After a malfunction software mobile phone, it often happens that the data located on the memory card cannot be accessed - it is either damaged or completely deleted. If you encounter a similar problem, there is no need to be upset, since in most cases, lost files and folders can be recovered at home.

How to recover deleted data from a phone memory card

If you notice any problems with the memory card (some data is displayed incorrectly, the flash drive is not recognized mobile phone or PC), you need to immediately back up files from the card, format the device, check it for malware and errors. If the media is working again, the copied information can be transferred back.

If you delete some or all files from a flash drive, you should try to restore them yourself. This can be done in two ways:

• software;
• hardware.

The choice of one method or another depends on what you want to get out of it. If the task is to recover lost data, then it is better to resort to the first method. The hardware method is used when the lost information does not play an important role, and the main goal is to restore the flash drive. At the same time, resuscitating files is much easier than repairing the media.

To return lost information at home you will need:

• a computer with Windows OS installed;
• card reader with SD adapter;
• special resuscitation program.

The sequence of work when recovering deleted files looks like this:

1. Special software is installed on the computer, which can be paid or free. Of course, licensed programs are considered more reliable, but free software is also quite suitable for home needs.
2. The gadget turns off, after which the storage medium is removed from it and connected to the PC using an SD adapter and card reader.
3. The installed resuscitator is launched, with the help of which previously deleted files are saved on HDD.

The effectiveness of recovering deleted data largely depends on the software you choose. Therefore, we will consider the most popular programs for recovering lost information.

Recovering the contents of your phone's memory card using the Recuva utility

One of the easiest to use and universal programs for resuscitating information storage media is one that allows you to recover any data from a flash drive. The sequence of work to restore lost information is as follows:

Next, a scan is launched, which can last from several minutes to an hour or more. It all depends on the size of the memory card and the power of the PC. After the scanning is completed, a window with the found files will open. However, not all of them can be restored. A green circle next to the file means complete recovery, yellow - partial, and red - impossibility of recovery. All you have to do is select the required files from the flash drive by checking the boxes next to them.

Review of programs for recovering deleted data from a memory card

R-Studio

After this, you should initialize the scanning process by clicking on the appropriate button. In the window that appears, you can specify the type of files you want to find and the size of the scanned space.

The scanning time depends on the size of the flash drive and lasts on average 10-20 minutes. After graduation this process virtual partitions with the recovered information will appear in the window. By going to such a section, you can see its contents and save the required files to your hard drive.

RS File Recovery

Allows you to recover files of any type, be it video, music or text. Another positive quality of this utility is that it works with both NTFS and FAT 32. The principle of resuscitation is practically no different from R-Studio.

Hello.

Today, every computer user has a flash drive, and more than one. Many people carry information on flash drives that costs much more than the flash drive itself, moreover, backups they don’t (naively believing that if the flash drive is not dropped, flooded or hit, then everything will be fine with it)…

I thought so too, until one fine day Windows OS was unable to detect the flash drive, showing file system RAW and offering to format it. I partially restored the data, and now I’m trying important information duplicate…

What to do before restoration and what not to do?

1. If you find that there are no files on the flash drive - then don’t copy or delete anything from it at all! Just remove it from the USB port and don't work with it anymore. The good thing is that the flash drive is at least detected by Windows OS, that the OS sees the file system, etc. - which means the chances of recovering information are quite high.

2. If Windows OS shows that the file RAW system And prompts you to format the flash drive- do not agree, remove the flash drive from the USB port and do not work with it until you restore the files.

5. If the flash drive is not detected by computers and they don’t see it at all, but you really need the information, contact the service center, I think you won’t be able to do it on your own...

6. And lastly... To recover data from a flash drive, we need one of the special programs. I recommend choosing R-Studio (we’ll talk about it later in the article). By the way, not so long ago there was an article on the blog about programs for data recovery (there are also links to official sites for all programs):

Recovering data from a flash drive in the R-STUDIO program (step by step)

Before you start When working with the R-StUDIO program, I recommend closing all third-party programs that can work with a flash drive: antiviruses, various Trojan scanners, etc. It is also better to close programs that heavily load the processor, for example: video editors, games, torrents, etc.

1. Now insert the flash drive into the USB port and launch the R-STUDIO utility.

First you need to select the flash drive in the list of devices (see screenshot below, in my case it is the letter H). Then click on the “Scan” button

2. Should A window with flash drive scanning settings will appear. Several points are important here: firstly, we will scan completely, so it will start from 0, we do not change the size of the flash drive (my flash drive in the example is 3.73 GB).

By the way, the program supports quite a few file types: archives, images, tables, documents, multimedia, etc.

3. After this the scanning process will start. At this time, it is better not to interfere with the program, not to launch any third-party programs or utilities, and not to connect other devices to the USB ports.

Scanning, by the way, is very fast (compared to other utilities). For example, my 4 GB flash drive was completely scanned in about 4 minutes.

4. After completion scanning - select your flash drive in the list of devices (recognized files or additionally found files) - right-click on this item and select " Show disk contents«.

For example, select a photo or picture, right-click on it and select “preview”. If the file is needed, you can restore it: to do this, right-click on the file, just select “restore" .

