How to choose a utility to restore a flash drive on an SMI controller. The repair of the flash drive using programs is probably not left in our modern society those who would not use

How to choose a utility to restore a flash drive on an SMI controller. Flash drive repair using programs

Probably, there was no remaining in our modern society those who would not use USB drives, MP3 players and other devices using flash memory. And for sure everyone came across various problems regarding these media: The device is not recognized, no access, the system cannot complete formatting and so on, etc.

In this article, we will try to answer the basic questions that the owners of damaged USB drives are facing – the repair of the flash drive and its resuscitation. We describe the most frequent user errors together with real advice and a sequence of actions in certain cases.

But for a start it is necessary to clarify some nuances. Restoration and repair of the carrier are different things, which means that the approach and the result will differ from each other. Flash drive repair with your own hands is fraught with data loss, but in the end you can get a full-friendly device that will serve you for a long time (with proper use), and the recovery process includes only the refund without the surgical intervention.

Symptoms of a damaged USB drive

• Not determined by the operating system.
• Type message: The drive is protected from copying.
• The USB flash drive is not visible on more than 3 computers.
• The LED does not burn or flashes.
• Windows Explorer cannot display content.
• The file system recognizes the device as a virtual drive or does not see at all.
• The structure of directories and files is damaged (it is noted when formatting).
• Each second or third attachment attempt to install the drive ends with the message: Unidentified USB device.

The list of problems when the repair of a flash drive is required is very impressive, but the main approach is quite universal and can only be reduced to two main actions.

If you get to read similar drives on the same computer on which you are trying to work with a problem flash drive, it means that the problem rests only in the carrier. Here there may be problems with a USB connector, damaged port (with this reason, the Kingston flash drive is always started) or a faulty memory chip.

First of all, you should try to read your drive on another computer. Some types of flash drives are scrupulously belong to USB connectors, for the correct work they need a special receiver. If the media is read on other computers, then a certain upgrade of your USB port is required.

If none of the options gave results, then you can try to read the device on the most clean operating system without installed drivers, software and other programs that may conflict with the flash drive. To do this, it is enough to start the system in safe mode, where all devices work in a basic state. If in this case the flash drive is visible and the information is readable, then the problem should be looked for in third-party software, and not in the drive.

Even if this method could not bring any results, then the problem is in the software part of the drive. Also, before repairing a USB flash drive, you need to understand that there are often cases of factory defects and the end of the service life, i.e. rewrite cycles are exhausted (for a standard drive, this cycle is limited to approximately 100 thousand writes). In these cases, you need to contact the manufacturer or simply change the flash drive.

Do-it-yourself flash drive repair

In principle, all drives are created in the same way and are similar to each other. When resuscitating a flash drive, a complete flashing of the device and subsequent formatting may be required.

Determine VIDPID

The key to unraveling the USB drive is the controller, a rather tricky and complicated thing, but without this part, the repair will become much more difficult. The main catch is that all manufacturers of flash drives use different models and types of controllers when releasing, and not only their own, but also other people's developments can be intertwined there, along with some kind of know-how. Therefore, it is not always possible to determine exactly which controller is in front of you the first time.

You can go the barbaric way and gut the keychain, then you will know exactly what and “how” is in front of you, but this method is probably not to everyone's liking. Therefore, it is better to resort to third-party software, since the program for repairing flash drives is not so rare. Let's consider several useful utilities that determine the flash drive controller (VID PID).

ChipEasy

A simple, useful and intuitive program for resuscitation of flash drives. The interface is extremely user-friendly and translated into Russian.

The utility is able to recognize the manufacturer along with the model of the USB drive. Great for Transcend and Kingston brands. If you need to repair a flash drive with your own hands, then the first step is to master this product.

FDIE (Flash Drive Information Extractor)

The utility is “sharpened” mainly for Silicon Power media. It will give you all the necessary information about VIDPID, controller, model and type of USB drive. One of the main advantages of the program is the detail of the information: the utility for repairing a flash drive will put together all the data, if desired, summarize and give the result in a convenient list.

There is also a non-professional version of the translation into Russian in the public domain, although you can do without it – the program has a poor and understandable interface.

CheckUDisk

The program has a high speed of scanning information from the media for the subsequent determination of VID PID.Data details for determining the controller and type of media are performed at the level of similar FDIE.

