So i have a USB drive that has a Red Bar when im viewing it from computer, it says 17.7 MB free of 3.73 but when i open it theres no files on it, ive tried Softorbits and Wondershare file recovery but it cannot find any of the files on the Drive, is there any way i can retrieve the files off of the drive? they are very important, its also a FAT32 Format and has always been that, i think it may be a corrupt drive
What I'd do is try a Disk Check or if it won't see it try Partition Wizard Check File System followed by Partition Wizard Partition surface test to check stick's condition. I've had PW File check bring USB's back to life - the Autoplay pops up while its running.
I doubt the partition got deleted if its showing content, but you can still try Partition Wizard Partition Recovery Wizard Video Help.
I've never used file recovery on flash stick but you can also try Recuva - Features.
This is a good reminder that flash sticks need backup too. I've going to copy mine to Skydrive right now.
Flash drives are the least reliable of modern storage media. In addition there is the risk they might be lost, stolen, or physically damaged. They cannot be trusted as primary storage of important files but should be used primarily as a transport media.
All files of any importance, on any media, need at least one backup copy while those of particular importance need 2 or more backup copies. Having no backups of an important file is asking for trouble.
File recovery is always hit or miss with no guarantee of how much if any data can be recovered.
Please post a screenshot of how your USB drive shows up in Disk Management. If it shows as RAW, definitely the first sector or cell is corrupted in which case straight away try running the Partition Recovery Wizard in PW to rewrite the partition information. (If it is indeed RAW, then diskcheck in Windows will not run.)
If it is a data drive, yes, you should have a simple backup elsewhere. But if it is a bootable pen drive - as you seem to have one or many - then you should do a sector to sector copy - a one to one image, save the image elsewhere and then rewrite/replicate it if need be.. You may use ImageUSB for that. Tools for OSForensics - ImageUSB - Write an image to multiple USB Flash Drives
Last edited by jumanji; 08 Jul 2013 at 00:52.
I recommend an antivirus scan on the flashdrive. Sometimes, I would just type _ on the directory path of the flashdrive and it turns out that's where the files are hidden. Let's say your flash drive's letter is E: you type E:\_
Its not guaranteed to work. You may have to use an special attrib command to unhide files though:
Virus set my files in all drive to hidden. SOLVED! | https://n4dheem.wordpress.com
I recommend you to try this pen drive recovery tool Pen Drive Recovery Software Tool to Recover Pen Drive Lost Data
I hope it will work for you to recover your pen drive data and contact their support team member they will help you to understand pen drive issues.
Quote