6. Last step very important! Here you need to specify where to save the file. In principle, you can choose any disk or other flash drive - the only important thing is that you cannot select and save the recovered file to the same flash drive from which the recovery is taking place!

The point is that the file being recovered can overwrite other files that have not yet been recovered, so you need to write it to another medium.

Actually, that's all. In the article, we looked at step by step how you can recover data from a flash drive using the wonderful R-STUDIO utility. I hope you won't have to use it often...

By the way, one of my friends said, in my opinion, the right thing: “as a rule, such a utility is used once, there is simply no second time - everyone makes backup copies of important data.”

All the best to everyone!

Despite the development of cloud technologies that allow you to save your files on a remote server and access them from any device, flash drives do not lose their popularity. It is much more convenient to transfer files that are quite large in size between two computers, especially those located nearby.

Imagine a situation where, having connected a flash drive, you discover that you have deleted some materials you need from it. What to do in this case and how to restore data? The problem can be solved using special programs.

You can find quite a lot of programs on the Internet, the main task of which is to return deleted documents and photos from external media. They can also be restored after accidental formatting. To quickly and losslessly recover erased data, there are three different ways.

Method 1: Unformat

The selected program helps in recovering almost any data from all types of media. It can be used for flash drives, memory cards and hard drives. It is best to download Unformat on the official website, especially since everything happens there for free.

After that, follow these simple steps:

1. Install the downloaded program and after launching it you will see the main window.
2. In the upper half of the window, select the required drive and click the double arrow button in the upper right corner to start the recovery procedure. In the lower half of the window you can additionally see which sections of the flash drive will be restored.



3. You can watch the initial scanning process. Above the scanning progress bar you can see the number of files detected in its process.



4. After the primary scan is completed, click on the flash drive icon in the upper half of the window and start the secondary scan. To do this, select your USB drive from the list again.



5. Click on the icon that says "Recover to..." and open the window for selecting a folder for saving files. This will allow you to select the folder where the recovered files will be uploaded.



6. Select the desired directory or create a new one and click the button "Browse...", the process of saving the recovered files will begin.

Method 2: CardRecovery

This program is designed to restore, first of all, photo and video materials. Download it exclusively from the official website, because all other links may lead to malicious pages.

Hello, friends! The question of recovering deleted files from flash drives, memory cards and other storage media will probably never cease to be relevant. Flash drives are much more reliable than optical disks and are much more versatile and convenient to use. But they also have critical days. The reasons for this may be different, ranging from the fact that the flash drive was pulled out incorrectly and ending with viruses. Here we will look at the recovery program and give several recommendations, firstly to prevent data loss, and secondly, to recovering deleted files from flash drive completed successfully. If time is running out, watch the video at the end of the article.

First of all, you need to check whether they are really deleted. Perhaps you have a virus that has made your files on the flash drive hidden and you simply cannot see them. If you know what hidden files are and your deleted ones are not among them on the flash drive, then read point two right away.

For those who don’t know that there are hidden files, I’ll tell you. Hidden files are regular files with the “Hidden” attribute.

How to view hidden files?

You can view hidden files and folders on a flash drive and any other drive using programs such as Total Commander, Free Commander (a free program similar to Total Commander. I use it myself and recommend it to you)

If your information is not among the hidden files and folders, then most likely you deleted them.

The information below will help you try to recover your deleted files from a flash drive.

Important. Do not write anything to the flash drive. It’s better to turn it off altogether and think through a battle plan.

Why can't you write anything down? Because when deleted, the information is not physically deleted. Only the entry about it is deleted. But, it becomes possible to write information to the place of the deleted file. And if you write something down on a flash drive after deletion, then with a high probability at least part of the information will be written in place of the deleted file, and in this case it will be practically impossible to recover the information.

If your information is important, then it is better to immediately seek help from specialized recovery centers. They have powerful programs for this + experience = high chance of successfully recovering deleted files.

Recovering Deleted Files Using DMDE

Download the program to recover our files from the official website

On this moment current version is 2.4.4.442.

An archive of ~650 KB in size is downloaded. Let's unpack it. If you have questions about unpacking archives, please read the article. WinRar archiver opens files with rar extension and zip.

We insert the flash drive into the computer and run the DMDE.exe file in the unpacked folder. A window will appear in front of us in which we need to select a physical disk - our flash drive. We select the disk and look at the bottom to identify the flash drive by capacity. Click OK

Another window opens in which we select a section as in the figure. He will most likely be alone. Click the “Open volume” button

In the next window, don’t change anything, just click “Open”

A window opens with information about our section. On the left side, select “All found” by double-clicking on the section

The program will ask you to wait a couple of seconds to read the information.

Then you will see the files on your flash drive in the upper right part of the window. Those marked with a red cross are deleted files. Select the file to be restored and click restore. A hint will be at the bottom of the window. You can also right-click on the selected file and select “Recover…” in the context menu that opens.

In the window that opens, in the “Restore to:” field, use the button (...) to specify the location of the file or files to be restored. Click OK

Checking the recovered file.

In this way, without bothering with installing additional software, you can recover deleted files from a flash drive or from any other storage device, be it a camera memory card, and so on.

The recovery will be successful if nothing is written to the place of the deleted file. Otherwise, only part of the file or nothing at all may be recovered.