The program for repairing flash drives is simple, understandable and has a friendly interface similar to Chipeasy. If you wish, you can download the amateur version of the Russified Product, if any problems with the translation occur.

Refracting

After one of the above utilities can specify the VID PID to you, you need to find the desired program for flashing and subsequent formatting on the official sites of manufacturers. But here is not so simple. The flash drive repair consists of two parts: firmware and format, but some types of devices are simply not intended to flash, and in this case the keychain with a flash drive can be simply hanging on the wall and go to the store for a new one.

Rare Types of Flash Drives

Little-known or ultra-known USB carriers are restored more problematic unlike their standard fellow. Repair of a flash drive of this type is very often accompanied by hardware problems like damaged sectors. In such cases, the media is connected as a second HDD through a special recovery adapter, then the data recovery procedure is performed in the above methods.

Summarizing

High-quality and at the same time free flash drive repair – a very transparent procedure that can not help you in all cases. If your device has valuable information or expensive in itself, it makes sense to contact a specialized service center, where sensible experts will help you not only save the information, but also give the second life to your flash drive. Otherwise, no one can guarantee positive results to you, and you will act only at your own risk.

Always remember simple information storage rules: copies and copies again. Buy two USB flash drives, reserve a place on the hard drive for copies. The time spent on the backup procedure is incommensurable with time spent on restoring and repairing any media.

Choose the best programs to restore flash drives. We tell how to restore a USB flash drive, reanimate it with free utilities.

Flash drive – A small storage device (documents, music, video, files), convenient for carrying and connecting to USB port, extraction from a computer, laptop. Contains the controller and special chips that store information inside the chip.

Sometimes we copy the files and forget about them, and when you recall, we find that the valuable files either erased or removed permanently. Or the device broke, you formatted sections. What to do, often a digital flash drive (most often, the controller in it) breaks, generates errors, does not open onto the PC flash drive – will not pass and the month. Once a flash drive may require recovery. The reason for, maybe:

• Incorrect, non-accurate operation of the Flash-drive
• incorrect formatting of media
• A poor-quality flash drive, purchased on the market or Zadevlyo in the Chinese (probably mistaken)
• Physical or software breakdown flash drives (most likely cause)
• Also, the reason for the inoperability can be an incorrectly extracted flash drive from a computer or laptop. This happens when an impatient user literally pulls out a Flash drive from a USB jack during copying or transferring files.

The reasons when it is necessary to restore the flash drive that does not open on the computer or recognized with reading errors – the set. Fortunately, today specialists from service centers without problems and errors will help you return valuable files, restore the device's performance. Recovery programs will be returned to the files for purposes and security or at least partially reanimate the data on the USB flash drive. There is a Flash Recovery procedure, these are not so small money, which makes you think about the independent restoration of the USB flash drive. Alas, free utilities are not always useful.

For a Flash drive, SD memory cards are to the same extent characteristic of all symptoms and consequences of removing digital information. This may be random erase, unconscious or simply deleting files from a USB drive, damage to the structure, physical or mechanical damage to the controller or memory chips. Anyway, but the recovery of the flash drive and the SD card is the task more than relevant to PC owners. Therefore, first read the content of this section.

A flash drive does not open: we study the symptoms of damage

In the Recovery section, we will talk about the main problems associated with the restoration of information on the Flash and Secure Digital drive. As a rule, it is associated with hardware or software damage to the flash drive – if it does not leave or is not recognized correctly. Sometimes the memory is wearing, sometimes the controller fails. And the USB controller drivers are not here. In some cases, you can solve the problem yourself and as a result to save files on a flash map or repair the Chip, device, ignoring reading errors on your computer. We list only some symptoms indicating the drive breakdown:

• PC does not see a flash drive in the list of available devices
• The flash drive is not displayed when connected to a laptop or computer (the OS does not matter)
• Not read flash drive: although the files can be seen on a USB drive

Help on the contents of the section Recovery Flash Drive (Flash Recovery)

