A corrupted USB flash drive can be an annoying thing to happen to any computer user. One of the most common USB flash drives we tend to use is a pen drive. If you come across a corrupted pen drive, recovering the data from it can be a daunting task. Let us check out the best method to recover your data from a corrupted pen drive or any other flash drive with ease and simplicity.
What are the USB issues you would Come Across?
USB drives are ideally prone to damage and corruption. However, apart from corruption, you would also come across several other errors that you would come across. Some of them can include:
- USB flash drives not formatted
- Damaged USB flash drive
- USB flash drive infected with the virus.
- USB flash drive not recognised by computers
- USB flash drive incorrect capacity
- Cannot format USB flash drive
The tips and tutorials here should help you address almost all the issues.
How to recover Data from Corrupted Pen Drive using CMD?
While we are checking out the options to find how to recover data from corrupted Pen drive using CMD, the method should also work for getting access to the deleted files from your pen drive using the command prompt. If you have deleted any of the files on your pen drive, you can use the same method to recover your files.
Follow the steps here below:
- Launch Command Prompt on your computer. You can do this by launching the RUN dialog box, then type cmd, and hit enter.
- Insert the Pen Drive into your computer system
- Type in the following command. Make sure you replace the letter G with your drive letter where you have inserted the pen drive into.
chkdsk G: /f
- In the next step, type in Y and press ENTER.
- Once again, type in the drive letter for your pen drive and press ENTER.
- Now, type in the following command. Make sure you replace the drive letter as in the above steps. Press ENTER.
G:\>attrib -h -r -s /s /d *.*
That would do it. You will find the list of deleted files in a separately created folder on the pen drive itself. You just need to change the file extension to have access to the files.
How to recover data from corrupted Pen Drive using CMD? The above method should help you recover the corrupted with ease and simplicity.
How to fix a Corrupted Flash Drive Without Formatting?
Some corrupted flash drives may not support formatting. For some reason, the formatting may not be possible on your corrupted flash drive. So, how to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting. Of course, you may have your own reasons for not formatting the flash drive.
There are several methods you should be able to put to use. Let us check out the best options on how to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting.
Method 1 – How to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting using CMD
Here are the steps involved:
- Launch CMD following the methods outlined above.
- Insert the flash drive t the USB port of your computer.
- Follow the steps that have been outlined in the above tutorial. Repeating the steps here may be futile.
The recovered files will be saved with the .chk format on your flash drive itself. You will need the extension to the appropriate format to be able to view the files. You can even copy the entire folder to your computer and view them later.
Method 2 – Assign a drive letter for USB
The computer may not be able to assign a drive letter to your USB flash drive due to some unknown reasons. Assigning a drive letter can prove to be helpful enough in How to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting.
Follow the steps here:
- Launch RUN dialog box, as explained in the tutorial above.
- Type in msc and click on OK
- The Disk Management screen should open.
- Right-click on your USB flash drive. We assume you have inserted the flash drive into the appropriate drive.
- From the context menu, choose Change Drive Letter and Paths
- Choose Add on the next screen and choose your preferred drive letter.
- Click OK
That should change your drive letter. Check if the data on the drive can be accessed.
How to use Diskpart command to Fix the Corrupted Pen drive or Flash Drive?
The Diskpart can be yet another excellent option if you are looking for options on how to recover data from corrupted pen drive using CMD. This method needs you to use the Command Prompt as an administrator.
Follow the steps for resolving the issue:
- Connect your corrupted flash drive to your computer.
- Launch Command Prompt. You can do it by launching the RUN dialog box and typing the command CMD. Press OK to execute the command.
- Type Diskpart command and press ENTER.
- Type in list disk
- The list of the disks currently attached to your device would be visible.
- Type in the following command. Ensure you enter the correct disk number. Otherwise, you may end up formatting the internal drive and no operating system.
Select disk <your disk number>
- Your chosen disk will be selected.
- Type Clean and hit enter. Your disk will be cleaned of any issues. You would get the success message – DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk
- Type in create partition primary and press ENTER.
- You should now get the success message – DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.
- Type in the command Active and press ENTER. Once it succeeds, you will get the message DiskPart marked the current partition as Active.
- Type in Select partition 1 and press ENTER. You should get a success message that says Partition 1 is now the selected partition.
- Now enter the last command in this fix and press ENTER – format fs=fat32
That does it. Wait till the formatting is completed. Once the process is completed, you should find the USB drive working as new. However, if you had any files on the drive, they would be gone forever. While you can use a disk recovery software to recover the files, success may not be guaranteed.
How to Recover Corrupted Files From USB on Windows 10?
Well, the above methods should ideally work effectively in addressing all your issues even on Windows 10.
Windows 10 (even Windows 7 or 8) come with a disk checking feature. It should help you check the disk for bad sectors or system errors. Follow the steps here below to address the concern:
- Connect your USB flash drive to your computer.
- Launch This PC either from the file explorer or your desktop.
- Right-click on your disk and click on Properties.
- In the properties window, click on Tools tab
- Under the Tools option, find the Check option under the section Error Checking.
- On the next screen, click on Repair Drive.
The error checking can take a while. When it is completed, you will be notified of the status. Most of the errors on your removable drive should be fixed. If cannot fix the issues, the system will also notify of the same.
The process may take a while to complete. Please note that the process may take a while to be completed.
Want to check how to delete the corrupted files on USB? The steps used in any of the above tutorials should let you have access to the functionality and let you easily delete the files right away.
In addition to the above methods, you may also check out the third party options that can be helpful in letting you recover or delete the files on your corrupted pen drive or the flash drive. There are several paid and free tools that can help you recover the files even from the formatted drives provided they are not overwritten.
The Passing Remarks
When your flash drive is corrupted, your Windows device prompts you to format it. Of course, you can decide to format it or not to. However, our advice would be not to format it until you have recovered the files from it. However, even when you have formatted it, the files can be recovered with the use of a sophisticated file recovery service.
We assume the tips outlined in the above steps should help you arrive at the best options on how to recover data from corrupted pen drive using CMD or other options. Use the above tips and choose the best option that best meets your exact requirements.
Hello,
Is it possible to recover data from SD Card, Mobile Memory Card? and suggest the best Data Recovery software please.
Thank You
Hello,
Can you share a post about how to recover Mobile Memory Card / SD Card Data, Would you recommend any professional and Paid Software for this, please.
Thank You