How to avoid recovering files on a flash drive

• Use safe removal of flash drives and memory cards from all devices. If you can’t remove it safely, turn off the device or the tablet. Then remove the drive.
• If possible, replace the flash drive with cloud storage data. For example Dropbox, or

Deleted data recovery is the process of retrieving information from storage media that cannot be accessed using standard methods. If operating system Windows is not able to read any files due to damage to the file system, the presence of logical or physical errors on the media (hard, solid-state, removable disk), then you will have to resort to the help of utilities to restore access to the files located on it.

What does it mean that it is impossible to access information using standard methods? Probably everyone has noticed that when deleting even huge amounts of data, the process of erasing it occurs in a matter of seconds, while copying this information requires a significant amount of time. For example, copying or moving a movie takes tens of seconds or even several minutes, and its deletion is instantaneous. The whole secret lies in the fact that when copied to a medium, the file is transferred sector by sector, and when it is deleted, a completely different process takes place.

Storing information on flash drives and hard drives organized as a book with a table of contents. The table of contents is a section file table containing file names, their attributes and paths, as well as sector addresses with all document fragments, and pages are the files themselves. Contents of the book, in in this case– this is the content of the document (text, video, sound, etc.). Before accessing a file, the operating system first accesses the partition table. Having received the necessary information, the operating system or application begins reading the file, starting from the start sector, which stores the first fragment of the document. If the file is stored in defragmented form, that is, the sectors with its contents are not in a row, but scattered throughout the disk, then the file table contains the addresses of all its fragments in the order they were read. When performing operations with files within one logical drive, all actions are performed not on the document physically (not on sectors with its contents), but on the file table information that relates to this document.

When deleting documents or formatting media, the same processes occur - working with the disk partition table. When deleting a document, the corresponding areas of the drive (or the entire disk/partition during formatting) are designated as free. Physically, the information does not go anywhere, and if you have the appropriate software, it is quite possible to gain access to it. The only thing worth paying attention to is overwriting sectors with deleted data. Since these sectors are designated as free in the file table, when new information is written, it is written to free cells on top of files designated as deleted. Thus, physical deletion of documents or their fragments occurs. An analogy: a book retains its contents, but its table of contents is partially cleared, telling the reader that part of the book contains blank pages. It is this algorithm for working with data that allows you to restore it - to gain access to files using non-standard methods.

Before recovering deleted files from a flash drive

Take note immediately important point! Do not write anything to the flash drive until the information you need has been extracted from it. As stated earlier: during recording, your files that are physically untouched but marked as deleted may be overwritten by new ones. In this case, the chances of restoring them will drop sharply, or even become zero. This is especially true for archives, text documents and programs. For audio, video and image files, overwriting several sectors is not critical - they will be played and/or displayed, but with minor artifacts. Before you begin restoring information, close all applications that can work with the flash drive in write mode in order to minimize the loss of information that can still be restored.

It is also important to check whether the information has actually been deleted and is not hidden on the flash drive. To do this you need to do visible files with the "Hidden" attribute. This stage is described in detail below, in the paragraph “Checking for hidden files”, so there is no point in dwelling on it.

You should also know what file system you are dealing with. The procedures for recovering files from FAT and NTSF are similar for the user, but the results of recovery programs may differ significantly in the effectiveness of the data obtained.

The FAT file system and its successor FAT32 store file data in several areas of the media. The document descriptor, including its name, size and attributes, is located in the directory. The file location table also stores a list of clusters belonging to the file in the order in which they are accessed. This system of organizing data storage on a device has a significant drawback - during its partial or complete destruction, data on the clusters allocated to files also disappear. Restoring information in this case is possible, but on the condition that the utility accurately determines its contents and collects the clusters belonging to the file in the correct order. And the recovery process in this case will take a lot of time.

The loss of directories makes it impossible to accurately determine the 1st sector where the file begins, as well as its name (path to the file) and the space it occupies. In such a situation, you can collect documents from cluster chains that exist in the file table. The names of such documents will contain a random set of characters or be generated by the recovery program, for example, based on user settings. Only by knowing what type of file we are restoring, for example, based on its size, can it be accessed by changing the extension manually or using a program to determine the contents of a document by its signature (more on this later). In this case, resuscitation of a large number of different types of files will turn into a very labor-intensive and time-consuming process for the user.

In NTFS, all data about the file is written to the main partition table - MFT. Each of its entries contains the name of the document, its attributes, security parameters and, most importantly, the chain of clusters in which the file itself is located, in the order in which they were read. Therefore, the quality of file recovery from disks formatted in NTFS directly depends on the degree of damage to the partition table and its backup copy.

This difference should be understood and taken for granted, especially when recovering information from a formatted or damaged flash drive.

Where did the files from the flash drive go?

If you did not delete anything from the removable drive, but some file or many of them disappeared from it, it means that someone else, for example, a friend, is to blame. The flash drive was used by other people - they could destroy all the data on it, for example, by formatting it before use or deleting unnecessary information. The culprit could also be a virus or antivirus program.