• A small guide related to the question is like – the search for the reasons why the card does not work or the PC does not see the flash drive on a par with other disks (the device is not recognized, reads with problems, requires formatting, freezes, it gives an error when copying to the card and so on.) Flash -storage device.Diagnostics of faults is important in such situations, because, without defining the disease, you can not heal the patient, and even easily ruin your life, we do not use the instruments, using not those methods and programs that are able to revive the drive. In this article, we analyze the causes of damage and possible symptoms that lead to the need to restore the Flash disk, Secure Digital, controller, Memory Chip A and flash cards.
• We try (with the help of instructions and utilities laid out on the site) and at the same time – how to solve problems with your own hands – eliminate the breakdown on the SD card, reanimate the controller, correctly format, solder away the contact or memory chip, scan information and process broken sectors on Flash Ke, sections with reading errors. True, the methods described require known skills and the experience of possession of the specified tools.
• if it does not open on the computer or is not displayed correctly. What is vid pid, as this abbreviation is decrypted and what to do, when the device is not recognized or does not open. Explanation of terminology without which it is difficult to imagine Restoration for flash drive , data and digital information on it.
• – Testing 5 kindup programs, each of which has remarkable features when working with memory or a storage chip.

Restoring USB flash drives and memory cards. Utilities for formatting

One of the best ways to resuscitate the jetflash flash card is to reformat it again, low. As a rule, such measures are being taken when the Flash drive is not read. If possible, you need to ask a memory manufacturer (say, a data, seagate, transcend sd, datatraveler or other), do they have branded utilities or fresh drivers for reconstruction. Scroll through this partition content to help, and you will see several articles on the topic of low-level storage formatting. Fortunately, in the Windows 7 operating system and above there are tools for formatting a Flash device without using third-party computer applications. One of these programs for the flash drive is HP USB Disk Storege Format Tool.

Diagnostic Formatting Flash Card in the HP USB Disk Storege Format Flash Drive Program

Utility for recovery flash drive HDD Low Level Format Tool

Many know that the HDD Regenerator program is used to help with the revitalization of hard drives (HDD), but not many know that it fits such a device as a flash drive. The essence of the program is the detection of broken BAD-sectors on the device with subsequent processing of the information received, depending on the controller and the memory model, at a low USB access level. As a result, you get a working device that can copy files without reading and writing errors. It greatly contributes to the restoration of the flash drives if the computer does not see them. The HDD Regenerator program is provided with the recovery instructions, besides, on the website Recovery website you can find a guide to the use of utility and correct formatting (see via the search).You can download the flash drive recovery program directly from the link posted on the HDD Regenerator overview page.

We open and diagnose a problematic flash drive in the HDD Low Level Format program

By the way, in other sections on the Softdroid website you will find other programs for recovering flash drives (for example, Flash Recovery or JetFlash Recovery Tool), but we advise you to first study all the information collected in this section. We hope that after the measures taken, the computer will see the flash drive.

Why don't you indicate the cost of the product before downloading the flash drive recovery program and installing it?

Answer . You can download all the mentioned programs for flash drive recovery on the official website. Only reviews are published on Softdroid – we do not have the physical ability to update pricing information for featured products. When you download the trial version of the program, it is free. Next, see the information about the cost from the developer or at the end of the trial period you will receive a notification.

Ask us a question about flash drive recovery

Site site specialists will help you recover data. You ask a question – we answer it for free (you will receive an answer by mail).

The question may not be related to file recovery. The main requirement is to describe the problem in detail, formulate it in such a way that you do not have to decipher your message.

How to recover sd memory card with Recuva. restore microsd on phone

Card Recovery – a specialized program for recovering data from a flash drive, sd card, deleted photos. The utility is suitable for returning images, videos and other multimedia files on sd memory cards of cameras.

Do-it-yourself usb flash drive repair: fix hardware and software problems

What to do if the computer does not see the flash drive? Let's agree: the question is painful and often asked. Another of the most popular issues that flash drive owners face is repair as a result of a breakdown. A USB drive has its own characteristics of repairing a controller, memory that has failed: in some cases, the storage device is not detected by the PC. What to do if the flash drive is not detected on any computer? This guide describes the operation to resuscitate an invisible flash drive for correct recognition on a computer.

Overview of programs for restoring the usb flash drive

Errors in the operation of USB flash drives are not common. Almost all of them boil down to the inability to read or write the necessary information to the device's memory due to software damage.

Specialized programs provided by device manufacturers will help to fix the problem and restore the memory card.

To restore the operation of noname flash drives and those that do not have their own recovery software, the built-in Chkdsk in Windows and the formatting system are suitable.

