Repairing Guides

how to repair a flash drive without formatting

by Margaret Marquardt Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
image

Part 1: How to Fix a Flash Drive Without Formatting?

  • Method 1: Try Other USB Ports. Try connecting your USB flash drive to other USB ports of your computer. And, make sure...
  • Method 2: Enable USB drive.
  • Method 3: Use Check Utility. As the pen drive is not physically broken and the PC is able to recognize and assigned a...
  • Method 4: Change the USB Drive letter.

how to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting
  1. Stop using the USB drive.
  2. Do not add new items to USB stick.
  3. Do not reformat the USB flash drive.
  4. Open CMD. ...
  5. Check if your drive has bad sectors. ...
  6. chkdsk H: /f (H is the drive letter of USB drive. ...
  7. Type Y if the drive is in use and hit Enter key to proceed.
Jan 25, 2022

Full Answer

How to fix a corrupted flash drive?

[Solution] Fix Corrupted Flash Drive 1 Step 1. Connect USB drive to PC. 2 Step 2. Open Computer or This PC , right-click Removable Disk and open its Properties . 3 Step 3. Click on Tools , tick the Check Now option and check Automatically fix file system errors... 4 Step 4. Click Start to begin the scan process. See More....

How to fix a corrupted USB without formatting it?

5 solutions to fix a corrupted USB without formatting it Solution 1: Test different USB ports on different computers. USB port can be one of the reasons that your flash drive... Solution 2: Assign a drive letter for USB via Disk Management. Sometimes, the computer cannot assign a drive letter for... ...

How to open USB flash drive without formatting?

Download iCare Pro Free, connect your usb drive to Windows 10/8/7. Select 'Deep Scan Recovery' that would let you open flash drive without formatting it. Step2. Choose your flash drive to let the tool open it for you Step3. Once the program found your data, save them onto another device.

Why does my flash drive say it needs to be formatted?

Why does my flash drive says it need to be formatted? Sometimes, your computer will ask you to format the USB flash drive. That's to say, your flash drive may be corrupted or damaged. And you are not able to open USB stick and the data on it. Then, I will list the common scenario in the following.

image

How do I fix a corrupted flash drive?

1:356:06How to Fix Corrupted USB Flash Drive and Recover Data? - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo let's go through step by step how to scan and fix your corrupted. Usb. Drive using the check areaMoreSo let's go through step by step how to scan and fix your corrupted. Usb. Drive using the check area utility firstly connect your usb drive to the pc. And launch this pc. Now right click the usb.

How can I fix my flash drive without losing data?

For Windows users:Right-click Start icon and choose Device Manager.Click Disk drives and find the driver name of the corrupted USB.Right-click on the name and choose Uninstall device.Unplug the USB drive.Replug the USB drive into the computer and it will reinstall the latest driver automatically.

Can a USB flash drive be repaired?

For software or driver issues, you can scan and repair your flash drive using your computer's built-in repair utility. If your drive isn't working because of an improper formatting or corrupted data, you can reformat your drive—but keep in mind that reformatting your USB flash drive will erase all files on it.

How do I know if my USB is corrupted?

Signs of a Corrupted USB A “File is not recognized” prompt when opening files from the USB. Being prompted with a message that says “Please insert a disk into USB Drive (H:)”, even when the USB is connected to the computer. The USB is not showing in Windows as a storage device when it's connected to the computer.

How does a USB get corrupted?

USB Flash Drives can be corrupted by unsafe ejection, physical damage, or sometimes viruses. Take your flash drive to a professional for physical damage repair or data recovery. Corrupted drives can usually be fixed by reformatting the drive.

How do I restore a flash drive?

Open the Start menu, type "This pc" , and hit Enter on your keyboard. Right-click on your USB flash drive and select "Properties" . Go to the "Previous Versions" tab and look at the list of available recovery options. Select a previous version and click "Restore" .

Does formatting a flash drive delete everything?

Although formatting a USB flash drive deletes everything, there's no need to worry about it. If you've got a backup, you can retrieve lost data from the backup. Otherwise, you need to use data recovery software to restore lost data after formatting.

How to Fix Corrupted USB Flash/Pen Drive Using Cmd

CMD is your first choice for damaged USB flash drive, and pen drive recovery. Requiring no formatting, it allows you to fix a corrupted USB drive w...

How to Repair Corrupted USB Pen Drive/Flash Drive Without Formatting

If the above method is not workable, just carry out the following steps to repair the damaged USB flash drive without formatting and rescue your da...

Fix Corrupted USB Pen Drive Or Flash Drive Using EaseUS USB Repair Tool

If all the above solutions are failing to help, you can try this last way to repair corrupted USB flash drive without losing data using EaseUS file...

How to get to the menu on a flash drive?

Right-click your flash drive's icon. Doing so prompts a menu to appear to the right of the drive.

Where is the indented icon on a flash drive?

Select your flash drive. This is the indented icon below the "External" heading.

Where is the Properties button on a drive?

Click Properties. It's at the bottom of the menu that appears when you right-click a drive.

Where is the first aid button on Windows 10?

Click First Aid. It's at the top of the Disk Utility window.

Can you repair a flash drive?

Understand that physically repairing a flash drive is unlikely to work. Unless you have professional experience in repairing physically damaged flash drives, do not try to open it.

Why does Windows ask to format a removable disk?

Windows asks you to format the removable disk before you can use it when double-clicking on the drive. Other unfamiliar errors like RAW, no media, etc. Basically, there are two scenarios when there's an issue with your USB drive: either Windows detects your USB drive or it doesn't detect it.

How to fix USB error?