Many people have come across a virus that changes the attributes of all files and folders on removable media to “Hidden” and reproduces itself under the names of your data. A not very attentive user who did not notice the substitution begins to open the document, but a virus program is launched instead. OK, when installed antivirus recognizes it in time and eliminates it without causing any harm. As it seems to many, the antivirus is the culprit of data loss, but alas: it only removes malicious programs that bear the names of your documents. Here you need to be more careful and look at the extensions of files deleted by the antivirus. Surely, in all of them it will be “exe”, and your files will continue to be stored on the flash drive, not appearing in Explorer until you follow the instructions described below.

Real files on the flash drive hidden by the virus and “fake” ones with the exe extension

To make sure that the files on the flash drive are present, but not displayed, or are missing, we check the amount of information placed on it. To perform this operation we perform the following steps. Calling context menu flash drive and select the “Properties” item in it, located at the end of the list.

Let's look at the volume occupied by files. It is displayed next to the “Busy” sign.

If there is no data on the flash drive, it means that the information was deleted by the user during the formatting process, damage to the file system, or the presence of logical or mechanical defects in the structure of the drive. That is, they will have to be restored using specially developed applications.

Deleting files to the Recycle Bin

How can I restore data deleted from a flash drive to the Recycle Bin? None. Such a concept does not exist and now we will figure out why. Don’t even try to find files recently deleted from a flash drive in the Recycle Bin.

Remember! Deleting files from removable USB drives occurs without going to the Recycle Bin, unlike a similar process with hard and solid-state drives.

This can be understood based on the object deletion dialog. Just compare the warnings about deleting data from a flash drive with a similar dialog about moving information to the Trash.

Most users do not pay attention to the contents of the dialog during the operation, and simply agree to perform the action by clicking the “Yes” or “Enter” button.

If you delete information from a flash drive, do it carefully; there will be no chance to restore anything from the recycle bin, as is the case with a hard drive.

What is lost will have to be restored through special applications, and no one guarantees 100% reliability of the data resuscitation process. The files that were deleted from hard drive to the Recycle Bin, and it is then cleared; it can be easily restored using special program. The best free offers will be discussed a little later.

Flash drive damaged by virus

There are a huge number of different opinions, the essence of which is that any malicious program can cause physical harm to a removable drive - and this is not true.

The only thing a virus can do is hide files from the user’s eyes or damage the file partition table, which was discussed earlier.

Consequently, the operating system will not be able to read the data and will most likely prompt you to format the device. In this case, the information will remain physically on the media, but it will not be possible to access it using the standard method. There are viruses that assign the “Hidden” attribute to all files and folders located in the root directory of the media. After this, such information becomes invisible in the Explorer window and, as a result, the user does not see it. We'll talk more about this later.

Recovering files after accidentally formatting a flash drive

Formatting a flash drive is the process of programmatically marking the drive and forming its logical structure. Formatting comes in two varieties: quick and full (or low-level). Quick formatting is the clearing of most of the file allocation table with their addresses and attributes, that is, no data is physically destroyed, and its structure remains intact, which allows you to determine it and restore data. Full formatting consists of physically rewriting each cluster of a drive or partition - after deleting information about the location of files, a logical zero is written to each cluster (the minimum unit of information storage) of the drive. This process turns information recovery into a labor-intensive and difficult, but still feasible, albeit partially, task.

Many programs can analyze information found on a formatted hard drive using its signatures to determine the contents of the file. Signatures are file labels that help programs identify them. As a rule, they are placed at the very beginning of the file, less often at the end, and look like a small fragment of hexadecimal code.

Search by signatures

Analysis of found files and their fragments by signatures is the most effective method currently available. existing technology data recovery. It allows you to revive virtually any files: lost due to rapid or low level formatting, partially overwritten or located in bad sectors.

In addition to the usual reading of deleted data, this method allows you to gain access to absolutely any information located on the storage medium, even partially damaged information and information to which there are no references in the file system. Programs that support signature-based file recovery read data from the media and on-the-fly compare it with an online or offline database of signatures specific to various file types for compliance. When the utility finds a match, it begins analyzing the document header in order to extract as much useful information as possible. At the end of the procedure, the utility renames the document, indicating its extension. Thanks to this algorithm, the application is able to determine the exact size of a file, because many types of documents contain in their header not only its size, but also its name, attributes, etc.

The advantages of the method include the ability to effectively recover files from media. The disadvantage is that it only works with known document types entered into the database. Also, the duration of the process of deep scanning of the drive’s file system can last for tens of minutes or even hours, depending on the volume.

How to recover data after a damaged USB device

All modern flash drives consist of a controller, data storage cells, a quartz oscillator and several additional microcircuits. All physical damage to flash drives can be divided into several categories: mechanical - damage to soldering, connector, deformation of the substrate, etc. due to careless handling of the drive (falls, impacts); electrical and thermal - arise as a result of sudden jumps in potential on board elements, storage and use of the device at high ambient temperatures, or during overheating, which happens very rarely; Damage and failure of the controller is the most common problem, due to which the data still stored on the memory chips cannot be accessed using standard methods.

Mechanical damage is the most difficult to eliminate: you will have to resolder fallen contacts, replace connectors, or completely unsolder memory chips and read information from them using special devices - readers or flash readers.

In the case of electrical damage (for example, an element has burned out), the information is read, as in the case of mechanical problems, by desoldering memory chips, creating their images on specialized equipment for subsequent data recovery using software. If the controller is inoperative, you will also have to unsolder the memory chip and restore the information using the same reader or Flash reader.

