Nowadays, there are entire companies whose main task is to return files lost by users. They can work with broken, wet, formatted hard drives, flash drives and memory cards. In most cases, the services of such companies are very expensive. Moreover, we can often restore files ourselves with the same success using specialized programs. Some of them - and far from the worst - are distributed completely free of charge. Most utilities of this kind work on similar algorithms, and the main difference between them is the interface and the presence of additional functions. Of all this diversity, we will consider the most popular, convenient and functional in our opinion.
A simple program that can recover files from any digital media connected to a PC. It supports NTFS, NTFS5, FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 file systems. Works with flash drives, memory cards, hard drives. The utility eliminates the consequences of virus attacks, software failures, and emergency power outages. Recovers data from deleted folders or formatted drives. It can even return information from the Recycle Bin if you accidentally emptied it and there was something important left there. Of course, the utility does not work one hundred percent, but it gives a good chance, and considering that during the test period you can use it for free, you definitely have nothing to lose.
The program is nice because in it we can browse directories in the same way as in regular Windows Explorer. Here we immediately see all the files and folders that can be recovered. You can also look into the Recycle Bin - it will immediately be clear which files were last deleted. The data type, time of deletion, name, size are shown. The required file is quite easy to find thanks to sorting. The probability of successful recovery is also displayed here: “bad”, “average” or “good”. For neighboring files deleted at the same time, it can be completely different, and this makes it easier for us to determine which data should be allocated to return system resources.
For images with a “good” recovery probability, preview works. The utility has a simple, pleasant interface, but the percentage of data it returns is relatively low. If you cannot return the files using , you should try one of the following programs in the list.
Test trial period – 30 days. One official copy of the utility costs 1950 rubles. Available for Windows XP/2000/NT/2003/Vista/7.
Slightly outdated, but still a smart utility for reliably recovering erased files on Windows, Linux and Mac and iOS (for example, iPod). It works best with data in FAT 32. The utility returns to you the information that was lost as a result of emptying the recycle bin, virus attacks, a sudden power outage, or failures in a computer or mobile device. There is step by step wizard, several interface options for each request. The program attracts quite a lot of users, but in fact it is worth using it only when everyone else has failed. It has serious disadvantages that are not usually discussed:
The program is superior to other alternatives only in terms of successfully recovering files on memory cards and flash drives. A powerful algorithm works here, and if desired, you can install it directly from it and launch spot recovery of mail, MS Office documents or photos. The interface is straight out of the Windows XP era, it looks archaic and will be inconvenient at first. Therefore, for one-time use it is better to take Recuva or SoftPerfect File Recovery (see below).
At the same time, if you look at it, it has many more useful functions, and some of them can be accessed even without purchasing the program. For example, here best file viewer, no competition. Here you can choose what type of data we are currently opening: video, picture, database, MS Office or PDF document, exe file, folder, email message. And depending on this, the program selects the viewing type and viewer design. The picture can be rotated 90° left and right, and the film can be played (if it is preserved in good enough shape). Diskinternals Uneraser provides the most accurate information possible about the file you select. But in order to restore it, you will have to buy a program, and it is very expensive.
Perhaps the most popular utility for returning erased data. Mainly because free. It was created by Piriform, a company responsible for other very common PC maintenance programs: CCleaner and Defraggler. – the simplest and most convenient application on this list. Here you don’t need to think about hex code, set filters, analyze disks (although such functionality is available here, albeit in a reduced form). The main thing is that Recuva has made an excellent “Recovery Wizard” that helps beginners. You select answers from the proposed list, and as a result, the program itself analyzes them. You arrive at the right file and the right method. A list of the files you are looking for from the flash drive appears; all you have to do is select the checkboxes you need and click on the “Recover” button.
The program pleases with a huge number of languages to support. There are almost a hundred of them here. It can be added to the Recycle Bin and Explorer interface, if necessary. You don't have to run it separately; the Recuva shortcut doesn't require space on your desktop. It has a browsing mode, although it doesn’t work nearly as efficiently as Handy Recovery, and you can’t easily sort files by type here. The utility is well suited for batch data recovery if you remember exactly in which folder of the flash drive it was located.
The program works on Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, as well as older versions of this OS. It can be downloaded in two versions: in addition to the standard one, there is also Recuva Portable, which does not require installation and can be launched from portable media. And if you can't wait to part with the cash, you can grab the fully featured version of Recuva Professional for €19.95.
This is a very powerful utility, for which recovering files from flash drives and cards is only a small part of the functionality. If Handy Recovery is good for a private user who has had an emergency, then it is more suitable for professionals. The probability of correct data return here is very high; the utility has twelve versions tailored to specific circumstances. True, the keys to each of them will have to be purchased separately, and the program is not cheap, from $50 to $850. There is a free version, but it only recovers files up to 256 kilobytes. You won't get far with this.
R-Studio's capabilities are very wide. It supports all major file systems, including exFAT, and runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. Returns information from bad sectors and formatted hard drives. Can search files by signatures. Recover information via the network, copy disks, create image files for them. And its boot version can work even on a computer that has stopped booting.
True, we don’t really need all this to return files from a flash drive. But for the average user, it has two big disadvantages: high price and complex interface. Finding the required file here is much more difficult; we are given a lot of “bonus” (in this case, extra) information. There is no preview for images; instead, there is a HEX code that does not tell anything to those who are encountering data recovery for the first time. If you do not have any special requests for returning Word or Excel files from a flash drive, if you are not going to become an expert in this area, there are programs that are much more convenient and cheaper than R-Studio.
The program is for those who are accustomed to the Windows 7 interface. If you are comfortable moving between nested folders, if you like to see file tiles, then Starus will be most comfortable. It doesn't do anything superbly, it has some drawbacks and various minor inconveniences, but it combines several features of other utilities. There is a "File Recovery Wizard" here if you want step-by-step instructions. It is not the simplest; to a person far from the PC world, the selection options in it may seem confusing, but anything is better than the harsh and unfiltered truth of R-Studio. There is an opportunity to save and mount disk images - what if this comes in handy? The program can also please you with automatic previews.
