The volume file system is not recognized (USB flash drive). What to do, how to restore? A selection of programs for restoring, formatting and testing flash drives Restoring a mirex 32gb flash drive

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As you know, an external drive is a portable and easy-to-use device. With it, you can transfer files anywhere, and you don’t have to worry about the load on your computer. However, every coin has two sides, which means that in some cases data loss is inevitable.

A damaged flash drive is one of the most common problems faced by Windows users. In this situation, you need to format it for it to work properly. If you have important files, you will have to use other methods. Fortunately, we can offer you several ways to solve the problem.

There are quite a few reasons why a storage device gets damaged.

Below is a list of the main ones:

Virus infection (contributes to hiding files and folders, turning them into shortcuts or losing access to an external drive).
Disconnect the device from the computer without ejecting or removing it in Safe Mode.
Resetting the external drive.
Accidental deletion of some system files (causes the flash drive to become unreadable).
The device is not recognized by the computer for an unknown reason.

One of the reasons for flash drive failure is virus infection.

However, if the error has already occurred, we will show you how to fix a damaged drive without formatting.

How to fix a flash drive without losing data using the command line

The command line is the simplest and most accessible repair option without mandatory formatting. This tool built into Windows also allows you to fix a corrupted SD card. Let's see how it works.

This operation will force Windows to check and fix the file system on the flash drive. If the recovery process goes well, then in the program window you will see “Windows has made corrections to the file system.” This indicates that the damaged USB drive has been successfully repaired and can be accessed again.

How to repair a flash drive using a recovery tool

If the above method does not work, then follow these steps:

Video - How to recover a flash drive using standard Windows tools

How to Fix a Damaged USB Drive Using EaseUS USB Repair Tool

If all of the above solutions did not help, then try using a special file recovery program called EaseUS. However, with its help you can access files, but not repair the flash drive itself. You will have to format it to reuse it. The program recovers USB data in almost all cases of lost access.

Important! Unfortunately, it is paid, since the trial version only allows you to scan the drive and identify files available for recovery.

If you are not ready to pay, then in any case a check will not hurt:

Recovering a flash drive before formatting using iBoysoft Data Recovery

iBoysoft Data Recovery is a secure and easy to use data recovery program. It helps to recover them from a faulty USB drive, SD card, hard drive, memory card, etc.

Important! In addition, iBoysoft Data Recovery can revive files recorded on a faulty Raw disk, as well as files stored on a deleted or lost partition.

Follow these three simple steps to recover your important data:

After copying files from the damaged flash drive, you can format it and use it again.

If all else fails, then try these simple tricks:

to find and destroy all possible viruses on the flash drive, run an anti-virus scan;
restart your computer and see if it can read the device;
connect it to another operating system or USB port.

The following useful tricks will help you avoid the above-mentioned problems:

set a password. Despite all the advantages of a USB drive in terms of storing and transferring data between computers, it can be accessed by unauthorized users. Therefore, to keep your personal or business files safe at all times, encrypt your flash drive. At least without a password, no one will be able to view or edit your data;
keep the OS portable. If the computer crashes and does not boot in the usual way, then a flash drive with a portable OS installed will help to temporarily boot it and find a solution to the problem;
save the necessary programs. Not all computers you use have the programs you need. Therefore, save them on a flash drive and install them freely anytime and anywhere.

Video - How to recover a flash drive without formatting using the program

How to recover an SD card or USB flash drive if the computer does not see it, does not read or write data? Problems with flash drives are rarely caused by natural wear and tear. More often, problems with them are caused by users ignoring the rules for safely removing the device, experiments with various software in which these flash drives are involved, as well as their initially lousy quality. Below we will consider a list of possible actions carried out in the Windows environment that can solve the problem, unless, of course, the cause lies in a mechanical failure. And we, friends, will go from simple to complex.

