How to Repair a Flash Drive
- Plug your flash drive into your computer. The flash drive should fit into one of the rectangular ports on your PC's housing. If you're encountering ...
- Press ⊞ Win + E to open File Explorer . This opens File Explorer on Windows. You can use File Explorer to navigate to your flash drive.
- Right-click your flash drive's icon. This displays a menu to the right of the drive.
- Click Properties. It's at the bottom of the menu that appears when you right-click a drive.
- Click the Tools tab. This option is at the top of the Properties window.
- Find an old USB cable.
- Strip the newly-exposed wires.
- Solder the wires to the drive.
- Coat the solder joints with hot glue.
- Plug the drive-in, and see if it works.
How do you fix a corrupt flash drive?
Steps to recover data from a corrupted pen drive by minimizing the physical issues:
- Wet the end of a cotton swab with rubbing alcohol, and wipe clean the contacts.
- Clean off the contacts. Wait until dry.
- Examine the flash drive casing for cracks. If so, the circuit board could have gotten wet. ...
- Connect the drive to the computer. If it connects and the files are accessible again, then we’re finished!
How to repair a broken USB stick or flash drive?
If the PCB is fine, you could do this:
- Take an old USB cable, cut the B end off, and strip the newly exposed wires.
- Take a soldering iron and carefully solder the wires on. ...
- Make sure all the connections are not dry joints and that they do not bridge.
- After all the wires are soldered, add a ton of hot glue over it. ...
- Plug it into your friend’s computer and cross your fingers.
How can I recover data from a broken flash drive?
- Stop using the flash drive immediately after discovering that your data has been lost.
- Disconnect the flash drive from your computer and store it somewhere safe until you have time to start the data recovery process.
- Don’t attempt to copy data from the flash drive to a different location because you would most likely only make everything worse.
How to repair a corrupted hard drive in Windows 10?
- To start the corrupted hard disk repair process, open Command Prompt in Admin mode (Right-click Start button and click Command Prompt (Admin)).
- Type the following command to start the error checking and fixing process for your internal or external drive: chkdsk C: /F where C is the drive letter. ...
- Press Enter. ...
Can you recover files from a broken flash drive?
Yes, broken USB flash drive data recovery is possible using either the built-in Windows or macOS tools or a third-party solution. To do this with D...
Can a damaged flash drive be repaired?
That depends on how badly it’s broken. If it’s just a case or port issue, it’s possible. If the circuit board is broken, the likelihood of repair i...
How do you fix a physically broken flash drive?
How to fix a broken USB flash drive will depend on how badly it’s damaged. If necessary, follow these steps: Find an old USB cable Strip the newly-...
How much does it cost to repair a broken flash drive?
That depends on the extent of the damage. This can cost you anywhere from $150.00 to reattach broken pads to a connector to $300-$500 for “chip-off...
Why is my USB stick not working?
Your USB stick might not be working because of a damaged file system, missing device drivers, malware or virus, or a broken circuit board.
How do you fix a USB that won't open?
You can set the RAW partition as active with the following steps: Press the WIN+R key combination. When prompted, type diskmgmt.msc. Right-click on...
Why can't I see my USB drive in Windows 10?
Most likely the device has been physically damaged, the partition table is corrupt, or the drive has become RAW.
How to fix a flash drive that won't open?
1. Plug your flash drive into your computer. The flash drive should fit into one of the rectangular ports on your PC's housing. If you're encountering errors on your flash drive or it won't display its contents, you may need to update its drivers or software using your computer's repair feature.
How to get files off a flash drive?
Windows - Open Start, click the File Explorer icon, and click your flash drive's icon. Mac - Open Finder and click your flash drive's icon. If the flash drive doesn't connect to your computer, you can try taking it to a tech department to see if they can still pull the files off of it.
How to eject a flash drive on Mac?
To eject it, click the eject icon next to the drive in the Finder, or click and drag it to the Eject icon in the Dock when on your desktop .
Why won't my flash drive work?
Finally, if the flash drive won't work because of physical damage, you should take it into a tech department or data recovery professional; if that's not possible, you may be able to fix it yourself by soldering the broken USB drive's circuitry to a working USB cable.
What to do if you choose to seek the services of a professional data recovery company?
If you choose to seek the services of a professional data recovery company, be sure to describe your problems to the best of your abilities to ensure they have the tools and experience for the job.
Where should a flash drive fit on a Mac?
The flash drive should fit into one of the rectangular ports on your Mac's housing. If you're encountering errors on your flash drive or it won't display its contents, you may need to update its drivers or software using your computer's repair feature.
Can a flash drive be 100% free?
A flash drive can never be 100% free, although seeing it as 2.5 from 8 is a bit odd. It's possible there is a driver error, depending on the device. Otherwise try plugging it in again, into another port or computer.
How do USB sticks get damaged?
One of the most common paths to an unreadable card is when it’s been removed from a computer or laptop, without first safely ejecting the device. Do this once or twice, and you might be lucky.
What to do if USB is bent?
If your USB stick is bent, you can try to carefully bend it back into shape. Use caution with this method.
Why is my USB drive unreadable?
Your USB drive might be unreadable, because of the assigned letter drive. To remedy this, insert the SD/USB device and change the drive letter by following these steps: Press the Windows key + X key combination. Click Disk Management.
What does it mean when a flash card is RAW?
When a flash device is found as RAW, it means, for whatever reason, the file system is damaged.
Why is my USB drive bent?
A bent USB drive is another very common occurrence, often caused by people sitting down and bending the drive in their pocket. The next time the customer goes to use the drive with their PC or Mac, they discover the media is damaged.
What happens if you can't access thumb drive?
When you can’t access the data files on your thumb drive through its broken USB connector, there is a “Plan B.”. However, Plan B just happens to involve removing the heat pads, then the NAND chip itself, and piecing its data files together. It’s hard work, requires specialized tools and knowledge, the file recovery process is slow, ...
Can Gillware find a thumb drive?
They’re also easy to lose and easy to damage. And if your flash drive goes missing, Gillware’ s data recovery experts can’t help you find it. Thumb drives should only be used to transfer data from one computer to another, and never to store critical data on a PC or Mac.
Can thumb drives survive a fall?
These “thumb drives” or “jump drives” can survive perilous falls that would put any spinning disk media (such as your portable external hard drive) out of commission. Some can even survive taking a trip through the wash or accidentally accompanying you when you go for a swim.
Is there a moving part in a USB flash drive?
There are no moving parts in your USB flash drive, which is a massive point in its favor for resilience, as it doesn’t have to worry about things like read/write head crashes and platter scratches. All of the data lives on a NAND chip soldered onto the device’s PCB. The flash memory equivalent to platter damage and rotational scoring would be if the NAND chip became cracked or shattered by a heavy impact or crushing force, which is very rare.
The Question
SuperUser reader Rasmus Mathiesen wants to know if it is possible to repair a friend’s physically broken USB drive:
The Answer
SuperUser contributors Chris H, tehwalris, and Annonomus Penguin have the answer for us. First up, Chris H:
How to Tell If Your USB Drive Needs Repairing
Does your computer refuse to detect your USB flash drive no matter what you try? Unfortunately, in such cases, there’s not much to do but recycle and replace the device.
What Are USB Repair Tools?
Multiple solutions fall under the somewhat vague term “USB repair tools”. The term covers:
8 Best Tools to Repair Your USB Drive
The USB stick repair solutions we will see here are the best for dealing with multiple problems. If you know what you’re dealing with, feel free to pick the best USB flash drive repair tool for the issue at hand.