Overview of applications to test the speed of reading / writing to an sd card

Due to the low speed of writing / reading to the SD card, the operation of the device in which it is used can seriously slow down. We are used to the fact that the gadget is capable of “slowing down” only because of software problems and forget about the effect of hardware on the responsiveness of the interface. An unforgivable mistake, which testers for different platforms will help to fix, and at the same time check the real capabilities of the flash drive:

How to repair a damaged memory card (microsd) and flash drive

Alas, solid-state storage devices are prone to mechanical damage, which is why memory cards, microsd flash drives fail. In this reference material, we have collected typical scenarios. We will tell you what to do if the memory card is damaged. What are the first steps and is it possible to return the contents of a damaged card. Any mechanical failure of the sd card leads to the loss of important information. Is it possible to fully treat a flash drive with improvised methods and without the involvement of professionals, how to reanimate a flash drive for free – we explain further in the text.

Choosing the best program to recover deleted files from a usb flash drive

Damaged portable USB flash drive or memory card? These best-of-breed programs will help you save and retrieve information, and here you will find out what is in a flash drive. Applications include Undelete 360, CardRecovery, PhotoRec, Recuva Professional and other candidates. You will also learn how to reanimate the flash drive of each of the programs.

How to recover deleted files from usb flash drive: step by step guide

One of the burning problems associated with deleting files relates to the flash drive. Let's talk about how to recover deleted files from a flash drive using Unformat. What free software to install on a computer, what program, in addition to Unformat, is effective when working with a flash drive. The methods described below will be relevant for usb drives, memory cards, sd cards of digital cameras in the Windows OS environment. We will try to help you, even if the situation is difficult.

The best free memory card recovery programs

To recover a flash drive, you can use both paid and free programs. The review presents the best tools for these tasks. Under each mini-review there is a link where you can download a program to recover a flash drive to a hard drive.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free 11 – free data recovery software

Using the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard program, you can recover files, deleted information from a formatted disk, laptop or removable devices like a USB flash drive or SD card for free.

Recover files on sd card after formatting with Recuva

In this article I will tell you how to recover files from a formatted memory card (sd or microsd). To recover data, you will need the free Recuva program.

Recovering corrupted files on a memory card in PhotoRec

To recover corrupted files on a memory card, we need the free PhotoRec utility.This guide describes all stages of data recovery: connecting a memory card, scanning and saving files to disk.

Where to download PhotoRec for free (for Windows)

The latest version of PhotoRec is 7.0. How to download it for free? In this case, everything is very simple. We go to the site cgsecurity.org, find the TestDisk PhotoRec section, select the operating system and click on the link with the distribution.

SD card recovery software (for Android and PC)

What to do if the computer does not see the USB flash drive? We solve problems and fix errors

Often, an ordinary user of a desktop PC or laptop is faced with the unpleasant fact that the computer does not see the flash drive as a disk. This guide lists the types of problems and gives clear answers on what to do if the computer does not see the usb drive. For each of the mentioned situations, we will try to help and recommend free recovery utilities for Windows OS.

The most difficult thing in the selection of service utilities for SMI chips, this is to determine whether it is necessary to resort to the services of a flash driver DYNA MPTool . And if necessary, then be able to defeat a flash drive in it, because working with it is not as comfortable as with SMI MPTool .

UTILITIES OVERVIEW

In addition to programs that fill the firmware, for SMI -flash drives are available and simple formats. But given the fact that they are all far from the first freshness and work with flash drives that are flashed without any problems, then there is no point in bothering with them.

If this method did not bear fruit, then try your luck with.

For those who failed in the previous steps, it remains to proceed to the manual selection of production utilities. And depending on the combination of the controller plus flash memory, for a flash drive we take one of two utilities or SMI MPTool or DYNA MPTool .

To determine the parameters of the flash drive, use the program.

Volume: I:
Controller: Silicon Motion SM3257 ENAA
Possible Memory Chip(s):
Toshiba TC58NVG6D2GTA00
Memory Type: MLC
Flash ID: 98DE9482 7656
Flash CE: 1
Chip F/W: ISP 130430-AA-
MP: M0503V2
MPTOOL Ver.: 2.05.18
PTEST Date: 2013-04-24
VID: 090C
PID: 1000
Manufacturer: UVD 2.0
Product: Silicon power
Query Vendor ID: UFD 2.0
Query Product ID: Silicon Power
Query Product Revision: 1100
Serial: AA00000000008407
Physical Disk Capacity: 8099201024 Bytes
Windows Disk Capacity: 8082395136 Bytes
Internal Tags: QU2R-TZ8J
File System: FAT32
Relative Offset: 28 KB
USB Version: 2.00
Declared Power: 500mA
Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 x64 Build 7601
Program Version: 8.6.0.595

As with the googling method, we are mainly interested in the controller model (Controller ) and flash ID (Flash ID ).