It works well with damaged disk partitions, but it can also be used for flash drives with memory cards. Moreover, any storage media is instantly visible in the interface, you don’t have to search for them, and the required folder/file, if traces of them are still preserved there, is not a problem to find and recognize.
The program is paid, full version for the house it will be necessary buy for 1300 rubles. In the test, unregistered version, it only allows you to track files, see if they are found and what is the likelihood of their recovery.
The utility runs under Windows 95/98/2000/XP/ME/2003/2008 Server/Vista/7/8. FAT12 logical partitions are not supported. Doesn't run on Linux or Mac.
By the way, completely similar functionality and interface are offered by another program, RS FAT Recovery, which is “sort of” made by a third-party developer. In fact, there are no differences between them, except for a couple of purely symbolic icons. And since they ask for a good 700 rubles less (for RS FAT Recovery the price starts from 2000 rubles), fans of such an interface should only buy Starus, without any options.
The simplest utility. You need it if you have lost just a few files and you want to quickly recover them. Then you don’t plan to return the lost information, so you wouldn’t want the program to take up extra megabytes on your hard drive. It’s very easy to work with: you select which disk contained the lost files, click “Search” - and return what the program was able to find. There is a small sorting by size and date, you can filter files with a specific extension. Otherwise, the functionality here is very primitive. This is what makes the application captivating. It free, there are no pitfalls in it. Weight is only 555 KB. In addition, the program does not require installation: just run the downloaded file and it is ready to work.
Several dozen languages are supported, including Russian. FAT32 and NTFS drives are supported. The program works only under Windows OS, from Windows XP to Windows 8. The utility is simple, fast to use and very convenient, but keep in mind that it is suitable for recovering only those files that have been deleted from drives. If data was lost due to formatting or changing the file system, SoftPerfect File Recovery will not help with this.
A small, nice program that captivates with its original design. Moreover, absolutely free. Created by a small team of New York enthusiasts. It is updated very rarely, it only works under Windows OS (and it has not yet been adapted for Windows 8). At the same time, it supports quite decent Russian. And – it has a beautiful interface from a visual point of view. With icons that light up in different colors and beautiful pastel colors. Even some bugs with layering of text do not interfere with the aesthetic appeal. In addition, this small program has a very detailed table with file data and a wonderful filter by type of information. With their help, searching for new data becomes a matter of a couple of seconds. The program works very quickly, it is responsive and is great for older PCs.
The utility is able to work with Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 and server variations. In addition to FAT32 and FA16, it also supports FAT12. You can't expect first-class recovery here, but the program offers a fresh look at the situation, it's pleasant to work with, and if you have lost a lot of data, of which you only need to return a small part, Undelete 360 filters will be the most functional.
When starting to work with the interface in Russian, please note that files and folders here are restored using the “Save” button. The icon and its name can be misleading. Still, the team working on the program is very small, and they were unable to produce a perfect translation.
The program can be upgraded to the pro version to be able to use an even more advanced filter file and open the preview function, which is relevant when working with pictures.
Recently, cloud technologies have developed rapidly, and today any user can store information on remote servers. However, the popularity of flash drives has not decreased, and they continue to be actively used. PC owners are often faced with a situation where they need to recover deleted files from a flash drive. This can be done using special utilities.
In order for the process of recovering files from a flash drive to proceed correctly, you should understand the features of data storage. All information on computers represented as binary code and written in sectors. Depending on the size of the document, a certain number of sectors are required. It does not matter fundamentally what type of media the information is contained on, since only the recording method differs.
Storage media can be compared to a book, in which the sectors are pages and the file description is the table of contents. Deleting data is always much faster than writing it. In the first case, the computer already knows the path to the necessary directories, and in the second, it needs to find empty sectors and only then writes. The situation is aggravated by severe fragmentation of the HDD, when sectors are scattered across the entire surface of the magnetic plate.
Many novice users do not know where information is deleted from the media. In fact, only the table of contents is cleared, and all sectors in which the unnecessary file was located are marked as empty. Physically, the information is still present on the media until it is replaced with new information. That is why you can return deleted files from a flash drive or hard drive.
However, in practice, everything is somewhat more complicated, since much also depends on the type of file system. Today, NTFS is most often used, allowing you to work with large files. It has a special partition table that contains the entire chain of sectors for each document.
FAT 32 is organized somewhat more complicated, and when deleting the table of contents, it is not always possible to find the first sector. However, this system does not allow working with files larger than 4 GB and is practically not used today.
If data has been deleted from a hard drive, it can be very easy to recover it, unlike flash drives. To understand this issue, it is worth getting acquainted with methods for deleting information. If the user simply right-clicked on the file and selected “Delete” in the context menu, then to return them to the disk, simply go to the trash. However, it will not be possible to recover deleted data from a flash drive in this way.
Often, a PC becomes infected with malicious software. As a result, some data may be lost. This is due to the operation of an antivirus or malicious software. The first program quarantines all suspicious and infected files. Viruses can make files hidden. In such a situation, the data may not be recovered if the antivirus does not remove the malicious software. It is possible that the flash drive has been formatted.
It should be said right away that there are two types of formatting:
Flash drives, compared to HDDs, are a more reliable information storage device, as they are practically not subject to mechanical damage. However, there may be problems with the operation of the memory cells or a soldering defect. In such a situation, the information will be lost forever.
Sometimes the operating system is unable to read information due to file system corruption.
This is possible in several situations:
To recover information, you should scan the flash drive. First you need to open “My Computer” and right-click on the drive image. In the context menu that appears, select “Properties”. Then go to the “Service” and “Check disk for errors” tabs. Clicking on the “Start” button activates the scanning process. After its completion, a window with statistics will appear. If the system managed to correct the errors, then you can open the flash drive again and try to read information from it.
