No computer owner can imagine life without removable storage media. There is a lot of information, why overload the computer with all sorts of data, if it is possible to save everything on a USB flash drive? The more unpleasant is the moment when very necessary information on the carrier suddenly appears.
Broken sectors are sectors of the storage medium that the computer cannot read due to damage or system failures.
Broken sectors are of two types:
- logical. Data playback error occurs as a result of system failures. Such incidents are amenable to correction and after correction the computer will read everything;
- physical. The readable area of \u200b\u200bthe map is so damaged that it is impossible to read information from it.
It is important to understand what led or could lead to such an incident.
Where do they come from?
The reasons why the computer does not like certain areas on the flash card lie in:
- system failures;
- viral infection;
- physical damage (crack, scratches);
- improper shutdown of work with the carrier (rough pulling out of the port as soon as the card is no longer needed);
- the initial presence of defects on the machine heads.
All these incidents lead to the operating system receiving a correction error code instead of the contents of the sector. From that moment on, the volume is closed for her, she ceases to perceive it as a potential repository of information.
Is it always possible to restore them?
Logical broken sections are amenable to correction. If the failure is caused by physical wear and tear, serious damage to the media, then even repairing a flash card is often useless.
In any case, you should still try to recover the bad sector. For this, there are internal and external applications of the system, for example:
- conductor;
- Check Disk;
- Hetman Partition Recovery;
- Jet Flash Recovery Tool;
- Storage Format Tool;
- PartitionGuru.
All external utilities can be downloaded from the web for free. They are easy to use, which is facilitated by the Russian interface. The most popular is Hetman Partition Recovery - according to user reviews, this utility reanimates data on almost completely "killed" media. Each of the programs is accompanied by instructions. Once launched, the utility scans and evaluates the condition of the media, then repairs the damage - of course, only those that are possible.
After that, it remains to restart the computer. The drive is working satisfactorily.
Remedies
Windows explorer
Usually the system, noticing the "guest", offers to check and restore it. This also happens in Windows (starting with Windows 7). It is enough to insert the removable media into the port, then a notification will appear that the operating system has noticed the device and it already does not like it.
However, the PC does not always offer this service immediately. Due to many reasons (outdated version, data overload), it may not immediately respond. In this case, you can:
If after that the work of the removable media becomes satisfactory, you can simply return to it. As a last resort, restart your computer. However, this service is only good for minor damage.
Check Disk
The built-in Check Disk application will detect damage on the flash card and, if possible, fix them. Of course, not everything either, but in many cases it turns out to be a good help.
It is also very easy to use:
On a note! "E:" - indicates the identifier of the flash drive, you can insert another identifier instead.
Further, the system itself will assess the state of the removable drive and reanimate the damaged areas. True, only logical ones. And that's not all. After the completion of the work, the system will provide a report on which damaged areas were found and whether it was possible to reanimate them.
After rebooting the machine, the removable media should start working in the previous mode, as it was before the damage. In other cases, it is better to use other utilities such as Hetman Partition or Partition Guru.
Hetman Partition Recovery
Hetman Partition Recovery can find and recover damaged or deleted files regardless of the method. For this:
- Go to the official website of the utility developers, select the file download option and click "Download file".
- Google Chrome browser will prompt you to select a folder to download the file on your computer, we recommend that you select the "Downloads" or "Desktop" folder, click "Save". Sometimes the file is downloaded automatically.
- Run the installation file of the program from the "Downloads" folder or from the bottom panel of the browser for downloads by double-clicking the mouse.
- The familiar "Setup Wizard" will open, read the information and click "Next".
- Click on the "I Agree" button, if you wish, read the terms of the license agreement.
- Click Next.
- Tick \u200b\u200bthe necessary items, click "Install". Wait for the installation process to complete and the program to start automatically.
- After starting the program, the "File Recovery Wizard" window will appear, read the text, click "Next".
- Select with the left mouse click. The utility will provide two options for scanning, we recommend that you select "Full analysis" by checking the appropriate item, click "Next".
- After completing the scanning process, click on the "Finish" button.
- Drag the required files into the recovery field, click on the "Recover" option.
