How To Restore Files from a Corrupted Flash Drive – Guide

Losing a single file can be frustrating. But, losing an entire USB drive to corruption? It could be disastrous. In the blink of an eye, it can seem like countless hours of work can be lost in seconds. What’s worse is that it attacks randomly, and if you don’t have a backup of the files on your USB, you’ll find yourself scouring the internet for answers. Fortunately, there are solutions. To get you back up and running, let’s have a look at some proven solutions to recover files from corrupted flash drives and fix it. ..

Restoration procedures

Fixing physical problems

We should take a look at the flash drive to see if it is damaged and what can be done to prepare it for insertion.

Steps to Recover Data from a Corrupted Pen Drive Minimizing Physical Problems

Clean the contacts in a way that prevents the spread of infection. ..

Clean contacts are the best way to protect your phone from dirt, dust, and other debris. Wait until the contact is completely dry before using it.

If you have a flash drive that’s not working, check to see if there are any cracks on the case. If there are, try soaking the drive in a bowl of dry rice overnight. This will help to absorb any moisture and hopefully fix the issue. ..

If the drive is connected to the computer and the files are accessible again, then we’re done! ..

If the partition map is still corrupt or not recognized by the computer, we will need to try to fix it using software. ..

Fixing software issues

If you have a flash drive that doesn’t seem to be working, it might be because the power cord isn’t connecting properly. To troubleshoot the issue, first check to see if the power cord is plugged in and if it is, make sure the outlet is working. If not, try plugging in the flash drive and outlet again. If that doesn’t work, you might need to buy a new power cord or update your outlet.

How to recover files from corrupted USB drive

In Windows 10, open File Explorer and click “This PC.” You’ll see all the units in the system. In this example, we have C:, D:, E:, and L: Connect the drive to the computer. If the computer recognizes it, we’ll see the drive show up in our File Explorer. For this example, it registers as the F drive.

In File Explorer, if the USB drive is not displayed, it means that Windows does not recognize the drive or maybe the partition map is corrupted. One way to find out is to launch the “Disk Management” program, which is built into almost every version of Windows. It will display drive partitions even if they have not been assigned a drive letter. It’s a way to check if Windows recognizes the drive.

To use Disk Drill, you first need a pen drive. If the partition was accidentally deleted, Windows won’t recognize the drive and it will show all drives and partitions it sees. To hide the partition, look at the top right. It will list how many items are hidden. Click “show” and even hidden partitions will appear.

We are interested in the SanDisk USB drive that we see as corrupted. Click “Recover” next to it and Disk Drill will start its procedures. Wait while Disk Drill scans the damaged flash drive. It will start displaying recovered files and directories as the process continues.

If the files or folders that we want to restore are displayed, click “Pause” to stop the scanning procedure. If we change our mind and want to continue scanning, select “Resume” to re-scan the drive. Choose the destination folder. Select the files that we want to recover by clicking on the checkmark square to the left of the file name. Next to “Recover To:”, set the directory to which the files will be restored and click “Recover”. ..

Disk Drill will display a message when the process is complete. Go back to File Explorer and go to the directory where we defined it as “file restore directory”. If everything looks good, open the file to verify that the content has been restored. ..

Final note

If you have a corrupted flash drive, you may be able to restore its contents using the following guide. If you have any query or concerns about this article, please do not hesitate to ask us. Additionally, please share this article with your friends and family so that they can also benefit from its information.