Recovering SD cards and USB flash drives in Windows

Note: below we will only talk about restoring the functionality of flash drives, but not about saving the data stored on them. This is a separate topic, and there is something about this on the website; you can also use this program for. Most of the methods proposed below for recovering SD cards and flash drives will lead to the loss of their data.

1. Hardware lock

SD cards, MicroSD adapters and flash drives can be hardware protected from writing data or completely blocked even for reading. On such devices there is a lock switch, which must, accordingly, be set to the “Unlocked” position.

2. Problems not related to the drives themselves

The cause of problems with SD cards and flash drives may be Windows security policy. You need to find out whether access to removable drives is blocked (in whole or in part of writing data to them) by the computer administrator. You also need to check the card reader or USB ports of your computer. If everything is fine with the latter - the card reader reads other SD cards, but problems still arise with the flash drive, no matter how you connect it to other USB ports, move on.

3. Windows Explorer

Standard formatting using Windows Explorer can help in simple cases such as unsuccessful writing of data to a flash drive. Or when for some reason a smartphone, tablet, camera or other device cannot cope with this operation regarding SD cards. In any current version of Windows, in the Explorer window on the drive, call up the context menu and click “Format”.

We leave the original file system and first try a quick format.

If it fails, repeat the operation, but with full formatting (uncheck the fast box).

4. Windows Disk Management

You can try to perform the formatting procedure in disk management. To launch this tool, enter in the system search field:

diskmgmt.msc

In the disk management window, focusing on the size of the drive, we look for it among the disks connected to the computer. And in the context menu called on it, we launch formatting.

You can immediately select full formatting.

If the flash drive has a partition structure like a hard drive, you must delete each of those partitions. This is done using the “Delete Volume” option in the context menu.

And then, in place of the resulting unallocated space, you need to create a single partition. To do this, in the context menu on this very unallocated space, launch the “Create a new volume” operation and follow the instructions of the step-by-step wizard.

5. Programs for low-level formatting

Standard formatting tools may not help in complex cases, for example, when flash drives are displayed (in the same Explorer or Disk Management) as unrecognized devices with the RAW file system. The latter means that either the Windows environment does not understand the file system of the drive, or there is no file system as such in principle. Actually, this is what causes problems with a flash drive or SD card when it works on other devices, with other operating systems. In such cases, third-party Windows programs designed for so-called low-level formatting will help restore the flash drive.

In fact, low-level formatting is a procedure that is carried out either in the production conditions of flash device manufacturers, or in serious specialized services. Various types of Windows software that claim to perform this kind of operation actually perform a regular full format, but using mechanisms that differ from those used by the operating system. Such programs cope well with flash drive problems if these problems arise at the file system level. Let's look at two of these programs.

HDD Low Level Format Tool

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

The shareware portable program HDD Low Level Format Tool can format various types of storage media, in particular SD cards and USB flash drives. After unpacking the archive with the program, run it and agree to the license terms.

We choose free use.

Directly in the program window we indicate the problematic drive and click “Continue”.

We confirm the decision.

We wait for the operation to complete and check the operation of the media.

SDFormatter

http://flashboot.ru/files/file/355

A completely free small program called SDFormatter is another tool for so-called low-level formatting. Works with both SD cards and USB flash drives. Install SDFormatter into the system, launch it, and indicate the problematic flash drive in the “Drive” column. Click “Format”.

The program wants to make sure that our intentions are serious, click “Ok.

He asks not to touch the drive while the operation is being performed.

Upon completion, test the flash drive or SD card. If this does not help, repeat the operation with the settings for complete overwriting of sectors (nothing more than full formatting). Press “Option”, select “Full (OverWrite)”. And also click “Format” at the bottom.

If using the above methods it was not possible to revive the flash drive, and it is still under warranty, you need to stop at this stage. And do not take any further action except contact the seller with a request to replace the device. All the actions described below should be resorted to only when, in fact, there is nothing to lose. The instructions below apply to USB flash drives, SD and MicroSD cards. However, in the case of the latter, the likelihood of recovery is extremely low.

