USB flash drive) with a daw:
Then again we put a daw in front of the whole disk in order to select all the directories found:
And we indicate the location of saving the recovered files:
Again, in no case should it be the flash drive itself, otherwise the files will simply overwrite each other when copied. After that, the scanning process will start again, which in our case ended with the good news:
So, let's now go into the previously specified directory and see what actually is there. By the way, all mp3 files were recovered without any problems:
But graphic (pictures, photographs) are present in the lists, but for some reason they flatly refused to open:
So the question of how it is possible to recover data from a flash drive if it does not open remains, since it was still not possible to return the data in full.
If any of you know any more effective methods, tell us about them in the comments. And this article is coming to an end, it remains only to watch a very interesting video.