- Check the box to save files, click Next.
- Wait for the process to complete and go to the selected drive to view the recovered data.
The carrier is infected with a virus
Sometimes the reason lies in the fact that the removable disk has suffered from "saboteurs" who arrived from the Web. Such a threat lurks, for example, on photo hosting.
An inexperienced user can also cope with this. Free antivirus "cleaners" will come to the rescue, for example:
- Dr. Web Cureit;
- Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
It's easier to use Doctor Web, which can also be downloaded from the Web. This service is good because the virus databases are constantly updated and the defender program in its development keeps up with viruses faster than many other analogues.
If the reason for the appearance of the broken areas was associated with viruses, this will become clear from the report.
Thus, it turns out that bad sectors on a removable drive are not a fatal problem, it is possible to fix it in most cases. In some cases, you will have to contact the service center to restore the flash card.
Video - How to check a USB flash drive for errors and fix them?
Do you have an inoperative USB flash drive or other media and are you wondering which program to choose for recovery?
We have reviewed the most popular utilities. Which of the above programs is right for you and will restore the USB flash drive with a 100% guarantee?
A one-of-a-kind program will help you pull out all the data Hetman Partition Recovery.It is loved by both beginners and pros for its convenience, speed and advanced information recovery algorithm. Your files will be found and copied even when there is no longer access to the media file system or it is damaged.
JetFlash Recovery Tool is a proprietary utility that has an extremely simple interface and support for working with Transcend, JetFlash and A-DATA drives. Control with only two buttons, obviously you will like it. Do not forget that the cleared data cannot be restored, so the preliminary saving of information from the flash drive will not be superfluous.
If you need to constantly have a universal program with you, which is convenient to use both on your home computer and outside it, we recommend D-Soft Flash Doctor, its platform does not imply pre-installation, it starts instantly on any PC. The software is suitable for repair, unlock,
restoring the volume of the flash drive and its performance.
If you need to recover SD cards, we recommend downloading F-Recovery SD, which has an effective set of simple options for working with damaged flash drives from digital cameras and other portable devices. From the point of view of a professional approach to Flash drives, it will be interesting to use the Flash Memory Toolkit, the application contains a whole set of additional functionality that can test flash drives, in addition, the program works with any version of Microsoft OS.
The USB Disk Storage Format Tool, which has a very clear and user-friendly interface, can recognize the maximum number of different types of Flash Drive, among the above utilities, as well as quickly revive the performance of drives. The USB Disk Storage flash drive repair program will be able to quickly recover data from damaged hard disk partitions, even if flash drive firmware problems are found.
If none of the flash drive recovery programs helped, we recommend checking the status of the memory controller using the ChipGenius utility. The program works with USB, micro SD, SD, SDHC and USB-Mpz players from Kingston, Silicon Power, Transcend, Adata, PQI. Further actions to correct errors, restore lost data are advisable only if
the flash drive is defined in Chip Genius.
Perhaps every user sooner or later faces the problem of the performance of the flash drive. If your removable drive stops working normally, do not rush to throw it away. In case of some failures, performance can be restored. Let's consider all available ways to solve the problem.
It should be said right away that all procedures are performed quite simply. Moreover, the problem can be solved without even resorting to some unusual means, but only by using the capabilities of the Windows operating system. So let's get started!
Method 1: Check Flash Program
This software effectively checks the performance of a flash device.
- Install the program. To do this, download it from the link above.
- In the main window of the program, follow a few simple steps:
- in chapter "Access type" select item "Like a physical device ...";
- to display your device, in the box "Device" click the button "Refresh";
- in chapter "Actions" check the box "Reading stability";
- in chapter "Duration" indicate "Infinitely";
- press the button "Start".
- The check will begin, the progress of which will be displayed on the right side of the window. When testing sectors, each of them will be highlighted with the color specified in the Legend. If everything is in order, then the cell glows blue. If there are errors, the block will be marked in yellow or red. In the tab "Legend" there is a detailed description.
- At the end of the work, all errors will be indicated on the tab "Magazine".