6. D-Soft Flash Doctor

D-Soft Flash Doctor performs so-called low-level formatting, and at the same time also detects damaged sectors (cells). Well, and, accordingly, knows how to block them and replace them with backup ones. The program can help when flash drives or SD cards have difficulty reading individual files located on damaged sectors. The program is free and portable. I did not find the official website, but it can be freely downloaded on the Internet.

In the D-Soft Flash Doctor window, the first thing you need to do is run a scan to detect errors.

In my case, there were no damaged (broken) sectors.

But if in your case, friends, the scan results are different and bad sectors are detected, we start the recovery process.

The window for performing this operation promises that the process will not last longer than 10 minutes, but in fact, reassigning bad sectors on a drive with a capacity larger than 4 GB can take quite a long time. So it is better to run the recovery operation at night.

7. Flashing the memory controller

Programs for so-called low-level formatting or their analogues, which in any other form claim to be able to resuscitate all types of SD cards and/or USB flash drives, turn out to be powerless in the event of a software failure of the controller, when it requires flashing. This problem can have different symptoms, but more often it is either the computer does not see the drive completely, or it sees it and can even read the data, but cannot format it by any means. In particular, due to write protection even though the drive is not locked by hardware.

Many users neglect to safely remove flash drives, as a result of which the drives stop working correctly: they are not recognized by the system, require formatting, do not read/write data, show the wrong size (for example, 14 Gb instead of 16 Gb). If you are faced with a similar problem, then the question of how to restore a flash drive will probably become relevant to you.

Is it possible to restore the functionality of a flash drive?

Some may think that restoring a flash drive is a pointless exercise. Drives from Transcend, Kingston, A-Data and other manufacturers have flooded the market, making flash memory cheap. Memory cards and flash drives with capacities from 8 Gb to 32 Gb are not so expensive that you can’t easily throw them away and buy new media. However, old flash drives and Micro SD memory cards are usually not thrown away at all: they lie on the table and wait to be restored.

Recovery is possible if the flash drive or memory card has not completely “died” (usually death occurs when the controller burns out).

But if the drive is simply not detected or shows the wrong volume, then the reason for this behavior is most often a controller firmware failure. We will discuss in detail below how to restore a flash drive after such a failure.

Saving information and searching for the necessary software

If important information is stored on a flash drive or SD card, then before flashing and restoring the controller (and with it the functionality of the drive), it is necessary to extract the data. This can be done using the Photorec utility, which can work with media for which the file system is not detected.

After extracting the necessary information from the SD card or flash drive, you can begin searching for a utility for flashing the controller firmware. But to flash a controller, you first need to determine its model. To do this, we use the CheckUDisk utility (distributed free of charge) and the website flashboot.ru:

After completing the check and receiving the necessary information (VID PID of the drive), you need to download a utility to restore the functionality of the flash drive or SD drive. Go to flashboot.ru and open the “iFlash” tab. Here you need to enter the VID PID values and find the desired manufacturer of the memory card or flash drive (HP, Generic Flash Disk, Protex, Oltramax, Smartbuy, etc.).

If your exact model of flash drive or SD memory card is not in the online service database, then it’s okay: the main thing is that the VID PID and the manufacturer match. If the necessary data matches, then you need to obtain information about the exact model of the controller for flashing and restoring it, as well as the name of the appropriate utility.

The table has columns “Controller” and “Utility”. You also need to pay attention to the volume - controllers for flash drives and SD cards for 16 Gb and 32 Gb may differ. You need to copy the full name of the utility and download it through the “Files” section on the flashboot.ru website or from another source. Often, along with the recovery program, instructions for its use are downloaded, which it is advisable to read carefully.

Controller firmware

Let's say you have a Protec flash drive with a capacity of 16 Gb. You find it by VID PID through the iFlash online service and download the controller firmware utility for free. What to do next? Carry out measures to restore the flash drive (SD memory card).

