Whenever there is corrupted data on your pen drive, there is no need to worry about it. This article will teach you three ways to recover your corrupted data on USB sticks; stay tuned, and start learning!

Users Query

A user has stored all his important MS documents files on his pen drive. Yesterday, his boss asked him about one of these files. The user has connected his USB stick and was shocked to find all stored files have disappeared. I don’t know what happened. Please help me and suggest a solution for the recovery of corrupted data from my pen drive.”

Uses of Pen Drives and Know How to Recover Corrupted Data From Pen Drives

Pen drives are popular to store and transfer data, such as audio, photos, videos, documents, and any digital data type. A pen drive is effortless to carry from one place to another. However, the data stored in a pen drive is always prone to data loss for various reasons, like corrupted media, unintentional formatting, accidental deletion, virus attacks, and human error. But there’s no need to worry about that. Just follow these steps to learn how to recover corrupted data from any pen drive.

First: Recover Corrupted/deleted Data From Pen Drive by Using CMD

Whenever a user’s data is deleted, corrupted, or formatted from the pen drive, they should first try the command line method as follows:

  • Open run by pressing Win key+R
  • Type CMD and hit enter the command prompt
  • Type the pen drive letter, e.g.,> D: and hit enter.
  • Type attrib -h -r -s /s d:*.*, hit enter and wait a few seconds (see Figure 1).
  • Now check the pen drive, and the files should be retrieved.
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Here is a description of the above command switches:

  • The “+” and “–“ signs indicate whether you want to activate or deactivate the specified attribute.
  • The “S –“ denotes that you want to change selected files “System” attribute.
  • The “/S” specifies you want to search the entire path, including any subfolders
  • D:\ is the pen drive letter for this example.

If data can not be recovered using the previous method, we can try the second one. It is important to note that the CMD method recovers only files deleted the normal way (i.e., using the delete button). If your data is deleted permanently (by using shift+delete), you should use third-party software to recover the files.

Second: Recover Corrupted Data From Pen Drive by Using Previous Restore Versions

When it is difficult to restore corrupted data using the first method, you can use the previous restore versions method.

  • Point out the folder that contained your deleted data.
  • Right-click over it and select the “Properties” option.
  • From the pop-up window, select the “Previous Version” tab.
  • A list of the files should display; choose which files/folders you want to recover.
  • Finally, click the “Restore” button (see Figure 2).
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Third: Recover Corrupted Data From Pen Drive by Using Trustworthy Software

If both the above methods did not resolve your data recovery issues; then, you can try pen drive data recovery software. It recovers all inaccessible data like deleted, corrupted, and formatted data from any pen drive, SD card, etc. This software supports recovering exFAT, FAT (16, 32), and NTFS formatted and is compatible with all Windows versions. It supports all pen drives and memory cards such as Sandisk, Sony, Transcend, HP, etc. It also supports all file formats like: .doc, .pdf, .xls, .zip, etc. This tool provides an advanced search option. The tool provides an option to recover selective data. It can also recover data from an empty recycling bin or deleted data using the Shift+del button combination. It also allows the application of filters before recovering lost files. Just download and launch the pen drive data recovery software and follow the steps mentioned below.

  • Download and install pen drive data recovery software
  • Launch the tool, and it will display a list of all attached USB drives.
  • Choose your USB device and check the essential details on the right panel.
  • The software provides two ways of data recovery: Scan and Formatted Scan

Scan: To recover deleted and corrupted data. Formatted Scan: To recover formatted data (see Figure 3).

alt_text
  • Select the appropriate option
  • After that, search and preview restored USB drive data
  • Finally, you can Save restored items on your computer

Final Words

We can use any of the three methods to recover deleted, corrupted, and formatted data from the pen drive. Using third-party software is still the best method to recover lost or corrupted data.

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