If your USB can still be detected or recognized by your computer, you can try to fix the logical error by using the native Windows tool, CMD or third-party fixing tool. Then you will be able to access your USB.

How to find files on USB flash drive?

Step 1. Connect USB flash drive to your computer. Open EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and hover on USB device. Click "Scan" button to start looking for lost files on PC. Step 2. When the scan completes, you can apply the "Filter" feature or the click the search box to quickly find the lost files from USB. Step 3.

How to fix a corrupted file system?

Step 1.  DOWNLOAD EaseUS CleanGenius on your computer and complete the installation. Step 2. Run the software. Click "Optimization", and then choose "File Showing" . Step 3. Select the drive with a corrupted file system. Tick the "Check and fix file system error" option and click "Execute".

How to fix chkdsk?

So, perform data recovery in advance, and then continue with the CMD method. Step 1: Plug in your USB flash drive or pen drive to your computer. Step 2: Go to the Start menu and type cmd in the search box.

Why is my USB flashing weird?

Many strange USB issues usually results from a corrupted driver. You need to reinstall a new driver by following the steps.

What to do if you have a logical error on a pen drive?

After you have checked and fixed the logical error on the pen drive, you can scan your device to see if any data was lost in the process. EaseUS file recovery software can search for any lost files on the device and, if there are any, recover them.

How to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting?

Basically, users can format a corrupted or inaccessible USB flash drive to make it functional or usable again , but at the same time, the entire data located inside the drive will be erased all well.

How to fix USB flash drive?

If the USB flash drive is disabled in Device Manager, then it will malfunction, you can enable it in the following steps. Step 1. Input “Device Manager” in the Search box and hit “Enter” to enter Device Manager window. Step 2. Expand “Disk driver” and right click the USB flash drive.

How to check if flash drive is bad?

Right click the flash drive partition and select “Check Partition”. Step 2. For RAW partition, here you can only choose “Check whether there is bad sector on the partition” and click “OK”. Step 3. You can tick “Quick Check” and click “Start” to execute the bad sector checking process. Fix 3.

What happens if a USB flash drive is damaged?

When the USB flash drive is corrupted or damaged, it will stop working, become unreadable or fail to get recognized, then you will have no access to files within it and be troubled by various error messages such as “ X: is not accessible the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable ”, or "You need to format the disk in drive before you can use it" or “Please insert a disk into Removable Disk (X:)”, etc.

What to do if flash drive is RAW?

If your flash drive has become RAW file system, and the CHKDSK tool pops out “The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives ” message, you can use AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard (free and compatible with Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista), it can check RAW partition for bad sectors.

How to assign a different USB drive letter to a USB flash drive?

Steps are as follows. Step 1. Right click on “This PC/My Computer” and click the “Manage” option to open “Computer Management” window. Step 2.

What is USB flash drive?

USB flash drive is the portable device that seems the easiest and most relaxed way to transfer the data from one sort to another. Often, USB flash drive is trusted to secure the sensitive data, but sometimes, the drive also shows issues. Therefore, when it corrupts, how to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting? Here I am listing some solutions:

What happens if your pen drive is disabled?

If your pen drive is disabled, it may become malfunctioning. how to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting? Here is the solution:

Can a pen drive be broken?

For a pen drive not physically broken, able to be recognized and assigned a letter by your computer, this is the easiest method to fix it. Theoretically speaking, the provided method won't cause data loss.

Can a corrupted flash drive be fixed?

Hope your corrupted flash drive can be fixed if the issue is related to assigning a drive letter.

What is formatting a flash drive?

Formatting is kind of making an old flash drive new when the device was found corrupted by Windows or other digital devices that makes formatting is kind of rescuing it for another chance of life.

How to reload USB drive?

Reinstall drive step 1. Step 2 - Uninstall usb drive. Reinstall drive step 2. Step 3 - And then unplug your usb flash drive from your computer, reconnect it to your computer, and then come back to the device manager -> Scan for hardware changes which would reload your usb driver.

Fix 1. Recover Data from Corrupted USB Flash Drive without Data Loss

When your USB drive is inaccessible through computer, the files are still there. In this case, you should not format the USB drive.

Fix 2. Repair USB Flash Drive with Windows Utility without Formatting

Whether your data has been restored in Fix 1 or not, this method will help you try to fix the possible errors on the corrupted USB drive without formatting.

Fix 3. How to Fix Corrupted Flash Drive with CHKDSK Command

CHKDSK command basically does the same thing as the Error Checking Utility, but at the system level. The command is for fixing errors on removable disks, like SD card and USB drive. An automatic process will run to check and fix errors on the corrupted USB flash drive and make it readable.

Fix 4. Apply Flash Drive Repair with DISKPART Command

Warning: Don’t choose this method unless you have tried all the solutions above. By following this method, you will format the corrupted USB flash drive and set it up again. All the files will be wiped during the process. Command Prompt is a tool for Windows users to execute various commands to modify the file system.

Do you have to format a USB drive?

You have to format a USB pen drive when it says needs to be formatted if you want to open it normally. However, you may try command prompt or error-check tool to scan for errors if you want to open a corrupted pen drive which becomes inaccessible, unrecognizable or unreadable.

Can you format a flash drive without losing data?

Well, it is impossible to format a flash drive without losing data because it would wipe the thumb drive once you begin to format it. However, you have chance to get back the files erased by formatting before new data is written to the formatted disk.

Can I format a pen stick without erasing?

Is it possible to format a pen stick without erasing any data when it requires formatting? Usually, Yes, when a flash drive asked for formatting, all data would disappear. Windows asks to format a pen drive in order to open it when pen drive is not formatted. " My USB drive asks to be formatted, but I do not want to do that because it contains many ...

image
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9