Universal instructions for restoring all flash drives:

If the firmware is successfully installed, you should see a positive status of the flash drive - “OK” or “Good”. If problems arise during the operation, an error code will appear: its explanation can be found in the help of the utility found by VID PID, or on other online services.

Restoring any flash drives (SD cards) is carried out approximately according to the same scheme, however, the instructions may differ slightly for different utilities: you need to use the VID PID to find the program for flashing the controller and start restoring the USB drive.

To restore a flash drive, you must additionally format it. You can perform it using standard Windows tools or using special programs. It is recommended to run a full format rather than a quick format. This will take a little more time (especially if the storage capacity exceeds 16 Gb), but you will be sure that the flash drive is now completely clean and functional.

USB drives have long taken the position of a faithful companion in the life of every modern person. Movies, music, photographs, business documents - all this moves from computer to computer using a small keychain. Flash drives have successfully replaced unreliable floppy disks in the world of storage media and are gradually taking the “bread” away from optical disks and even hard drives.

However, despite the fact that a flash drive is much more convenient and reliable than the media described above, few people today are immune from problems with it. USB drives also fail. In this article we will describe the main reasons for the failure of flash drives, and also consider the most effective and simple methods for their recovery.

The main types of failures of USB drives

Mechanical damage is the occurrence of cracks and other visible defects that impair the integrity of the microcircuits and, accordingly, lead to the complete loss of functionality of the drive. Mechanical damage can also include deformation of the connector itself. This type of malfunction can be called the most unpleasant, since as a result of the hope for restoring the operation of the flash drive, it tends to zero. However, it’s still worth trying to bring it back to life - some defects may not be critical. It’s just that the built-in firmware, one way or another, blocks the media in order to prevent data loss from it.
Firmware failure - you know there is a way to safely remove a removable drive, right? But many regularly ignore this procedure, simply pulling the flash drive out of the connector. Full operation of the drive is carried out by the microprogram (firmware) built into it. And if, in most cases, it is ready to forgive a disrespectful attitude towards itself on the part of the user, then at a certain moment, if it is removed incorrectly, it can fail, blocking the operation of the entire removable disk. In this case, the recovery procedure is more than possible - physically the flash drive remains healthy. It is only necessary to restore the normal functioning of the firmware, for which utilities developed by the manufacturer of USB drives are usually used.
Drive resource exhaustion – a flash drive has a certain resource for the number of cycles of writing/deleting files. And this risks the fact that over time the drive will simply not be able to store the information written to it. Resource exhaustion is a problem, as a result of which it will probably be impossible to restore a flash drive. Perhaps by sending it in for repairs, but in this situation it is much easier to buy a new key fob.
Electrical damage – as a result of an unstable power supply or due to moisture getting inside the flash drive, internal electrical circuits may short out or individual microcircuits may fail. In this case, you can try to restore, but no one will give you a 100% guarantee that the procedure will be successfully completed.

In general, it is worth trying to restore in any of the above cases. You won’t spend a lot of time, but you can save more than that by purchasing a new flash drive. It’s worth clarifying one more point - never store your data on only one drive (this applies not only to flash drives). Try to create an additional backup copy on your computer or cloud storage. This will greatly facilitate the process of restoring them if the main drive fails.

Recovering drives using JetFlash OnLine Recovery

If you are the happy owner of drives manufactured by the famous company Transcend, then you are incredibly lucky! You can safely skip all the steps described above - here is a convenient and simple tool for restoring the functionality of your flash drive. All you need for this purpose is a stable and fairly fast Internet connection throughout your work with the program.

The utility is called JetFlash Online Recovery. You can try to apply it not only to Transcend products. But whether she wants to work is another question. Again, there’s no harm in trying. The beauty of Online Recovery is that the user does not need to find out the VID, PID, brand of controller and memory chip, set optimal settings, etc. All this is done automatically. Data about the drive and methods of working with it are checked and installed via the Internet. This is why having a stable connection is so important.