To restore erased folders and files, you will have to use a special program. One of the most popular utilities in this category is Recuva. It is distributed free of charge and has an intuitive interface.
To restore deleted data, you must follow these steps:
After this, the program will offer to enable the in-depth analysis function. As a result, recovery time will increase significantly. To start the search process, all you have to do is click on the “Start” button. When the utility completes its work, a window with the found files will appear on the screen, which can be marked in three colors:
The user will only have to select the necessary files, click on “Recover…” and select the folder into which Recuva will move the information. There is a large amount of similar software.
It should be remembered that some programs may be paid and not Russified. However, they all have a clear interface, and it will not be difficult to understand them.
Most users are interested in how to recover deleted files from a flash drive only after they accidentally erase a video or other necessary information from it. At the same time, professional services for retrieving erased information from any media, for example, Kingston datatraveler ( we will use it as an example in this article) are quite expensive, so it is better to study this issue in advance and install the free applications necessary for file recovery on your computer.
Among non-commercial applications, the most famous is the Recuva program. You can use it when working not only with a datatraveler flash drive, but also with any other media and even devices - cameras and MP3 players.
Features of the Recuva program:
Among the disadvantages is the difficulty, and sometimes the impossibility, of returning video and other data that has been lost for quite some time, even if nothing else was recorded on the flash drive.
To fully understand how to recover data from a flash drive using Recuva, you can note that the application does not detect all files that have ever disappeared. With a high degree of probability, it will not be possible to recover data from a drive formatted even with the same file system. And don't forget general rules when working with this type of utility, you need to restore data to a different Kingston datatraveler media than the one you are working with. Otherwise, you may forever lose important data accidentally erased from the flash drive.
The application described earlier is very easy to use, but it may only be able to work with files and videos that have recently disappeared. Recuva is often useless if the flash drive has been formatted. In difficult cases, when files have been erased for a long time and have been overwritten more than once, one of the most effective solutions for recovery is to use the File Scavenger program.
It should be noted right away that the application is not Freeware, but even without a paid license, you can use it to recover some of the data lost from the flash drive and view deleted photos.
File Scavenger does not have a Russian-language interface; everything is supported starting from the XP version of Windows.
The main program window has two tabs - Step1 and Step2. Let's start with the first step:
At the end of the search for videos and other lost data, a list of all the information found is displayed, which you can view, as in the usual Explorer, displaying the directory structure. To do this, just click on the “Tree View” button in the menu ribbon.
To recover deleted files from a datatraveler flash drive individually, a selected folder or group of directories, you need to mark them and go to the second Save tab. In the “Save to” field of the program, the save location is indicated. Please note that found files and videos should be recorded on a hard drive or other media, but in any case not on the same flash drive.
When selecting a file to restore, pay attention to its status, which is indicated in the Status column. It can be good (Good) or bad (Poor). In the latter case, there is no guarantee that at the end of the procedure it is possible to obtain a fully working, undamaged file or video.
If File Scavenger works in Demo mode, then restrictions are imposed not on the number, but on the size of files. Only the first 64 KB of each of them will be saved. Photos and images, accordingly, will only be partially recorded in the specified folder, but for many text documents this size may be quite sufficient.
Disk Drill is a relatively new and still completely free utility for Windows, through which you can extract video and other data from various media, including Kingston datatraveler. After some time, it will probably become a paid program, because the program has existed for Mac OS X for a long time, but in a paid version and with a rather expensive license.
After launching Disk Drill, the main window will open with a list of all available drives, including flash drives. Opposite each of them there is a Recover button with a drop-down list:
Another available action with a flash drive in Disk Drill is creating an image of the drive for further work with it, so that existing data is not lost. Typically, free programs do not have such functionality. This action becomes available after clicking the Extras button.
Deleted data recovery is the process of retrieving information from storage media that cannot be accessed using standard methods. If the Windows operating system is unable to read any files due to damage to the file system, the presence of logical or physical errors on the media (hard, solid-state, removable disk), then you will have to resort to the help of utilities to restore access to the files located on it.
What does it mean that it is impossible to access information using standard methods? Probably everyone has noticed that when deleting even huge amounts of data, the process of erasing it occurs in a matter of seconds, while copying this information requires a significant amount of time. For example, copying or moving a movie takes tens of seconds or even several minutes, and its deletion is instantaneous. The whole secret lies in the fact that when copied to a storage medium, the file is transferred sector by sector, and when it is deleted, a completely different process takes place.
Storage of information on flash drives and hard drives is organized in the form of a book with a table of contents. The table of contents is a section file table containing file names, their attributes and paths, as well as sector addresses with all document fragments, and pages are the files themselves. The contents of the book, in this case, are the contents of the document (text, video, sound, etc.). Before accessing a file, the operating system first accesses the partition table. Having received the necessary information, the operating system or application begins reading the file, starting from the start sector, which stores the first fragment of the document. If the file is stored in defragmented form, that is, the sectors with its contents are not in a row, but scattered throughout the disk, then the file table contains the addresses of all its fragments in the order they were read. When performing operations with files within one logical drive, all actions are performed not on the document physically (not on sectors with its contents), but on the file table information that relates to this document.
When deleting documents or formatting media, the same processes occur - working with the disk partition table. When deleting a document, the corresponding areas of the drive (or the entire disk/partition during formatting) are designated as free. Physically, the information does not go anywhere, and if you have the appropriate software, it is quite possible to gain access to it. The only thing worth paying attention to is overwriting sectors with deleted data. Since these sectors are designated as free in the file table, when new information is written, it is written to free cells on top of files designated as deleted. Thus, physical deletion of documents or their fragments occurs. An analogy: a book retains its contents, but its table of contents is partially cleared, telling the reader that part of the book contains blank pages. It is this algorithm for working with data that allows you to restore it - to gain access to files using non-standard methods.