The first step is to download the latest version of the production utility for this controller, in our case for SM3257ENAA . For now, let's make the assumption that we know what specific utility we need (SMI MPTool , always the default). Further, before sewing, there will be a paragraph about monoliths and test mode , after which it will become clear to you which utility to use.

But for monolithic flash drives , which cannot be parsed and converted to , this is an unjustified risk. In this case, see the next chapter on how to calculate the need to change the utility to DYNA MPTool to minimize risks as much as possible.

TIPS: HOW TO DETECT WHETHER DYNAMPTOOL IS NEEDED

In addition to the two methods considered, there may be other situations when a flash drive needs attention. DYNA MPTool . Depending on the flash drive and its condition, this can be anything, for example, endless Pretest .

Remember these three controller models, which are often sewn into DYNA MPTool : SM3257ENAA , SM3257ENBA , SM3259AA . And flash memory, most often in such situations, costs production. Toshiba or Sandisk .

If the program report Flash Drive Information Extractor , there is a parameter MPTOOL Ver. , then he can say what exactly the flash was sewn with. I'll give you two examples:

MPTOOL Ver.: 2.05.18 – if the value is equal to the version number, then the flash drive was sewn in SMI MPTool .
MPTOOL Ver.: 07/14/18 – and if a certain date, then the flash drive came out from under the wing DYNA MPTool and this date is its version number. Where, 14 – year 2014, 07 – the month of July 18 number.

And somewhere with a probability 90% , flash drive flashed in DYNA MPTool , you, with all your desire, will not be able to repair in SMI MPTool .

Do not be alarmed if you do not find it in the report, this is quite normal. Firstly, for old flash drives, the utility might not recognize it, and secondly, if the firmware has flown to a crazy hair dryer, then it cannot be there.

A more universal way, to activate which, it is necessary to find, as it were, a fully compatible version SMI MPTool . If the firmware shows errors like the following:

Bad Block over setting (11) (User-3725 (M) FW-3581 (M))

And it means that the utility did not have enough strength to cope with bad memory and you need to turn to Sorting -utilities (application DYNAMPTool ). Next, poking around SMIMPTool in which case it makes no sense!

ATTENTION: do not confuse this error with Bad block over setting (11) , which has nothing to do with the need to refer to dune . In the considered error, there must be mentions in brackets about the values ​​of the parameters USER and FW .

CHECKING FLASH MEMORY SUPPORT IN THE FLASHER

It is impossible to make sure of the correct selection, unless, of course, on the Internet, you find a solved case with the restoration of absolutely the same flash drive.

Therefore, all that remains for us is to break through whether the flash driver knows our flash memory. On possible memory markings (Possible Memory Chip(s): ), I do not recommend paying any attention, because this can bring down the table, so we immediately look at FID (Flash ID: ).

In this case, its value is: 98 DE 94 82 76 56 .

As a rule, memory support, which is once added, goes with the utility further. But, firstly, this is not always the case, and secondly, it is not a fact that the operation will end in success when working with a specific distribution. Therefore, other parameters must be taken into account, as well as sometimes iterating over several versions.

To presumably find out which version of the production flash driver supports this memory, you can use slightly different methods. But let's not suffer from garbage, let's focus on the simplest, all the same, the performance of the rest is no better.

Let's open the file flash_3257ENAA.dbf (the name of the required file depends on the controller model we initially defined) , which is located in the UFD_ALL_DBF folder of the application distribution package.

We hammer into the search Memory FID , which we defined at the very beginning (98 DE 94 82 76 56 ).

In this case, we have one match, although there may be several:

@ 98 DE 94 82 76 56 28 00 0B 01 82 06 00 3F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 50 50 10 10 21 // Toshiba TC58NVG6D2GTA00 J1201 24nm MLC

Well once in DBF -file has a record about our memory, then most likely the utility will work correctly with it!