Unlike the built-in CHKDSK command, which we will discuss below, this program erases all data when it checks a flash device. Therefore, before checking, all important information should be copied to a safe place.
If after checking the flash drive continues to work with errors, this indicates that the device is losing its performance. Then you need to try to format it. Formatting can be normal or, if that doesn't help, low-level.
Our lessons will help you to complete this task.
You can also use standard Windows formatting. The corresponding instructions can be found in our article on how to record music on a USB flash drive for a car radio (method 1).
Method 2: CHKDSK utility
This utility is supplied with Windows and is used to check the disk for file system problems. To use it to test the health of your media, do the following:
Flash drive recovery is possible in almost all cases. The recovery methods listed below are designed to eliminate software failures, but if the flash drive is recessed, broken, melted, then software data recovery methods will not help. Therefore, at the very beginning, it is necessary to determine the type of breakdown. To do this, insert the drive into the USB connector, and look at the indicator or at the list of connected devices in the "My Computer" section:
- If the device is displayed, but the files are not visible or inaccessible, then there is a malfunction, which is often eliminated using special programs and you can proceed to the selection;
- The light is off and does not start (or the device not displayed) - there is a physical breakdown;
- Flash drive displayed as a 0 MB disk... Not the most popular type of malfunction, but if you have it, then feel free to skip the main part - at the end of the article a quick solution to this problem is described.
Selection of a special program
There are a number of free programs through which you can bring a USB flash drive back to life. To select the correct program, you must first determine the VIP and PID.
Determining VID and PID
VID and PID are identifiers by which the type of controller that is installed in the flash drive is established. These identifiers are used to select software for working with the device. Programs are developed for different types of controllers.
To determine the VID and PID you need:
Program selection
The obtained information about the controller IDs should be used to find the best program for compatibility. For this:
The service will automatically find compatible software for working with a USB flash drive. You need to select an entry with the same manufacturer from which your USB flash drive is and click on the link. If the link does not work, you can enter the name of the program in the search bar of the browser and download it through the developer's website.
In some cases, searching by VID and PID does not yield results. The site does not display controller compatible software. Then you need to select a program to work with a USB flash drive manually. Some of them are universal, suitable for restoring most cards. These programs will be discussed below.
Recovery using built-in Windows utilities
CHKDSK utility
The utility is suitable for the simplest cases, when file system data failure occurs without violating the cluster layout. When trying to display existing files in the presence of bad sectors, the computer often simply freezes, so there is no need to try to open the device. Instead, let's use the command line by doing the following:
- Look under which letter the system defines the drive (in our case, G).
- Run Command Prompt. To do this, by pressing the Win and R keys or using the "Start" button, call the "Run" window, in the input field write the line cmd, click Ok.
- In the command line window, enter G: / f (under the letter G, the system in our case detects the flash drive).
Thus, the CHKDSK program will be launched to check for file system errors, the / f switch will instruct it to automatically fix the found problems. Upon completion of the utility, you will most likely successfully recover the flash drive without losing data.
Windows DiskPart Utility
The Diskpart utility is run through the command line. You can start the command line by searching in the Start menu. To restore the flash drive, you need the following commands:
To work with the utility, you need administrator rights on your computer. It should also be run as administrator. Otherwise, some of the commands may not work.
Other programs to restore performance
Fortunately for owners, restoring data and performance of flash drives is much easier than for hard drives or microSD drives. Below are some effective programs that will make the "dead" flash drive work.
SDformatter
What can:
- Format devices if the system does not work;
- Restoration of performance due to software, virus damage or improper cleaning in the past;
- Flexible configuration of work with a flash drive.
Suitable for Widows and MacOS. The disadvantage is that there is only an English interface. Not compatible with all types of removable drives.
PC Inspector Smart Recovery
The program is suitable for working with any storage media, including hard drives and removable cards. PC Inspector Smart Recovery is distributed free of charge, you can download it. There is a Russian interface. 
PC Inspector Smart Recovery can recover files of most existing extensions, including rare ones. The program itself has a convenient hint system that is aimed at helping users with recovery. The software even recovers data for which header lines have been deleted. The program can clean, format data on a medium in various ways. The user is offered a flexible setting of parameters, extensive functionality.