Take note of this important point right away! Do not write anything to the flash drive until the information you need has been extracted from it. As stated earlier: during recording, your files that are physically untouched but marked as deleted may be overwritten by new ones. In this case, the chances of restoring them will drop sharply, or even become zero. This is especially true for archives, text documents and programs. For audio, video and image files, overwriting several sectors is not critical - they will be played and/or displayed, but with minor artifacts. Before you begin to restore information, close all applications that can work with the flash drive in write mode in order to minimize the loss of information that can still be restored.
It is also important to check whether the information has actually been deleted and is not hidden on the flash drive. To do this, you need to make files with the “Hidden” attribute visible. This stage is described in detail below, in the paragraph “Checking for hidden files”, so there is no point in dwelling on it.
You should also know what file system you are dealing with. The procedures for recovering files from FAT and NTSF are similar for the user, but the results of recovery programs may differ significantly in the effectiveness of the data obtained.
The FAT file system and its successor FAT32 store file data in several areas of the media. The document descriptor, including its name, size and attributes, is located in the directory. The file location table also stores a list of clusters belonging to the file in the order in which they are accessed. This system of organizing data storage on a device has a significant drawback - during its partial or complete destruction, data on the clusters allocated to files also disappear. Restoring information in this case is possible, but on the condition that the utility accurately determines its contents and collects the clusters belonging to the file in the correct order. And the recovery process in this case will take a lot of time.
The loss of directories makes it impossible to accurately determine the 1st sector where the file begins, as well as its name (path to the file) and the space it occupies. In such a situation, you can collect documents from cluster chains that exist in the file table. The names of such documents will contain a random set of characters or be generated by the recovery program, for example, based on user settings. Only by knowing what type of file we are recovering, for example, based on its size, can it be accessed by changing the extension manually or using a program to determine the contents of a document by its signature (more on this later). Reanimation large quantity In this case, searching different types of files will turn into a very labor-intensive and time-consuming process for the user.
In NTFS, all data about the file is written to the main partition table - MFT. Each of its entries contains the name of the document, its attributes, security parameters and, most importantly, the chain of clusters in which the file itself is located, in the order in which they were read. Therefore, the quality of file recovery from disks formatted in NTFS directly depends on the degree of damage to the partition table and its backup copy.
This difference should be understood and taken for granted, especially when recovering information from a formatted or damaged flash drive.
If you did not delete anything from the removable drive, but some file or many of them disappeared from it, it means that someone else, for example, a friend, is to blame. The flash drive was used by other people - they could destroy all the data on it, for example, by formatting it before use or deleting unnecessary information. A virus or antivirus program could also be the culprit.
Many people have come across a virus that changes the attributes of all files and folders on removable media to “Hidden” and reproduces itself under the names of your data. A not very attentive user who did not notice the substitution begins to open the document, but a virus program is launched instead. It’s good when the installed antivirus recognizes it in time and eliminates it, preventing it from causing any harm. As it seems to many, the antivirus is the culprit of data loss, but alas: it only removes malicious programs that bear the names of your documents. Here you need to be more careful and look at the extensions of files deleted by the antivirus. Surely, in all of them it will be “exe”, and your files will continue to be stored on the flash drive, not appearing in Explorer until you follow the instructions described below.
Real files on the flash drive hidden by the virus and “fake” ones with the exe extension
To make sure that the files on the flash drive are present, but not displayed, or are missing, we check the amount of information placed on it. To perform this operation we perform the following steps. Call the context menu of the flash drive and select “Properties”, located at the end of the list.
Let's look at the volume occupied by files. It is displayed next to the “Busy” sign.
If there is no data on the flash drive, it means that the information was deleted by the user during the formatting process, damage to the file system, or the presence of logical or mechanical defects in the structure of the drive. That is, they will have to be restored using specially developed applications.
How can I restore data deleted from a flash drive to the Recycle Bin? None. Such a concept does not exist and now we will figure out why. Don’t even try to find files recently deleted from a flash drive in the Recycle Bin.
Remember! Deleting files from removable USB drives occurs without going to the Recycle Bin, unlike a similar process with hard and solid-state drives.
This can be understood based on the object deletion dialog. Just compare the warnings about deleting data from a flash drive with a similar dialog about moving information to the Trash.
Most users do not pay attention to the contents of the dialog during the operation, and simply agree to perform the action by clicking the “Yes” or “Enter” button.
If you delete information from a flash drive, do it carefully; there will be no chance to restore anything from the recycle bin, as is the case with a hard drive.
Lost data will have to be restored through special applications, and no one guarantees 100% reliability of the data resuscitation process. Files that were deleted from the hard drive to the Recycle Bin, and it was then emptied, can be easily restored using special program. The best free offers will be discussed a little later.
There are a huge number of different opinions, the essence of which is that any malicious program can cause physical harm to a removable drive - and this is not true.
The only thing a virus can do is hide files from the user’s eyes or damage the file partition table, which was discussed earlier.
Consequently, the operating system will not be able to read the data and will most likely prompt you to format the device. In this case, the information will remain physically on the media, but it will not be possible to access it using the standard method. There are viruses that assign the “Hidden” attribute to all files and folders located in the root directory of the media. After this, such information becomes invisible in the Explorer window and, as a result, the user does not see it. We'll talk more about this later.
Formatting a flash drive is the process of programmatically marking the drive and forming its logical structure. Formatting comes in two varieties: quick and full (or low-level). Quick formatting is the clearing of most of the file allocation table with their addresses and attributes, that is, no data is physically destroyed, and its structure remains intact, which allows you to determine it and restore data. Full formatting consists of physically rewriting each cluster of a drive or partition - after deleting information about the location of files, a logical zero is written to each cluster (the minimum unit of information storage) of the drive. This process turns information recovery into a labor-intensive and difficult, but still feasible, albeit partially, task.
