Repairing Guides

how to repair damaged flash drive

by Jimmie O'Hara Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
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How to Repair a Flash Drive

  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 ...
  2. Press ⊞ Win + E to open File Explorer . This opens File Explorer on Windows. You can use File Explorer to navigate to your flash drive.
  3. Right-click your flash drive's icon. This displays a menu to the right of the drive.
  4. Click Properties. It's at the bottom of the menu that appears when you right-click a drive.
  5. Click the Tools tab. This option is at the top of the Properties window.

Method 2. Windows Utility - Check and Fix the Error on the Damaged USB
  1. Connect the USB to your PC.
  2. Go to My Computer/This PC and then the USB Drive.
  3. Right-click the USB drive and select Properties.
  4. Click on the Tools tab.
  5. Click the Check button.
  6. Step 6: Let the scan process complete, then close the scan window.
Mar 31, 2022

Full Answer

How do you fix a damaged flash drive?

Here are the steps:

  1. Download and install Do Your Data Recovery for PC/Mac on your computer, then run it. Download for PC Download for Mac
  2. Connect the inaccessible/corrupted/damaged USB flash drive with your computer. Select it to start data recovery.
  3. Select the file types, click on "Scan" button to scan the inaccessible/corrupted/damaged USB flash drive to find lost data.

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How to repair USB flash drive in three steps?

Please choose any server to download

  1. plug in your corrupt flash driveto your computer usb port
  2. open Chip Genius program
  3. now see the picture to know how you get your corrupt flash disk information. FlashBoot.RU How can repair USB flash Drive ?

How do you troubleshoot a flash drive?

  • If you take too much work from your usb flash drive and keep it connected with your PC, there are very high chances of it getting in contact with malware ...
  • Don’t use your usb flash drive with multiple systems very frequently. ...
  • Always make sure that the Drivers of your usb flash drive are up to date and are not corrupted. ...

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How to uncorrupt a flash drive?

Other Ways to Recover Files from a Corrupted Flash Drive

  1. Recover from a Backup. Have you recently created a backup of your USB flash drive? ...
  2. Use the ATTRIB Command. Flash drive corruption can have many different forms. ...
  3. Use the File History Feature. The Windows operating system comes with a local backup tool called File History. ...
  4. Try Windows File Recovery. ...
  5. Pay for Professional Data Recovery. ...

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How do you fix a corrupted flash drive?

how to fix a corrupted flash drive without formattingStop using the USB drive.Do not add new items to USB stick.Do not reformat the USB flash drive.Open CMD. ... Check if your drive has bad sectors. ... chkdsk H: /f (H is the drive letter of USB drive. ... Type Y if the drive is in use and hit Enter key to proceed.More items...•

How do I fix an unreadable flash drive?

Another way to make a corrupted or unreadable USB drive work again is to format it:Press Windows + R keys to bring up the Run box. Type: diskmgmt. ... In Disk Management, locate the unreadable flash drive, check its disk information. ... Choose a file system like NTFS, FAT32 or exFAT and the Perform a quick format checkbox.

Can a 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.

Why is my USB corrupted or unreadable?

There can be many reasons that make the USB flash drive got corrupt or unreadable, and the data on the drive can not be accessed. Improperly plug out the drive from the USB port, it can lead to data corruption, the directory structure on the USB drive, MBR or PBR can because of the data corruption.

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...

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 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 .

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 many gigabytes does ExFAT have?

Works on Windows and Mac, but has a storage limit of 32 gigabytes. exFAT (Recommended) - Works on Windows and Mac, and has no storage limit. If you've formatted your drive before and you're positive that it isn't broken, you can also check the Quick Format box. ...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

What happens if you pause a scan?

If you pause or stop the scan before completion, you reduce the chances of a complete data recovery. Depending on how large your drive is, how much data is/was on it, and the speed of your computer, this scan could take some time.

How to connect a corrupted USB drive to a computer?

Step 2. Right-click on the Start button, and click Command Prompt (Admin), then go to the CMD window. Step 3. Type the code diskpart and press Enter. All your device connected to your computer will be displayed. Step 4.

Why is my flash drive unreadable?

What Cause the Flash Drive Become Unreadable/Corrupted. The USB flash drive is like the hard drive to store all data files on it. There can be many reasons that make the USB flash drive got corrupt or unreadable, and the data on the drive can not be accessed. Improperly plug out the drive from the USB port, it can lead to data corruption, ...

What are some logical errors with the drive?

Some logical errors with the drive, you can easily fix it, repair the file structure, and reuse the USB flash drive. The physical corruption issues are dead driven broken stems, RAW, format error and accessible, etc.

Can a flash drive be corrupted?

Do not simply pull out the flash drive as this is one the most common ways of your flash drive becoming corrupted. Always eject the flash drive when the file transfer is complete. If the ejection is done during a file transfer, it can lead to a corrupted file, and eventually, a corrupted hard drive. Using reliable flash memory, like SLC Flash ...

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, ...

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.

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.

Is a jump drive bigger than a Death Star?

However, your typical USB flash drive or jump drive has one glaring weak point—bigger than the Death Star’s thermal exhaust port. The NAND chip and its controller board are soldered pretty securely to the thumb drive’s control board.

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.

Who is Will Ascenzo?

Will is the lead blogger, copywriter, and copy editor for Gillware Data Recovery and Digital Forensics, and a staunch advocate against the abuse of innocent semicolons. Articles: 218.

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.

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:

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