Instead of conclusion: if the elements of a flash drive are physically damaged or its controller or quartz oscillator fails, it is unlikely that you will be able to recover data from the drive yourself. This can be done at a specialized service center.

Checking the flash drive for hidden files

Many users are probably familiar with the situation when the operating system does not detect files stored on removable media, although you are sure that they exist. Before you start recovering documents that you cannot find on the flash drive, you need to make sure that they are really missing. To do this, activate the option to display files that have the “Hidden” attribute. Performing this operation does not require the user to have any advanced IT knowledge.

Just follow the instructions below.

Launch “Explorer”, for example, go to the “My Computer” directory.

Let's focus on the main menu. In it, select “Arrange”, and in the drop-down list of options, click on the item “ Folder and search options».

In the window that appears, switch to the “View” tab. Scroll down the list of functions, where we move the switch to the position “ Show hidden files...", as shown in the screenshot.

Set "Show hidden files" to active.

This will provide the ability to see files and directories with the “Hidden” attribute. In the Explorer window they are indicated in gray. Click “Apply" and agree to display hidden files by clicking "Yes" in the warning window. After this, the changes will take effect and you will not have to restart the system or the “explorer” process. Click "Ok" to close the dialog box. The same can be done in another way - through “ Control Panel" We call " Control Panel"by a method known to you, for example, through “Start”. If the panel view is switched to “Categories”, go to “”.

Then click on the inscription: “ Show/display hidden files and folders».

When the control panel elements are visualized as icons, large or small, click on the inscription “ Folder Options”. Next, we perform all the steps starting from step 3 of the previous method of displaying hidden files and directories. These actions can also be performed using the Total Commander file manager.

If your files still have not appeared, it means that you will not be able to access them in the usual way and will have to obtain it using specialized utilities.

Video instructions - how to check a flash drive for hidden files

Automatically fix system errors and restore bad sectors

File system corruption is a fairly common problem due to which Windows cannot read files located on a flash drive. Several factors can cause this scenario:

• improper disconnection of the flash drive;
• power surges during the operation of the flash drive;
• physical wear and tear of memory cells, etc.

In order to try to correct this annoying error, it is necessary to scan the storage media cells for physical and logical errors. This can be done using a large number of applications, but we will look step by step at how to scan a flash drive using the console utility built into Windows. You can launch it in several ways.

Via GUI

Go to “My Computer" or open the directory with the contents of the flash drive and call its context menu.

We activate the “Service” tab, which will allow you to start scanning the flash drive and click “ Run check" for start system program ChkDsk.

We set the scan parameters, as in the screenshot, to correct physical and logical errors in the drive, and click “Run”.

If the operating system asks you to disconnect the device volume for scanning, end all applications using it and agree by clicking “Dismount".

Next, you will have to wait a few minutes, depending on the damage and size of the flash drive, while the utility checks it. Upon completion of the scan, scan statistics will be displayed on the screen. If the utility has corrected errors and reassigned sectors, you can try to open the flash drive in Explorer to gain access to the information located on it.

The same thing can be easily done using the command line

Call up the “Run” dialog by clicking on the corresponding “Start” menu item or pressing the combination Win + R. In the window we write “cmd” and click “OK” or “Enter” to launch the command line.

We start the drive verification process. To do this, look at its label in the Explorer window. IN command line write “chkdsk I: /F /R”, where: chkdsk – command to call the disk check program; I: - disc label; /F – flag that launches the program in the mode of correcting defects in the disk file system (analogous to automatic correction system errors); /R – parameter responsible for repairing or reassigning damaged sectors.

Enter on the command line - chkdsk I: /F /R

Press “Enter" and wait for the verification procedure to complete. If the question arises about the need to disable the device for other applications, we close all programs that can access the flash drive. Then click “Y” and “Enter”.

At the end of the scan, the “Found.000” directory should appear on the flash drive with the results of the scan if the utility detected and corrected errors.

If after checking the flash drive with an antivirus the files are missing

It happens that after connecting a flash drive to a USB connector, an antivirus program starts scanning it automatic mode. And after completing the scan and removing viruses, it is discovered that all your files have disappeared on the drive, be they programs or text documents. The same thing can happen after manually scanning removable media. What happened, why does the antivirus delete files that are not viruses? It’s not a fact that all your files were safe: the same documents doc format may contain dangerous macros, and the antivirus may perceive the executable files as malicious. As mentioned earlier, there are viruses that change file attributes to “Hidden”, read more in paragraph “Where did the files go?”. In any case, if you don’t copy anything to the flash drive, there is a huge chance of saving your data.

Free programs for recovering deleted data (files) from a flash drive

If your files are nevertheless erased due to accidental formatting or deletion, it is still possible to access them - you will have to use one of the freely distributed utilities designed to solve this problem. The market is flooded with similar solutions, but most programs for resuscitating information from flash drives are paid. Of the few free ones, a significant part does not cope with its tasks or has poor functionality, which is not enough for many users. Today we'll look at the best free solutions to recover data from removable drives. The list of applications reviewed contains both easy-to-learn utilities that can restore information after accidental deletion or quick formatting, as well as professional solutions that can be used to recover data from drives with a damaged file system after full formatting or partial overwriting of files. Below are the most effective and functional data reanimators from removable USB flash drives with detailed instructions, which will help restore information to a user with any level of training.