Many programs can analyze information found on a formatted hard drive using its signatures to determine the contents of the file. Signatures are file labels that help programs identify them. As a rule, they are placed at the very beginning of the file, less often at the end, and look like a small fragment of hexadecimal code.
Analysis of found files and their fragments by signatures is the most effective data recovery technology currently available. It allows you to revive virtually any files: lost due to quick or low-level formatting, partially overwritten or located in damaged sectors.
In addition to the usual reading of deleted data, this method allows you to gain access to absolutely any information located on the storage medium, even partially damaged information and information to which there are no references in the file system. Programs that support signature-based file recovery read data from the media and on-the-fly compare it with an online or offline database of signatures specific to various file types for compliance. When the utility finds a match, it begins analyzing the document header in order to extract as much useful information as possible. At the end of the procedure, the utility renames the document, indicating its extension. Thanks to this algorithm, the application is able to determine the exact size of a file, because many types of documents contain in their header not only its size, but also its name, attributes, etc.
The advantages of the method include the ability to effectively recover files from media. The disadvantage is that it only works with known document types entered into the database. Also, the duration of the process of deep scanning of the drive’s file system can last for tens of minutes or even hours, depending on the volume.
All modern flash drives consist of a controller, data storage cells, a quartz oscillator and several additional microcircuits. All physical damage to flash drives can be divided into several categories: mechanical - damage to soldering, connector, deformation of the substrate, etc. due to careless handling of the drive (falls, impacts); electrical and thermal - arise as a result of sudden jumps in potential on board elements, storage and use of the device at high ambient temperatures, or during overheating, which happens very rarely; Damage and failure of the controller is the most common problem, due to which the data still stored on the memory chips cannot be accessed using standard methods.
Mechanical damage is the most difficult to eliminate: you will have to resolder fallen contacts, replace connectors, or completely unsolder memory chips and read information from them using special devices - readers or flash readers.
In the case of electrical damage (for example, an element has burned out), the information is read, as in the case of mechanical problems, by desoldering memory chips, creating their images on specialized equipment for subsequent data recovery using software. If the controller is inoperative, you will also have to unsolder the memory chip and restore the information using the same reader or Flash reader.
Instead of conclusion: if the elements of a flash drive are physically damaged or its controller or quartz oscillator fails, it is unlikely that you will be able to recover data from the drive yourself. This can be done at a specialized service center.
Many users are probably familiar with the situation when the operating system does not detect files stored on removable media, although you are sure that they exist. Before you start recovering documents that you cannot find on the flash drive, you need to make sure that they are really missing. To do this, activate the option to display files that have the “Hidden” attribute. Performing this operation does not require the user to have any advanced knowledge in the field of IT.
Just follow the instructions below.
Launch “Explorer”, for example, go to the “My Computer” directory.
Let's focus on the main menu. In it, select “Arrange”, and in the drop-down list of options, click on the item “ Folder and search options».
In the window that appears, switch to the “View” tab. Scroll down the list of functions, where we move the switch to the position “ Show hidden files...", as shown in the screenshot.
Set "Show hidden files" to active.
This will provide the ability to see files and directories with the “Hidden” attribute. In the Explorer window they are indicated in gray. Click “Apply" and agree to display hidden files by clicking "Yes" in the warning window. After this, the changes will take effect and you will not have to restart the system or the “explorer” process. Click "Ok" to close the dialog box. The same can be done in another way - through “ Control Panel" We call " Control Panel"by a method known to you, for example, through “Start”. If the panel view is switched to “Categories”, go to “”.
Then click on the inscription: “ Show/display hidden files and folders».
When the control panel elements are visualized as icons, large or small, click on the inscription “ Folder Options”. Next, we perform all the steps starting from step 3 of the previous method of displaying hidden files and directories. These actions can also be performed using the Total Commander file manager.
If your files still have not appeared, it means that you will not be able to access them in the usual way and will have to obtain it using specialized utilities.
File system corruption is a fairly common problem due to which Windows cannot read files located on a flash drive. Several factors can cause this scenario:
In order to try to correct this annoying error, it is necessary to scan the storage media cells for physical and logical errors. This can be done using a large number of applications, but we will look step by step at how to scan a flash drive using the console utility built into Windows. You can launch it in several ways.
Go to “My Computer" or open the directory with the contents of the flash drive and call its context menu.
We activate the “Service” tab, which will allow you to start scanning the flash drive and click “ Run check" to launch the system program ChkDsk.
We set the scan parameters, as in the screenshot, to correct physical and logical errors of the drive, and click “Run".
If the operating system asks you to disconnect the device volume for scanning, end all applications using it and agree by clicking “Dismount".
Next, you will have to wait a few minutes, depending on the damage and size of the flash drive, while the utility checks it. Upon completion of the scan, scan statistics will be displayed on the screen. If the utility has corrected errors and reassigned sectors, you can try to open the flash drive in Explorer to gain access to the information located on it.
Call up the “Run” dialog by clicking on the corresponding “Start” menu item or pressing the combination Win + R. In the window we write “cmd” and click “OK” or “Enter” to launch the command line.
We start the drive verification process. To do this, look at its label in the Explorer window. On the command line we write “chkdsk I: /F /R”, where: chkdsk is the command to call the disk check program; I: - disc label; /F – flag that launches the program in the mode of correcting defects in the disk file system (analogous to automatic correction of system errors); /R – parameter responsible for repairing or reassigning damaged sectors.
Enter on the command line - chkdsk I: /F /R
Press “Enter" and wait for the verification procedure to complete. If the question arises about the need to disable the device for other applications, we close all programs that can access the flash drive. Then click “Y” and “Enter”.
At the end of the scan, the “Found.000” directory should appear on the flash drive with the results of the scan if the utility detected and corrected errors.