The algorithm of actions does not cause any difficulties. First of all, you need download and install OnlineRecovery on your computer. After that, connect the USB flash drive to your computer and run the utility. In the main application window, set the amount of memory that your drive has. The next step should be to set the recovery parameters of the flash drive - with saving data (the “Repair drive & keep existing data” option - another advantage lies in this feature) or without it (“Repair drive & Erase all data”). It is worth paying attention to the fact that even if you select the first item, there is no guarantee that absolutely all data will be saved.

After setting the necessary settings, click the Start button and wait until the flash drive is formatted. When finished, press the Exit button, remove the drive from the USB port and reinsert it. If the flash drive is still undergoing recovery, its operation will be resumed.

If JetFlash Online Recovery was unable to restore your flash drive to functionality, you can try to do it manually using a drive specially designed for a specific model. This process is more labor-intensive and can even cause some stupor in a beginner. But there are few options, so knowledge of how this is done will also not hurt.

Defining a utility for flash drive recovery

The problem with data recovery is that USB drives are made by different manufacturers. Accordingly, each of them can use slightly different technologies and adapt certain software to service flash drives. There is no single application that would allow you to restore damaged removable media (some unification exists for Transcend products, but we will consider this issue later in a separate paragraph) - it will have to be selected individually.

The popular Internet resource Flashboot.ru allows you to determine which program is suitable for a specific flash drive. In order for the site's search engine to find the right utility for you, you need to know the basic parameters of the drive - manufacturer's name, flash drive model name, VID and PID. Having this information in hand, you can easily select an effective means of media recovery.

The manufacturer's name can be easily determined by reading the logo on the flash drive body. To determine the remaining parameters, you can use additional software.

Convenient means of obtaining the necessary technical information about drives are programs such as ChipGenius and ChekUDisk. In principle, you do not need any supernatural abilities from such programs, so you can use any of them.

To determine VID and PID using the first utility, run the ChipGenius program (no installation required) and connect your flash drive. In the list of USB devices, find the item “+USB HID-compatible device” and left-click on it. At the bottom of the window, detailed information about the drive will be displayed, where the PnP Device HD line will contain information regarding VID and PID.

ChekUDisk works on the same principle. In this case, the information will be displayed in the VID&PID line in the format “Vid_0000&Pid_0000”. You should be interested in what comes after the underscore.

After that, go to the Flashboot.ru website and open the iFlash tab. In the VID and PID fields, enter the appropriate data that you determined using the programs described above, and click the “Find” button. A list of drives will open, among which you will need to find the model of your flash drive. The last column of the table will display the name of the utility for working with your USB drive.

Now you need to download and install the program recommended for use. Everything is very simple here. On the main page of the same Flashboot.ru service there is a “Files” tab. Go into it and copy the name of the utility you are looking for into the search query field. Click on the link found, download and install the utility for working with a flash drive.

The further procedure depends on the specific program. In general, they all have a very intuitive interface (which usually comes down to pressing one button), so understanding how to work with them won’t be much of a problem.

Utilities for working with flash drives usually perform low-level formatting, or flashing, of the drive. This step allows you to bring the built-in firmware back to life and bring the flash drive back to life. In the event that it does not have serious damage to its structure. In addition, formatting risks that all data stored on the drive will be lost. And even data recovery tools after formatting will mostly be powerless here.

Before you start working with this or that utility, also pay attention to not all the recommendations that are usually included on the download page on Flashboot.ru and in the search results on iFlash. This will greatly facilitate your further communication with the utility.

This method is mostly universal and is suitable for restoring almost any available model of USB drive. There is only one drawback here - the motley patchwork of models, names of controllers and memory chips can confuse an inexperienced user. There can be only one recommendation here - carefully read all the attached information.

After recovery...