How to recover deleted information from a flash drive using the free DMDE program

DMDE is a professional utility for searching and recovering data. Download latest version DMDE can be found on the official website using this link. Working according to a well-debugged algorithm, the program is able to restore the structure of disk folders and the files located in them. It has several built-in tools, such as a disk editor, partition manager, modules for creating images, and others. After downloading the application, you will have to unpack it to any location except the partition from which you will restore files. Any archiver or built-in software can handle this. Windows tools for working with archives. When you launch DMDE for the first time, you must specify your preferred interface language. Select Russian and click “Ok”.

In the next window, we accept the license terms by checking the “ I accept the terms..." and clicking on the " Accept " button.

To view file recovery and disk editing, you need to select the media with which we will work. If the device is connected, check the “Physical” item. devices." Next, put a tick next to “ Show sections" In the right frame, mark our flash drive and click “Ok”.

After this, the utility will scan the computer for logical devices and display them in a list. Since we are using a flash drive, there will only be one volume on it. In the window, select the flash drive and click “Search FAT" or search "NTFS", depending on the file system of the flash drive.

In the window for setting search parameters, it is better not to change anything, and go straight to the search by clicking on the button of the same name.

The current file system is determined in the device properties.

Select a specific file system and click “Open Volume”. It is not necessary to save the disk log.

On the left side of the window that opens, go to the “$Root” directory - this is the root directory of our flash drive with the scan results. All information that the utility can recover is displayed here. We tick the documents we need, call up their context menu and click on “ Recover files..." The same can be done with the key combination “Ctrl + U”.

It is also worth noting “ Files in current panel "if you want to recover only certain information. Click "Ok".

Then we will see a dialog box with a report on the work done on data recovery. Close it by clicking “Ok” and continue working in the program or exit it.

Recovering deleted files from a flash drive with the free Recuva program

Recuva is an easy-to-learn utility for resuscitating lost data from the developers of Ccleaner. You can download the latest version of Recuva on the official website using this link. File recovery is carried out in the following way. We launch the program in wizard mode; if the settings have not been changed, it automatically starts in this mode. In the first window, click “Next”. Then select the type of data you want to recover to determine the flash drive scanning algorithm.

If you want to recover, for example, photographs, then there is no need to waste time searching and identifying other types of files. The same applies to other similar cases. When you want to restore various types of documents, do not change anything and click “Next”. In the window asking you to create an image, it is better not to create it if no other programs use the device in recording mode. Otherwise, you should create an exact copy of the drive to increase your chances of recovering lost data. We indicate the flash drive from which information will be restored.

Move the radio switch to the “On a memory card” position if one removable drive is connected to the computer.

We indicate "On the memory card if one removable drive is connected to the computer"

Otherwise, move the mark to the position “ At the specified location" Then click “Browse...” and select the flash drive.

Click on the button that says: “Next”. We enable in-depth analysis only if the necessary files for recovery were not found during a regular scan. When scanning for the first time, it is better not to enable this option. We wait while the utility searches for information.

In the search results window that opens, check the boxes necessary files and click on “Restore”.

Specify the path for the recovered data and click “Ok”.

The folder with the recovered data should not be on the flash drive from which we are restoring it.

Upon completion of the procedure, we get acquainted with its results and close the window by clicking on its only button.

When restoring graphic files (photos), you should switch to advanced mode by clicking on the corresponding button.

In this mode, a preview of the found graphic files is available, which will greatly facilitate the work if you need to access several images or photographs.

If some files are not detected, you will have to perform a deep scan of the file system of the flash drive. To do this, in paragraph 6, put a tick next to “ Enable in-depth analysis».

This process will take much longer, but the result of a deep scan will bring more results.

Recovering deleted files from a flash drive using the free utility R.saver

R.saver is an easy-to-use utility for recovering information from media with various file systems: FAT, NTFS and exFAT. In addition to resuscitating deleted data, the application is able to reconstruct a damaged file system of a flash drive and gain access to information that was lost by completely formatting the device (using signatures). You can download R.saver for free from the official website using this link. The program does not require installation and can be launched from any media. Below are instructions for working with R.saver, which a user who has basic computer skills will understand. Launch R.saver. During startup, the utility checks the computer for storage devices connected to it.

In the window that opens with a list of information storage devices connected to your computer, go down and fix your gaze on the device with the name “JetFlash USB...”. We select the flash drive we need if there are several of them connected at a given time. You can navigate by their name and size.

Call the context menu of the drive and select the action we need from it: “ Search for lost data"- if you want to recover deleted information; " Recover after formatting"- when it is necessary to gain access to information that was lost due to formatting the drive.

We are waiting for the file system reconstruction procedure to complete. The process can take about ten minutes or more when scanning a flash drive of significant size (32 or 64 GB).

Once the file system scan is complete, the search window will automatically close. A list of data that can be recovered will appear on the right side of the program interface.

Select the required files (as in Windows Explorer using Ctrl and Shift). Call up their context menu and click on “Copy to...”