It happens that after connecting a flash drive to a USB connector, an antivirus program starts scanning it automatically. And after completing the scan and removing viruses, it is discovered that all your files have disappeared on the drive, be they programs or text documents. The same thing can happen after manually scanning removable media. What happened, why does the antivirus delete files that are not viruses? It is not a fact that all your files were safe: the same documents in doc format may contain dangerous macros, and the antivirus could perceive executable files as malicious. As mentioned earlier, there are viruses that change file attributes to “Hidden”, read more in paragraph “Where did the files go?”. In any case, if you don’t copy anything to the flash drive, there is a huge chance of saving your data.
If your files are nevertheless erased due to accidental formatting or deletion, it is still possible to access them - you will have to use one of the freely distributed utilities designed to solve this problem. The market is flooded with similar solutions, but most programs for resuscitating information from flash drives are paid. Of the few free ones, a significant part does not cope with its tasks or has poor functionality, which is not enough for many users. Today we’ll look at the best free solutions for data recovery from removable drives. The list of applications reviewed contains both easy-to-learn utilities that can restore information after accidental deletion or quick formatting, as well as professional solutions that can be used to recover data from drives with a damaged file system after full formatting or partial overwriting of files. Below are the most effective and functional data reanimators from removable USB flash drives with detailed instructions that will help restore information to a user with any level of training.
DMDE is a professional utility for searching and recovering data. Download latest version DMDE can be found on the official website using this link. Working according to a well-debugged algorithm, the program is able to restore the structure of disk folders and the files located in them. It has several built-in tools, such as a disk editor, partition manager, modules for creating images, and others. After downloading the application, you will have to unpack it to any location except the partition from which you will restore files. Any archiver or built-in Windows tools for working with archives can handle this. When you launch DMDE for the first time, you must specify your preferred interface language. Select Russian and click “Ok”.
In the next window, we accept the license terms by checking the “ I accept the terms..." and clicking on the " Accept " button.
To view file recovery and disk editing, you need to select the media with which we will work. If the device is connected, check the “Physical” item. devices." Next, put a tick next to “ Show sections" In the right frame, mark our flash drive and click “Ok”.
After this, the utility will scan the computer for logical devices and display them in a list. Since we are using a flash drive, there will only be one volume on it. In the window, select the flash drive and click “Search FAT" or search "NTFS", depending on the file system of the flash drive.
In the window with setting search parameters, it is better not to change anything, and immediately go to the search by clicking on the button of the same name.
The current file system is determined in the device properties.
Select a specific file system and click “ Open volume". It is not necessary to save the disk log.
On the left side of the window that opens, go to the “$Root” directory - this is the root directory of our flash drive with the scan results. All information that the utility can recover is displayed here. We tick the documents we need, call up their context menu and click on “ Recover files..." The same can be done with the key combination “Ctrl + U”.
It is also worth noting “ Files in the current panel"if you want to recover only certain information. Click "Ok".
Then we will see a dialog box with a report on the work done on data recovery. Close it by clicking “Ok” and continue working in the program or exit it.
Recuva is an easy-to-learn utility for resuscitating lost data from the developers of Ccleaner. You can download the latest version of Recuva on the official website using this link. File recovery is carried out in the following way. We launch the program in wizard mode; if the settings have not been changed, it automatically starts in this mode. In the first window, click “Next”. Then select the type of data you want to recover to determine the flash drive scanning algorithm.
If you want to recover, for example, photographs, then there is no need to waste time searching and identifying other types of files. The same applies to other similar cases. When you want to restore various types of documents, do not change anything and click “Next”. In the window asking you to create an image, it is better not to create it if no other programs use the device in recording mode. Otherwise, you should create an exact copy of the drive to increase your chances of recovering lost data. We indicate the flash drive from which information will be restored.
Move the radio switch to the “On a memory card” position if one removable drive is connected to the computer.
We indicate "On the memory card if one removable drive is connected to the computer"
Otherwise, move the mark to the position “ At the specified location" Then click “Browse...” and select the flash drive.
Click on the button that says “Next”. We enable in-depth analysis only if the necessary files for recovery were not found during a regular scan. When scanning for the first time, it is better not to enable this option. We wait while the utility searches for information.
In the window that opens with the search results, check the required files and click on “Recover”.
Specify the path for the recovered data and click “Ok”.
The folder with the recovered data should not be on the flash drive from which we are restoring it.
Upon completion of the procedure, we get acquainted with its results and close the window by clicking on its only button.
When restoring graphic files (photos), you should switch to advanced mode by clicking on the corresponding button.
In this mode, a preview of the found graphic files is available, which will greatly facilitate the work if you need to access several images or photographs.
If some files are not detected, you will have to perform a deep scan of the file system of the flash drive. To do this, in paragraph 6, put a tick next to “ Enable in-depth analysis».
This process will take much longer, but the result of a deep scan will bring more results.
R.saver is an easy-to-use utility for recovering information from media with various file systems: FAT, NTFS and exFAT. In addition to resuscitating deleted data, the application is able to reconstruct a damaged file system of a flash drive and gain access to information that was lost by completely formatting the device (using signatures). You can download R.saver for free from the official website using this link. The program does not require installation and can be launched from any media. Below are instructions for working with R.saver, which a user who has basic computer skills will understand. Launch R.saver. During startup, the utility checks the computer for storage devices connected to it.
In the window that opens with a list of information storage devices connected to your computer, go down and fix your gaze on the device with the name “JetFlash USB...”. We select the flash drive we need if there are several of them connected at a given time. You can navigate by their name and size.
Call the context menu of the drive and select the action we need from it: “ Search for lost data"- if you want to recover deleted information; " Recover after formatting"- when it is necessary to gain access to information that was lost due to formatting the drive.
We are waiting for the file system reconstruction procedure to complete. The process can take about ten minutes or more when scanning a flash drive of significant size (32 or 64 GB).