The low-level formatting procedure, designed to return the flash drive to a “healthy appearance,” as a rule, leads to the loss of all files and data stored on it. We have already mentioned this, but it would not be superfluous to draw your attention to this fact again.

Once the recovery procedure is complete, you can try to extract the data as you would after a normal format. We described this in a separate article on our website. This also does not give any guarantees about whether it will be possible to restore the memory of a flash drive (more precisely, what occupies this memory). Typically, low-level formatting results in complete erasure of data. But there are still good chances.

Recovering damaged files

Which results in the USB drive not being recognized. From damaged USB ports to USB formatting issues, the list of possible scenarios is varied. It should also be noted that before applying any of the methods below, the user must ensure that the cause is analyzed and the problem is identified correctly.

The list of reasons that lead to a flash drive being unreadable and which users encounter most often includes the following 5 scenarios:

USB ports don't work.
You need to update your USB drivers.
The operating system (OS) is not updated.
The USB storage device is faulty.
The USB firmware is corrupted.

You can find more than one USB recognition program on the Internet that will ensure that the data is retrieved, but it is better not to use these programs as they can pose security risks, possibly compromising the data.

Below are some of the factors that can lead to flash drive recognition problems. It should be noted that these problems need to be resolved as soon as possible:

Problem with USB formatting. This is the most common type of problem where the user fails to format the drive before first use. The error message states that formatting could not be completed.
Driver problem. USB drivers are not available or need to be updated.
Hard drive problems. If the hard drive of the OS and its associated system is not working properly, it is most likely a problem with the hard drive.
OS related problems: OS if not updated on time also leads to these problems. The only solution is to update the components.
Port related problems. This can be either hardware or software. If the ports do not recognize USB, professional help is recommended.

USB formatting problem is the most common type of problem

4 Ways to Fix Problem with Flash Drive Not Recognized by Windows

Method 1: Scan for USB problems

Step 1. Insert the flash drive into the USB port.

Step 2. Make sure that the flash drive appears in the “My Computer” section. Then, right-click to open the “Properties” section.

Step 3. Enter the "Service" section.

Step 4. Then you need to click on the “Check Now” button for a new menu to appear. Here both options should be selected and the run button should be clicked to scan the device and fix the problem (some may just say "Check", then you need to click "Check" and then "Check and repair disk").

Method 2: Reformatting USB

Follow this process:

Step 1. Right-click on the flash drive under My Computer to select the Format option.

Step 2. Now, to solve the problem, you need to format the flash drive using NTFS instead of FAT32 or vice versa:

On a note! All information from the flash drive will be deleted!

Method 3: Update drivers

The process looks like this:

Step 1. You need to open the Run window (Win+R), and then enter devmgmt.msc as in the screenshot below:

Step 2. This will take you to the Device Manager (you can also open it through the built-in Windows search, you just need to type “Device Manager” in the search box and Windows will return the desired result).

Step 3. You need to find “Universal Serial Bus controllers” as in the picture below:

Step 4. When you have found the controllers you need, you need to right-click on them and select the option to update drivers, then “Automatically search for updated drivers.”

Method 4. OS update

To update your OS, follow these steps:

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security.

Step 2. Now you need to make sure that the “Check for updates” option is selected.

The OS will be updated.

Then you need to restart the system to ensure that the problem is resolved.

Software to recover lost data on hard drive

Once the USB recognition problem is resolved, it is recommended that you save all important data to ensure that the problem never happens again. You should also check that all folders are saved and that nothing is missing. Wondershare Data Recovery tool is the most advanced and modern tool designed specifically to solve the problem of file loss. It is better to download it from the official website.

Note! Only 100 megabytes of lost data are free.

Recovering files with Wondershare Data Recovery occurs in 3 steps:

Step 1. First you need to select what types of files you want to recover.

Step 2. Then you need to select the device from which you want to recover these same files.

Step 3. You also need to select the location where these files will be restored.

It won’t be difficult, and the intuitive and simple interface will only help with this.