In the dialogue, go to the directory where the program will restore the data, and click “Select".

Do not select as output directory removable drive, from which you are restoring information or its subdirectories.

The utility will quickly handle the file copying process and automatically close the copy window. In the case of reconstructing the file system after formatting the drive, all actions are performed in the same way, except that the reconstruction process may take a long time and before scanning you will have to select the file system of the flash drive from the list proposed by the utility.

Recovering deleted data using PC Inspector File Recovery utility

PC Inspector File Recovery is a powerful English-language utility for recovering lost files at the sector level, which will allow you to gain access to partially overwritten and lost information due to damage to the media file system or its formatting. You can download PC Inspector File Recovery for free from the official website using this link. The program does not have a Russian language user interface, so you will have to deal with English inscriptions, and there is nothing difficult about it. In the launch window we are offered to receive some privileges by purchasing full version programs. Click the green button that says “Free Trial” to get started.

Click on the top left frame with the image of the recycle bin and the inscription “Lost File Recovery" - “ Recovering lost files».

Click the "Lost File Recovery" button

We select our removable USB drive, as a rule, it is located at the very bottom. We focus on the icon of USB devices, the capacity of the flash drive and its name. Click “Start” to start the scanning process.

Select our flash drive and click "Start"

If the required information could not be found using the usual method, then check the box next to “ Enable Deep Scan" to conduct an in-depth scan at the sector level and select the drive’s file system.

You can view it in the properties of the flash drive, as in the screenshot.

We wait while the utility checks the drive for traces of files that can be recovered.

Once the drive scan is complete, a window will appear divided into several frames. The left displays all detected data, grouped by data type: archives, graphic files, text documents, videos, etc. In the lower right frame you can see the names of all files of the selected type, and images and text documents can also be viewed in the preliminary window view posted above. We tick the files and/or file types that we want to recover and click on the orange “Recover" button to open the file recovery dialog.

In the dialog, specify the directory where the program should restore the selected files. If necessary, you can create a new one by clicking on the “ New Folder" button. Click on the green “Recover” button.

Specify the folder where you want to restore the files and click “Recover”

Depending on the amount of information being restored, the recovery process can take from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. Upon completion, a window will appear congratulating you on the successful recovery of your files, and the folder in which the program has created copies of the recovered data will open in Windows Explorer. We go into it and check the quality of its algorithms. If the files are inoperative, use a deep scan, as described earlier.

Recovering deleted information using the Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional utility

A freely distributed recoverer capable of recovering a huge number of file types lost either due to careless deletion or when formatting a removable flash drive. You can download it from the official website using this link. Unfortunately, when we tested the latest version of Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional, it did not recover anything for us. We found an earlier version on the Internet that successfully coped with its task. Therefore, our instructions for data recovery will be with more early version Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional than on the official website. But soon, we will definitely re-test the latest version and make a separate review of Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional. Although the utility has a multilingual interface, it does not have a Russian interface. Let's start recovering files that Windows Explorer cannot be detected on a removable USB flash drive. In the main application window, click on the button labeled “Data Recovery”, because we are interested in file recovery. We choose a method of data resuscitation. In our case, “Deleted recovery” is suitable, since the information was lost precisely as a result of careless deletion of data.

We select the device that will be scanned. Flash drives are usually displayed last in the list. Next, select the type of files to recover if you want to recover certain data (photos, documents). Click “Next”.

The left side of the window that appears with the scan results displays a directory tree, and the right side displays a list of found files.

We tick the data we need. And click on the “Next” button. If necessary, you can use the preview function - the “ View File" button.

Click on the “Browse” button to open a window with the selection of a directory to restore files. Specify the recovery path and confirm it with the “OK” button. You can also enter the path to the output directory manually in the line before the “ Browse” button.

Calling up a window with selecting a directory for recovering Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional files

Having specified the path, click “Next" to start the operation of restoring the marked files.

Select the path where you want to restore the files

The operation is completed, a window with its results appears in front of us. If necessary, the report can be saved by clicking on “Save” and specifying the path to text file. Click “Done” to complete Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional.

When asked whether to save the report, click negative if it has already been saved or is not needed.

Learn how to recover deleted files using Active File Recovery

Active File Recovery – system utility for data recovery, supporting a huge number of removable flash drives and their file systems. You can download Active File Recovery for free from the official website using this link. Let's consider the chain of actions that need to be performed to recover files lost in one way or another. The left side of the main program window displays a list of storage media. Select a flash drive from them by clicking on the USB device icon.

We move the cursor to the detected file system, as a rule, there is only one, call up its context menu and select “Quick Scan" to start the process of quickly checking the file system.

Mode " Deep check"or "SuperScan" we launch if the device has been formatted or the previous method did not give the desired results. To recover files deleted by mistake, in most cases a quick scan is sufficient.

Using the “Ctrl”, “Shift” and the cursor keys, select the required files. We call their context menu and stop at the item “Restore...”

In the window with recovery parameters, we indicate the path for resuscitation of files (enter it manually or use the “..." button to open a dialog for selecting the output folder.

Having set all the parameters, for example, opening the directory with files after their recovery is complete, click “ Restore".