But keep in mind that the presence of a flash entry in DBF , FFW or force flash , absolutely does not exclude the possible need to use tools DYNA MPTool .

HOW TO USE THE UTILITIES

On the USBDev portal, there are detailed instructions for software recovery of flash drives, in popular software systems:

To work with RecoveryTool -applications, just connect a USB flash drive and run the utility. Then she will do everything herself, unless, of course, the flash drive is within her power.

2) Depending on the version number of the utility SMI MPTool , she uses in her work or 4 bytes option Flash ID or 6 bytes . Approximately, the transition to 6 bytes happened in version SMI MPTool V2.03.42 v6 K0530 . And that is why the new shells meet with hostility the old ones. USB -chips. Yes, and use in the selection of utilities, for chips younger SM3255AB , it is necessary 4 bytes !

3) During numerous recovery attempts, the system registry may be littered, which will prevent the flash drive from being detected in the service software. To fix the problem, try cleaning the registry using the program and rebooting the system.

4) Use service driver SMI Factory Driver , there is no point at home, except in cases of some driver conflicts at the level of your OS. Otherwise, install it again, and then you will complain that one of the devices does not work for you or the driver refuses to be deleted.

If someone has questions about repairing their flash drives, then you can only get a guaranteed answer at -.

By downloading free programs for repairing flash drives, you can restore a USB drive and restore the ability to use it for writing and reading again. In this case, you will have to sacrifice data, which then, perhaps, cannot be restored. But an alternative to using these applications is a non-working flash drive and the lack of information.

Problem Diagnosis

The main signs that a flash drive needs repair are:

• Issuing messages about protecting the USB-drive from copying or about an unidentified device;
• The impossibility of determining the drive by any computer;
• Lack of disk list;
• The impossibility of reading (and, of course, writing) information;
• Failed when trying to repair or format.

Sometimes the problem may lie in the USB connector or the lack of drivers on a particular computer. But, when problems are noted on each device, most likely the matter is in the drive. And you can try to restore it.

Utilities for flash drives

You can try to restore the functionality of the USB drive using system utilities. But, when the problem is serious, the best option is to restore through a program specifically designed for repair.Some manufacturers produce their own applications, it is best to cope with the repair of these stamps. Although with their help you can restore the USB carrier of any brand.

Advice: Special programs are designed for repair, not for recovery. Not recommended with their help.

JetFlash Online Recovery.

To restore non-working transcend drives, the manufacturer has created a special utility that can be found and free download on its official website. It is called JetFlash Online Recovery and is very growth in use. There are only 2 teams here:

• Fix the flash drive, erased all data;
• Restore with data saving.

First you should take advantage of the second way. And if he does not help, first.

Silicon Power

On the Silicon Power website, in the Support section, there is also a restoring program that you can receive for free. It allows you to restore, first of all, flash drives of this brand and called SP Recovery Tool Utility.

ADATA

The manufacturer of ADATA on the official site also has a free access program to restore a USB carrier. If, using USB Flash Drive Online Recovery, it is not possible to read the information, the USB flash drive can be repaired by losing the data.

Repair of flash drives Kingston

Kingston's drive owner, for sure, will like the ability to get a flash drive back after the MediareCover 4.0 Digital Image Recovery program is running. In some cases, the application can be saved and part of the data, even if the USB carrier was formatted. Recovery, unlike most such programs, not only video, audio and photos, but also documents Word, e-books and tables are subject to.

Universal programs

In addition to specialized software that replaces mainly drivers of their brand, there are several applications that can restore the working state of most devices. One of them is the D-Soft Flash Doctor program, which provides the following benefits:

• Menu and documentation in Russian;
• Lack of localization for individual brands;
• Creating an image of an Flash disk for further work is not over the drive, but above its virtual copy.

The following programs that are not known, but are also free and fairly effective, are:

• Chipeasy, which is not only easy to restore the USB flash drive, but also learn the manufacturer if its name is not written on the housing or moored with time;
• Flash Drive Information Extractor – utility capable of providing the maximum amount of data on the flash drive along with its restoration;
• Checkudisk – With all its ease of use, a very fast working and detailed information application.