Once the file system scan is complete, the search window will automatically close. A list of data that can be recovered will appear on the right side of the program interface.
Select the required files (as in Windows Explorer using Ctrl and Shift). Call up their context menu and click on “Copy to...”
In the dialogue, go to the directory where the program will restore the data, and click “Select".
Do not select the removable disk from which you are restoring information or its subdirectories as the output directory.
The utility will quickly handle the file copying process and automatically close the copy window. In the case of reconstructing the file system after formatting the drive, all actions are performed in the same way, except that the reconstruction process may take a long time and before scanning you will have to select the file system of the flash drive from the list proposed by the utility.
PC Inspector File Recovery is a powerful English-language utility for recovering lost files at the sector level, which will allow you to access partially overwritten and lost information due to damage to the media file system or its formatting. You can download PC Inspector File Recovery for free from the official website using this link. The program does not have a Russian-language user interface, so you will have to deal with English-language inscriptions, and there is nothing difficult about it. In the launch window we are offered to receive some privileges by purchasing the full version of the program. Click the green button that says “Free Trial” to get started.
Click on the top left frame with the image of the recycle bin and the inscription “Lost File Recovery" - “ Recovering lost files».
Click the "Lost File Recovery" button
We select our removable USB drive, as a rule, it is located at the very bottom. We focus on the icon of USB devices, the capacity of the flash drive and its name. Click “Start” to start the scanning process.
Select our flash drive and click "Start"
If the required information could not be found using the usual method, then check the box next to “ Enable Deep Scan" to conduct an in-depth scan at the sector level and select the drive’s file system.
You can view it in the properties of the flash drive, as in the screenshot.
We wait while the utility checks the drive for traces of files that can be recovered.
Once the drive scan is complete, a window will appear divided into several frames. The left displays all detected data, grouped by data type: archives, graphic files, text documents, videos, etc. In the lower right frame you can see the names of all files of the selected type, and images and text documents can also be viewed in the preliminary window view posted above. We tick the files and/or file types that we want to recover and click on the orange “Recover" button to open the file recovery dialog.
In the dialog, specify the directory where the program should restore the selected files. If necessary, you can create a new one by clicking on the “ New Folder" button. Click on the green “Recover” button.
Specify the folder where you want to restore the files and click “Recover”
Depending on the amount of information being restored, the recovery process can take from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. Upon completion, a window will appear congratulating you on the successful recovery of your files, and the folder in which the program has created copies of the recovered data will open in Windows Explorer. We go into it and check the quality of its algorithms. If the files are inoperative, use a deep scan, as described earlier.
A freely distributed recoverer capable of recovering a huge number of file types lost either due to careless deletion or when formatting a removable flash drive. You can download it from the official website using this link. Unfortunately, when we tested the latest version of Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional, it did not recover anything for us. We found an earlier version on the Internet that successfully coped with its task. Therefore, our data recovery instructions will be from an earlier version of Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional than on the official website. But soon, we will definitely re-test the latest version and make a separate review of Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional. Although the utility has a multilingual interface, it does not have a Russian interface. Let's start recovering files that Windows Explorer cannot detect on a removable USB flash drive. In the main application window, click on the button labeled “Data Recovery”, because we are interested in file recovery. We choose a method of data resuscitation. In our case, “Deleted recovery” is suitable, since the information was lost precisely as a result of careless deletion of data.
We select the device that will be scanned. Flash drives are usually displayed last in the list. Next, select the type of files to recover if you want to recover certain data (photos, documents). Click “Next”.
The left side of the window that appears with the scan results displays a directory tree, and the right side displays a list of found files.
We tick the data we need. And click on the “Next” button. If necessary, you can use the preview function - the “ View File" button.
Click on the “Browse” button to open a window with the selection of a directory to restore files. Specify the recovery path and confirm it with the “OK” button. You can also enter the path to the output directory manually in the line before the “ Browse” button.
Calling up a window with selecting a directory for recovering Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional files
Having specified the path, click “Next" to start the operation of restoring the marked files.
Select the path where you want to restore the files
The operation is completed, a window with its results appears in front of us. If necessary, the report can be saved by clicking on “Save” and specifying the path to the text file. Click “Done” to complete Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional.
When asked whether to save the report, click negative if it has already been saved or is not necessary.
Active File Recovery is a system utility for data recovery that supports a huge number of removable flash drives and their file systems. You can download Active File Recovery for free from the official website using this link. Let's consider the chain of actions that need to be performed to recover files lost in one way or another. The left side of the main program window displays a list of storage media. Select a flash drive from them by clicking on the USB device icon.
We move the cursor to the detected file system, as a rule, there is only one, call its context menu and select “Quick Scan" to start the process of quickly checking the file system.
Mode " Deep check"or "SuperScan" we launch if the device has been formatted or the previous method did not give the desired results. To recover files deleted by mistake, in most cases a quick scan is sufficient.
Using the “Ctrl”, “Shift” and the cursor keys, select the required files. Call up their context menu and stop at the item “Restore...”
In the window with recovery parameters, we indicate the path for resuscitation of files (enter it manually or use the “..." button to open a dialog for selecting the output folder.
Having set all the parameters, for example, opening the directory with files after their recovery is complete, click “ Restore".
Now you know how to access lost files in a matter of minutes, without spending a single penny on purchasing software, a trip to a service center, or calling a technician to your home. But the recovery procedure does not always go smoothly. Quite often, users encounter the following problems:
In this section of the article, we will consider these and other problems that accompany the process of retrieving lost information from removable media.
It happens that applications partially restore data - the restored file is a document with a damaged internal data structure. This means that the program detected the file and determined its structure, but by the time of recovery, some of its fragments had been physically overwritten. After all, when deleting information or formatting a drive, the sectors that it occupied are designated as free; some information was written to these sectors. Also, document fragments could be located in damaged areas of the media. Therefore, it is recommended not to write anything to a flash drive before or during the process of restoring data files.