Now you know how to access lost files in a matter of minutes, without spending a single penny on purchasing software, a trip to a service center, or calling a technician to your home. But the recovery procedure does not always go smoothly. Quite often, users encounter the following problems:

• The data recovery program does not detect the required file;
• the recovered document does not open;
• an error appears when you try to open a resuscitated file;
• information is partially restored, etc.

In this section of the article, we will consider these and other problems that accompany the process of retrieving lost information from removable media.

If the files are partially recovered, what to do?

It happens that applications partially restore data - the restored file is a document with a damaged internal data structure. This means that the program detected the file and determined its structure, but by the time of recovery, some of its fragments had been physically overwritten. After all, when deleting information or formatting a drive, the sectors that it occupied are designated as free; some information was written to these sectors. Also, document fragments could be located in damaged areas of the media. Therefore, it is recommended not to write anything to a flash drive before or during the process of restoring data files.

As for our further actions when working with such data, here the choice is between two options: try to restore files with another program, use an in-depth method of analyzing the drive, or resort to using utilities to restore damaged files, although their functionality is very questionable in most cases .

Working with some partially recovered documents is quite possible. For example, an audio file or video that has been reconstructed with minor defects will play in most cases. Places with lost data are simply filled with zeros - this means that in the playback of such a video or song there will be artifacts in some places - non-natural flickering or image distortion, extraneous clicks, atypical noise and interference of audio tracks. It is recommended to play damaged files using the powerful and content-unpretentious multimedia player VLC. As for archived data, there is always a chance to extract part of the files from the archive, which may also have a broken structure in relation to the original version. There are many applications for restoring damaged archives. To work with damaged archives, there is an IZArc archiver with integrated algorithms for restoring such archives. You can also use utilities for Recovery Toolbox for Rar/Zip.

Damaged image files, like other multimedia data, can be opened in most image viewing applications. Naturally, some information will be lost. The missing fragments will be painted over with some color, usually black. Try opening damaged graphic files using regular Paint and resaving them.

Damaged text files, such as txt or doc, may be opened text editor. If the document is slightly damaged, there is a high probability that some of the text will be accessible to txt documents. Even slightly damaged documents in doc format usually open with errors or contain incorrect encoding. This results in a meaningless set of characters being displayed instead of text. This is where OfficeRecovery can help. It analyzes the original document, and sophisticated algorithms correct the data to extract the maximum amount of useful information. Then it starts heuristic analysis file, if possible, in order to identify lost fragments. The utility puts the user and received data into a complete file and saves it. But the effectiveness of such programs is too low, and they most likely will not help.

Nothing appeared on the flash drive after recovery

Only naive and inattentive users can claim that after restoring data from a removable USB drive, no information appeared on it. Firstly, as was said, it is not recommended to select the drive from which information is extracted as the output folder for saving them, because programs warn about this. Secondly, nothing can appear on flash drives, since the programs recommend specifying the path to the output folder or assign it automatically, for example, “My Documents” or some directory on the system drive.

Read the instructions given in this article carefully. All your data has been restored to the directory you specified.

Flash drive asking for formatting

Many people are probably familiar with the situation when, when connecting a flash drive to a computer, the operating system prompts you to format the drive. What to do in such a situation if the flash drive contains important data, which after formatting will naturally disappear, and the chances of gaining access to them will be significantly reduced.

First of all, you will have to check the drive for the presence bad sectors, as described in the paragraph “Automatic correction of system errors”. Then we reconnect the device and in most cases the problem is solved.

The second method is to scan the flash drive using one of free programs to gain access to data that Windows cannot read, for example, JetFlash Recovery Tool, which was discussed in the corresponding section.

Is it possible to recover files from a flash drive that were deleted a long time ago?

The time at which files are deleted does not matter. It is more important that the device is fully operational, and that the sectors occupied by deleted files are not overwritten. The more actions you took to write data to the drive after deleting the files you want to recover, the less chance you have of doing so.

If a file was deleted to the Recycle Bin and then the Recycle Bin was emptied, is it possible to recover the deleted file?

Let's start with the fact that deleting data from removable drives goes past the Recycle Bin. When you delete something from a flash drive, the file is erased from the drive without moving to the Recycle Bin, as is the case with a hard or solid-state drive. It is possible to restore such data, but there is an important caveat. Remember that data written to a hard drive or removable storage device, or files deleted from the Recycle Bin may be completely or partially overwritten, which reduces their likelihood of being recovered. First of all, this applies to documents erased from the system disk - it is constantly accessed by the operating system and a huge number of running applications. In this case, you should turn off the computer and boot from a flash drive or other disk to increase the chances of recovering the still intact files.

The more actively the disk is used and the more time has passed since deletion, the less likely it is to get back a complete and undamaged document.

The program recovered the files, but some cannot be opened, what should I do?

If after resuscitation some files do not open, it means they were damaged or not restored at all - the program created an empty file with the name of the detected one, but could not transfer the deleted contents to it for one reason or another. Use another data recovery program or enable an in-depth scan of the drive.

The program restored the document, but it turned out to be empty. What to do?

In this case, the document turned out to be severely damaged and nothing can be done with such a file. Perhaps try to recover the empty file again, saving it under a different name or in a different location, or use another utility to recover information. Ultimately, you will have to contact a service center that specializes in data recovery.