How to find a program for repairing flash drives

It is possible that, even having tried all the above methods, it did not come out to restore the performance of your USB flash drive. In this case, it is worth performing the following actions:

1. Download the Chip Genius utility;
2. Learn from its help VID and PID, as well as the name of the chipset located inside the flash drive;
3. Go to the IFLASH website and enter the obtained 2 numbers;
4. Find your storage model in the list.

Now it remains only to find the appropriate program in the Chip Model column, paying attention to the coincidence of the controllers. You can download it on the Internet. The principle of operation they all approximately the same – greater emphasis on the restoration of performance less on the salvation of data.

Thematic video:

Good all day!

You can argue, but the flash drives have become one of the most (if not) the popular media carrier. Not surprisingly, there are quite a few questions regarding them: especially important issues of recovery, formatting and testing issues.

In this article I will give the best (in my opinion) utilities for working with drives – that is, those tools than used repeatedly himself. Information in the article, from time to time, will be updated and replenished.

The best flash drive programs

Important! First of all, when problems with flash drive, I recommend to visit the official website of its manufacturer. The fact is that on the official site there may be specialized utilities to restore information (and not only!), Which will be much better to cope with the task.

For testing

Let's start, perhaps with testing drives. Consider programs that will help identify some of the USB drive parameters.

H2Testw.

Very useful utility to determine the actual volume of any media. In addition to the volume of the drive, it can test the actual speed of its operation (which is like to overestimate some marketing purposes).

Check Flash.

A free utility that can quickly check your flash drive for performance, measure its real reading and writing speed, carry out full deletion of all information from it (so that no utility can restore any file from it!).

In addition, it is possible to edit sections information (if there is it), make backup and reanimate the image of a whole partition of the media!

The speed of the utility is high enough and hardly at least one program-competitor will make this work faster!

HD Speed

This is very simple, but a very convenient program for flash drive test for read / write speed (information transmission). In addition to USB drives, the utility maintains hard drives, optical drives.

The program does not need installation. The information is present in a visual graphical representation. Supports Russian. Works in all versions of Windows: XP, 7, 8, 10.

Crystaldiskmark.

One of the best utilities for testing the speed of information transfer. Supports various media: HDD (hard drives), SSD (new-water solid-state discs), USB flash drives, memory cards, etc.

The program supports Russian, although it is easier to start the test in it easier – just select the media and click the start button (you can figure it out without knowing the great and mighty).

An example of the results – you can see on the screen above.

Flash Memory Toolkit

Flash Memory Toolkit – this program is a set of utilities for servicing flash drives.

Full Feature Set:

• a detailed list of properties and information about the drive and USB devices;
• a test for finding errors when reading and writing information to the media;
• quick cleaning of data from the drive;
• search and recovery of information;
• backup of all files to media and the ability to restore from a backup;
• low-level testing of information transfer rate;
• performance measurement when working with small/large files.

FC Test

Benchmark for measuring the real read / write speed of hard drives, flash drives, memory cards, CD / DVD devices, etc. Its main feature and difference from all utilities of this kind is that it uses real data samples to work.

Of the minuses: the utility has not been updated for a long time (problems with newfangled media types are possible).

Flashnul

This utility allows you to diagnose and test USB Flash drives. During this operation, by the way, errors and bugs will be fixed. Supported media: US and Flash drives, SD, MMC, MS, XD, MD, CompactFlash, etc.

List of performed operations:

• reading test – an operation will be performed to identify the availability of each sector on the media;
• write test – similar to the first function;
• information safety test – the utility checks the integrity of all data on the media;
• saving the media image – saving everything that is on the media to a separate image file;
• loading the image into the device is analogous to the previous operation.

For formatting

HDD Low Level Format Tool

A program that has only one task – to format the media (by the way, both HDD hard drives, and solid-state drives – SSD, and USB flash drives are supported).

Despite such a “meager” set of features, this utility is not in vain in the first place in this article. The fact is that it allows you to bring back to life even those media that are no longer visible in any other program. If this utility sees your media, try low-level formatting it (attention! all data will be deleted!) – there is a good chance that after such a format, your flash drive will work as before: without failures and errors.

USB Disk Storage Format Tool

Program for formatting and creating bootable flash drives. Supported file systems: FAT, FAT32, NTFS. The utility does not require installation, it supports a USB 2.0 port (USB 3.0 – does not see. Note: this port is marked in blue).

