How to repair the USB flash drive on Windows 10
- Click on the “My Computer- Removable Disk” icon. Then right-click the “Properties” tab to the Removable Disk icon.
- Scan; let the computer do the task of scanning and restoring previously corrupt files.
- Finally, right-click the USB pen drive and click on eject to safely disconnect the drive from the computer system.
How do you recover an USB drive?
- Make sure that you have your USB drive connected or your memory card inserted and launch Explorer in Windows.
- In the left-hand pane, right-click the icon for your drive and select Properties
- Move to the Tools tab of the drive properties dialog that appears.
- Click the Check button.
How to safely remove an USB drive?
When Windows refuses to eject mass storage: 5 ways to safely remove a USB drive
- Use Windows’ own tool. Click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the notification area, then click your device. ...
- Make an educated guess. Think about what you’re running and what might be holding on. ...
- Use a third-party utility. I tested a number of free programs that are supposed to help with this problem. ...
- Log off and on. ...
- Shut down the PC. ...
How do you reformat an USB drive?
To use it:
- Connect the flash drive that you want to format.
- Go to Applications and Utilities and launch Disk Utility. ...
- Select your storage device from the list on the left and click on the Erase tab. ...
- With everything set, you may click on the Erase button to start the formatting process. ...
Why is my USB drive not working?
- Bootable USB is not detected as a boot device. This means your USB stick is either corrupted or unbootable itself, or USB boot is not supported on the computer.
- Bootable USB not showing up in BIOS. ...
- Bootable USB not showing up in boot menu. ...
- You can't boot from USB in Windows 10, not even select the right boot option. ...
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 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 to fix unreadable disk drive?
You can sometimes fix the unreadable drive by enabling the device on the control panel’s device manager. You simply go to start and then control panel in order to access the device manager. Enlarge the list next to the “disk drives option.”. Double click on the arrow facing downwards under this tab option to “Enable device.”.
How to repair a USB flash drive?
If you are not comfortable using chkdsk, insert the USB drive into the PC through the USB port. Step 1 – Click on the “My Computer- Removable Disk” icon. Then right-click the “Properties” tab to the Removable Disk icon.
How to find a USB drive that is missing?
Step 1 – Attach the USB drive to your computer and press on the Windows button at the bottom left of your screen (this used to be called the Windows Start button). As soon as you see a popup, type diskmgmt.msc and hit enter. This will start Disk Management, which is great for detecting any missing drive.
How to use a pen drive in Windows 10?
Step 1 – Insert/connect the USB flash drive or hard drive into the computer system USB port. Step 2 – Windows 10 should automatically detect the USB flash drive. Then, go to the removable disk icon under the “My Computer” icon list. Step 3 – Access the pen drive via right-clicking the properties tab, then click on the Tools tab using ...
Why is my computer not connecting to my computer?
Broken stems, connectors, and dead drives tend to not connect to the computer’s power system. This can bring about many error messages once the drive is connected to the system. The messages will communicate to you that you need to connect and insert the drive into the computer even if it is in the right computer port.
Can a USB flash drive be repaired?
Because they are cheap, USB flash drive repair is not common. Not only are they easy to damage, but file system errors are common and data corruption is a frequent problem we encounter. Improper removal of the USB drive from the computer can be the start of a corrupted USB drive. Issues that require USB flash drive repair can be logical or physical.
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.
Before USB Repair: USB Data Recovery
Some USB flash drive repair tools will format your USB drive (which will erase everything) to fix its software problem. Therefore, if the files in the flash drive matter to you, before applying a USB repair utility to the drive, you may want to recover all your data from the broken drive.
USB Drive Repair Tool: Windows Disk Error Checking
The first tool you can use to repair a USB flash drive is the built-in disk repair tool in Windows and Mac computers.
USB Drive Repair Tool: CHKDSK Utility
CHKDSK, short for check disk, is a Windows utility that can be used to check and fix errors on a drive. Therefore, you can use the utility to repair a corrupted USB drive.
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.
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 ...
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:
