USB in need of reformat, data needs to be recovered

Castigador

So my USB got corrupted when a sudden blackout killed the power, and now my USB can't be read and keeps on saying that it needs to be reformatted. I've got some pretty important files that I have there, and I'm in search for a way to recover them. Is there any program out there that runs on Windows that I can use to get my data back?

Show me your power PA. I need it.

DHS Odium

I'm assuming you mean either a thumb drive, or an external hard drive, and that you're using Windows. There's probably a few data recovery tools people will recommend, in the past though for all kinds of data recovery I've used a Live Linux CD (like Ubuntu), and it might be able to read that drive without giving you messages about reformatting.

bowen

Unfortunately flash disks work slightly differently than normal disks, your data may be lost completely because of this. However, that said, you may have luck with normal HDD recovery tools.

http://www.recovermyfiles.com/

I've had remarkably good luck with that software (download the trial before you buy it and see if it even pulls the files you're looking for).

jeepinryan

You can always start with the good old CHKDSK option as well. When a partition is unmounted unexpectedly (such as when power is lost to the drive), it can leave corruption on the disk. CHKDSK will go verify the filesystem on the disk and can usually restore it to the point of being usable.

Unless you were actually writing files to the disk when power went out, it should work fine. If you were actively writing files...you might just be boned.

To run CHKDSK, pop in your USB drive, open up My Computer and right-click on the drive and select Properties. Go to the Tools Tab, and click Check Now under Error-checking. In the new window, check both boxes and hit Start.

Good luck!

darkgrue

You probably need to follow-up to your own post to make it clear what kind of USB device you're discussing, as well as the file types you're trying to recover.

You might try something like PhotoRec (or the companion TestDisk). Both of those are freeware.

TylerM23

If your PC says the device needs to be formatted, you may be better served by software that opens the physical device as opposed to the file system. Winhex will do it, not sure if the trial version does though.

Castigador

Sorry for the confusion, it is a thumb drive. Also, it seems my friend (it's his) has told me some new news about this thumb drive.

jeepinryan wrote: »

If you were actively writing files...you might just be boned.

Yep. It's probably dead. Thanks for the suggestions though, I tried them all but to no avail.

TylerM23

Although it won't help now, you might want to consider using something like Microsoft SyncToy to backup your USB sticks. It handles all the copying/updating and works really well. It's what I use so that I have my files where I need them.