As for our further actions when working with such data, here the choice is between two options: try to restore files with another program, use an in-depth method of analyzing the drive, or resort to using utilities to restore damaged files, although their functionality is very questionable in most cases .
It is quite possible to work with some partially recovered documents. For example, an audio file or video that has been reconstructed with minor defects will play in most cases. Places with lost data are simply filled with zeros - this means that in the playback of such a video or song there will be artifacts in some places - non-natural flickering or image distortion, extraneous clicks, atypical noise and interference of audio tracks. It is recommended to play damaged files using the powerful and content-unpretentious multimedia player VLC. 
As for archived data, there is always a chance to extract part of the files from the archive, which may also have a broken structure in relation to the original version. There are many applications for restoring damaged archives. To work with damaged archives, there is an IZArc archiver with integrated algorithms for restoring such archives. You can also use utilities for Recovery Toolbox for Rar/Zip.
Damaged image files, like other multimedia data, can be opened in most image viewing applications. Naturally, some information will be lost. The missing fragments will be painted over with some color, usually black. Try opening damaged graphic files using regular Paint and resaving them.
Damaged text files, such as txt or doc, can be opened with a text editor. If the document is slightly damaged, there is a high probability that some of the text will be accessible to txt documents. Even slightly damaged documents in doc format usually open with errors or contain incorrect encoding. This results in a meaningless set of characters being displayed instead of text. This is where OfficeRecovery can help. It analyzes the original document, and sophisticated algorithms correct the data to extract the maximum amount of useful information. Next, a heuristic analysis of the file is launched, if possible, in order to identify lost fragments. The utility puts the user and received data into a complete file and saves it. But the effectiveness of such programs is too low, and they most likely will not help.
Only naive and inattentive users can claim that after restoring data from a removable USB drive, no information appeared on it. Firstly, as was said, it is not recommended to select the drive from which information is extracted as the output folder for saving them, because programs warn about this. Secondly, nothing can appear on flash drives, since the programs recommend specifying the path to the output folder or assign it automatically, for example, “My Documents” or some directory on the system drive.
Read the instructions given in this article carefully. All your data has been restored to the directory you specified.
Many people are probably familiar with the situation when, when connecting a flash drive to a computer, the operating system prompts you to format the drive. What to do in such a situation if the flash drive contains important data, which after formatting will naturally disappear, and the chances of gaining access to them will be significantly reduced.
First of all, you will have to check the drive for bad sectors, as described in the paragraph “Automatically correcting system errors.” Then we reconnect the device and in most cases the problem is solved.
The second method is to scan the flash drive using one of the free programs to gain access to data that Windows cannot read, for example, JetFlash Recovery Tool, which was discussed in the corresponding section.
The time at which files are deleted does not matter. It is more important that the device is fully operational, and that the sectors occupied by deleted files are not overwritten. The more actions you took to write data to the drive after deleting the files you want to recover, the less chance you have of doing so.
Let's start with the fact that deleting data from removable drives goes past the Recycle Bin. When you delete something from a flash drive, the file is erased from the drive without moving to the Recycle Bin, as is the case with a hard or solid-state drive. It is possible to restore such data, but there is an important caveat. Remember that data written to a hard drive or removable storage device, or files deleted from the Recycle Bin may be completely or partially overwritten, which reduces their likelihood of being recovered. First of all, this applies to documents erased from the system disk - it is constantly accessed by the operating system and a huge number of running applications. In this case, you should turn off the computer and boot from a flash drive or other disk to increase the chances of recovering the still intact files.
The more actively the disk is used and the more time has passed since deletion, the less likely it is to get back a complete and undamaged document.
If after resuscitation some files do not open, it means they were damaged or not restored at all - the program created an empty file with the name of the detected one, but could not transfer the deleted contents to it for one reason or another. Use another data recovery program or enable an in-depth scan of the drive.
In this case, the document turned out to be severely damaged and nothing can be done with such a file. Perhaps try to recover the empty file again, saving it under a different name or in a different location, or use another utility to recover information. Ultimately, you will have to contact a service center that specializes in data recovery.
There are situations in life when, after deleting several files from a portable USB drive, you remember that they were needed. Data may disappear from the flash drive for another reason, but this is not that important. People often forget about the need for backup storage of their documents. What to do in such a situation? Deleted documents can be very necessary for work, and even a person’s fate may depend on their disappearance. Don't despair, you can try to recover the data. In this article we will analyze three utilities and other methods for returning files deleted from a flash drive.
Unformat program.
Using a utility like Unformat, you can recover documents that you deleted yourself.
You can download this software in the search, just write Unformat.
In the process of recovering deleted data, you do not need to rely only on software from one developer. This utility has enough capabilities to restore documents quite effectively, but after returning them they may be partially damaged. What does this mean? Data may not open properly, images may be partly displayed, or video files may be delayed or interrupted in playback. Some of the documents may not be found. Therefore, we will tell you about another recovery solution that is worth trying if this option does not help. Its name is Recuva.
Recuva – powerful software for data recovery. She has paid version with extended functionality. But you can download it from the Internet for free.
After starting, you need to follow the instructions:
There are types of viruses that hide your files. They are not deleted, but you cannot see or use them. To remove these malicious programs, we recommend using free software from Dr.Web called CureIt! for non-commercial use.
You can download it here: https://free.drweb.ru/download+cureit+free/?lng=ru
After downloading and installing the program, follow these steps for treatment:
This reason is perhaps the most difficult to solve. To recover data from a completely erased flash drive, we recommend using the RD Partition Recovery utility. This is one of the few programs that can cope with such a broad problem.
Download: https://recovery-software.ru/downloads
To work with it, follow these steps:
You can restore files in many different ways; many programs have been developed for this purpose. Which one to choose is up to you. Each of them can be handled by anyone, even a novice PC user. We are confident that you will be able to recover your lost data!
