From moving files quickly between computers to backing up important documents, flash drives have many uses, and storing data is the main one.
When the files matter or the fault is physical, the safest route is a lab: see our USB flash drive recovery service.
It’s also common for users to lose data stored on them.
The good news is that there are methods that can help you recover deleted files from your flash drive.
In this article, we explain some of them, as well as what exactly a flash drive is and why data can be lost from it.
What is a flash drive?
A flash drive is a small, portable storage device that, unlike an optical drive or a traditional hard drive, has no moving parts.
Flash drives connect to computers and other devices through a built-in USB Type-A or USB-C connector, so you don’t need a separate cable.
Main causes of data loss on flash drives
Besides accidental deletion, there are several reasons why data sometimes disappears from flash drives without warning, including:
Unsafe removal
When a flash drive is pulled out carelessly – without using “Safely Remove Hardware” – it can suddenly stop working altogether.
That’s because removing the device without first telling the system can interrupt a write operation in progress.
As a result, the file system or the controller’s internal tables can be left corrupted, and the drive may become unreadable or appear empty or unformatted.
Formatting the flash drive
Instead of deleting files one by one, many users prefer to simply format the whole drive.
Especially when you use several flash drives at the same time, it’s easy to format the wrong one by mistake and instantly lose access to everything stored on it.
Virus attacks
Because flash drives are so easily passed between users (and computers), they are vulnerable to infection by viruses and other malware.
To reduce this risk, keep your antivirus software up to date and only use your drive on computers you trust to be virus-free.
Corrupted files
Files stored on a flash drive can sometimes become corrupted – for example, after a sudden power cut or a system crash.
If you’ve lost access to very important files because of corruption, disconnect your flash drive immediately.
Don’t run repair utilities such as CHKDSK or try one recovery program after another: anything that writes to the drive can make the corruption worse and greatly reduce your chances of recovering the data.
How to recover deleted files from a flash drive
Recovering data from a flash drive isn’t easy and may require special equipment and technical expertise.
So instead of trying to recover your data on your own and possibly making things much worse, consider contacting a professional data recovery service.
If you still want to try recovering deleted files from the flash drive yourself, here are some options.
Recover hidden files from a flash drive using CMD
We start with this method not because it’s the easiest or most effective, but because it doesn’t require any third-party tools or any data protection feature to have been turned on beforehand. Note that it doesn’t bring back files that were truly deleted: it restores files hidden by a virus and fragments that CHKDSK manages to save. And because CHKDSK writes to the drive, don’t use it if the data is critical.
To use CMD – better known as Command Prompt – follow the instructions below through to the end:
- Connect the USB flash drive to your computer;
- Open the Start menu, type
cmd, right-click “Command Prompt” and select “Run as administrator”; - Type
chkdsk X: /fin the Command Prompt window and press Enter, replacing “X” with your USB flash drive’s drive letter; - Then type
attrib -h -r -s /s /d X:\*.*and press Enter (again, replacing “X” with the flash drive’s letter); - Wait for the process to finish.
If it worked, files that were hidden will be visible again, and any fragments recovered by CHKDSK will appear as .CHK files in a new folder called FOUND.000 on the drive.
Recover flash drive files from previous versions
Available in Windows 7 and later versions (including 8, 10 and 11), the “Restore previous versions” feature lets you recover deleted files without third-party tools.
However, it only works if File History or System Protection was already covering that drive before you deleted the files – which is rarely the case with USB flash drives.
To try it:
- Connect the USB flash drive to your PC;
- Open the “Start” menu, type “This PC” and press Enter;
- Right-click the USB flash drive and select “Properties”;
- Open the “Previous Versions” tab and look at the list of available versions;
- Select a previous version and click “Restore”.
If no previous versions are listed, you can’t use this method to recover deleted files from your flash drive.
In that case, move on to the third method.
Restore flash drive files from a Windows backup
If you’ve previously backed up the data on your flash drive, you can restore it from that backup.
Here’s how:
- Open Control Panel, go to “System and Security” and select “Backup and Restore (Windows 7)”;
- Click “Restore my files”;
- Click “Browse for files” (or “Browse for folders”) and select the files or folders from the backup you created;
- Choose where to restore them (“In the original location” or “In the following location”). If there’s a conflict, choose “Copy and Replace”, “Don’t copy” or “Copy, but keep both files”, whichever suits you best;
- When the restore is complete, the files and folders from the backup will appear in the location you chose.
Another option is to check your online or cloud storage service, if you use one.
You may have synced your files with it, in which case you can get the data back from there.
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Conclusion
A flash drive is a small, portable storage device that connects to computers and other devices through a USB connector and is mostly used to store data.
However, several situations can cause the data on it to be lost, including unsafe removal, formatting, virus attacks and corrupted files.
To get deleted data back, you can try CMD, restore previous versions of the files or use a Windows backup.
The problem is that these methods often don’t work and some of them can make the data loss worse.
That’s why it’s best to leave the recovery of deleted files from a flash drive to a company that specializes in it, like Bot.
The professionals at Bot repair and recover data from countless flash drives every year.
We give each case an individual approach, aiming for high recovery rates and fast turnaround.
Our technicians handle the recovery of lost files from flash drives with effective and secure technology.
In addition, our team works in a Class 100 (ISO 5) cleanroom with strict controls to prevent damage from contamination or electrostatic discharge.
And you can ask us any questions about the data recovery process on our social networks, where we offer 24/7 support.
Trust those with more than 200,000 cases: start your data recovery with us now!