RecoveRx
The program was developed by the manufacturer of removable storage devices Transcend. It is free, there is a Russian language. You can download it. Designed specifically to work with removable devices, including players, phones, microcards, SD and flash drives. 
RecoveRx can:
- Recovers data. Helps to recover deleted files of most formats: text, audio, video, applications.
- Formats. Safely cleans the disk of all data without affecting its performance.
- Protects. With RecoveRx, you can set a password on the device memory. Deleting data will only work when you enter this combination. This function is only compatible with Windows OS.
The program is simple and easy to use. The main window offers a list of all connected devices. The user needs to select a USB flash drive and the function that he wants to use.
The system detects the USB drive as a 0 byte disk
If the system detects a 0-byte flash drive, the file system crashes with violation of the cluster markup. If you want to restore data, then it is better to use the instructions above, but if you need to return the USB flash drive to operability, then there is a much simpler and faster way without using additional programs - formatting.
For this:
Why failures occur
Problems with flash cards arise for various reasons:
- Wrong file system selected when formatting;
- The flash drive was cleared incorrectly, the operation was interrupted before the formatting was completed;
- The device was repeatedly forcibly disconnected from the computer at the time it was working, without software removal;
- The device memory is infected with a virus;
- The memory has been repeatedly overwritten without formatting, sectors are damaged.
Serious memory stick problems are rare. Incorrect formatting and virus infection are common problems. When overwriting information in the memory of the card, it is recommended to format it.
Careless, careless handling can damage even the most resistant device. Cards do not have moving parts like HDDs, but they are also prone to malfunction. You can avoid many problems with flash drives if you store them in dark, dry places, carefully remove them from your computer, do not stop formatting and processing files so as not to cause a critical error.
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Broken sectors are an integral part of our digital life. Many of us are already accustomed to this kind of crash from time to time, but a new user who sees an error message while connecting a removable disk to a computer can lead to panic. Removable drives store a small amount of data in each of their sectors and sometimes it happens that one of them gets damaged. Such sectors are called broken.
In this article, we will walk you through the steps required to fix bad sectors on a flash drive or any larger storage medium connected to your computer. This method will require using a device with Windows operating system installed on it.
Logical - storage space that is not working properly. The operating system, while trying to read the sector data, receives an correction error code that does not match the content. Then the system marks it as broken and stops using it for storing information. Such drives can be recovered by overwriting the disk (low-level formatting).
Physical - physically damaged media space. Such damage cannot be repaired.
So how do you fix bad sectors in a removable storage device? Fortunately, there are several ways you can help you deal with this crisis.
Eliminating bad sectors using Windows Explorer
The first and most important troubleshooting method is Windows explorer... An easy-to-use interface will allow you to check the media connected to your computer for bad sectors and eliminate them.
Note: We used Windows 10 to run the disk analysis utility. The user interface of Windows 8.1 is similar, however it may differ from Windows 7.
Troubleshooting steps:
Recovering bad sectors using CMD in Windows
If the UI-based utility does not resolve the issue, try using the Windows Command Prompt. Check Disk is used to perform an operation to check the connected media for errors. To open CMD in Administrator Mode, right-click on the Start button and select Command Prompt (Administrator).
Use the following command to test your drive:
chkdsk C:
Here C is the path / drive letter assigned to your media. You will need to write the symbol corresponding to your drive (in our case, this is E). Open My Computer to see the correct drive letter.
To correct errors on the media, enter the following:
chkdsk / f E:
The command will help you find and eliminate the broken sectors:
chkdsk / f / R E:
Check Disk utility will recover any “logical” bad sector present on the removable drive. Restart your computer when the recovery process is complete.
The above methods will work for SD cards, MicroSD cards (connected with an adapter) and for external / internal hard drives.
If you need to restore and save information in advance, the Starus Recovery tools will help you. You can download and try programs for recovering deleted data on a removable storage device absolutely free! The functionality of each program has a preview window. This function will help make sure that a specific file is not damaged or overwritten, which means it will be successfully restored.