Its main difference from the standard tool in Windows for formatting drives is the ability to see even those media that are not visible with standard OS tools. Otherwise, the program is quite simple and concise, I recommend using it to format all problem flash drives.

Format USB Or Flash Drive Software

The utility will help in cases where the regular formatting program in Windows refuses to “see” the media (or, for example, will give errors during operation).Format USB OR Flash Drive Software can format media to the following file systems: NTFS, FAT32 and EXFAT. There is a quick format option.

I also want to mark a simple interface: made in the style of minimalism, it is easier to understand it easier (the screen is presented above). In general, I recommend!

SD Formatter.

Simple utility for formatting various flash cards: SD / SDHC / SDXC.

The main difference from the standard program built into Windows is that this utility formats the media according to the type of flash card: SD / SDHC / SDXC. It is also worth noting the presence of a Russian language, a simple and understandable interface (the main window of the program is presented on the screen above).

Aomei Partition Assistant.

Aomei Partition Assistant is a great free (for home use) Combine, which presents a huge number of functions and capabilities to work with hard disks and USB media.

The program supports Russian (but by default, the English is still set), it works in all popular Windows: XP, 7, 8, 10. The program, by the way, works on its own unique algorithms (at least according to the statements of the developers of this software ), That allows it to see even very problematic media, whether it is a flash drive or HDD.

In general, it is not enough to describe all its properties – it's not enough and the whole article! I recommend to try, especially since Aomei Partition Assistant will relieve you not only from problems with USB drives, but also with the rest of the carriers.

Programs for recovery

Important! If the programs presented below are not enough, I recommend to familiarize yourself with the large collection of programs for recovering information from various types of media (hard drives, flash drives, memory cards, etc.) :.

If when connecting the drive – it informs the error and asks for formatting – do not do this (possibly after this operation, the data return will be much more complicated)! In this case, I recommend to get acquainted with this article :.

Recuva.

One of the best free software recovery programs. Moreover, it supports not only USB drives, but also hard drives. Distinctive features: fast media scanning, a rather high degree of search for remains of files (i.e., the chances of returning a remote file is quite high), a simple interface, step-by-step recovery wizard (even quite newcomers will be cope).

For those who will scan their flash drive for those for the first time, I recommend to familiarize yourself with the mini-instructions for recovering files in Recuva:

R saver

Free * (for non-commercial use in the USSR) program to restore information from hard drives, flash drives, memory cards, and other media. The program supports all the most popular file systems: NTFS, FAT and EXFAT.

The program for scanning the media program exhibits independently (in which another plus for beginners).

• restore randomly deleted files;
• the ability to reconstruct damaged file systems;
• file recovery after media formatting;
• data recovery by signatures.

EasyRecovery

One of the best data recovery software that supports a wide variety of media types. The program works in all versions of new Windows: 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits), supports Russian.

It should be noted one of the most important advantages of the program – a high degree of detection of deleted files. Everything that can be pulled out from a disk, flash drive – will be presented to you and offered to be restored.

Perhaps the only negative is that it is paid …

Important! You can read about how to recover deleted files in this program in this article (see part 2):

R-STUDIO

One of the most popular data recovery programs, both in our country and abroad. A wide variety of media is supported: hard drives (HDD), solid state drives (SSD), memory cards, flash drives, etc. The list of supported file systems is also amazing: NTFS, NTFS5, ReFS, FAT12/16/32, exFAT, etc.

The program will help in cases:

• accidentally deleting a file from the trash (this happens sometimes …);
• formatting the hard drive;
• virus attack;
• in the event of a computer power failure (especially relevant in Russia with its “reliable” power grids);
• with errors on the hard disk, with a large number of bad sectors;
• when the structure is damaged (or changed) on the hard disk.

In general, a universal combine for all kinds of cases. The same only minus – the program is paid.

Remarque! Step by step data recovery in R-Studio:

Popular manufacturers of USB drives

Collecting all manufacturers in one table, of course, is unrealistic. But all the most popular ones are definitely present here :). On the manufacturer's website, you can often find not only service utilities for resuscitating or formatting a USB drive, but also utilities that greatly facilitate work: for example, programs for archival copying, assistants for preparing bootable media, etc.

Note! If I bypassed someone, I suggest using the tips from the instructions for restoring the USB drive:. The article describes in some detail how and what to do to return the flash drive to working condition.