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The best program for usb. Programs for repairing USB flash drives, SD cards (diagnostics and testing, formatting, recovery). For formatting and repair

In this article, you will learn about programs that can recover data on a flash drive, as well as configure settings so that there are no problems with flash drives in the future.

It is possible to correct various flash drive errors by setting up drivers, connecting the flash drive to different ports, and so on. But if this no longer helps, then you need to use more effective methods and use third-party programs.

I’ll say right away that using such programs to recover flash drives does not always solve, but rather aggravates the problem. Therefore, the choice is yours. This risk is yours and yours alone.

In the article on flash drive repair, we will talk about such popular flash drive manufacturers as Kingston, Adata, Silicon Power and Transcend.

Free programs for recovery and repair of flash drives

UtilityJetFlash Online Recovery forflash drivesTranscend

This utility was previously called JetFlash Recovery Tool, now JetFlash Online Recovery. This is the official utility.

Working with this utility is quite simple: connect the flash drive, run the program and then proceed as the flash drive recovery wizard tells us.

There are two options:

You can fix the flash drive and save all the data on it.
You can repair the flash drive and erase all data on it.

Depending on your luck, if the first option doesn’t help, then move on to the second.

Download the utility for free JetFlash Online Recovery

(downloads: 25269)

UtilityUSB Flash Drive Recovery forflash drivesSilicon Power

The utility is freely available on the manufacturer's official website. You can also download it from our website.

Silicon Power

(downloads: 20987)

Kingston flash drive and its repair

If you have a Kingston flash drive (quite common among users), then you can use the utility from the official website of the Kingston manufacturer.

Download free utility for flash drive Kingston

(downloads: 13552)

Now let's go through utilities and programs that are not a product of a specific manufacturer.

Program for data recovery from flash drive D-Soft Flash Doctor

The program is free. Reviews about it are very flattering, so it can help you recover data from a flash drive.

How can I determine which program is suitable for my flash drive?

It happens that a person does not know what kind of flash drive he has. Therefore, we suggest that you use a program that will determine the memory controller you are using - Chip Genius. The VID and PID parameters will be indicated there, they will be useful to you.

As a result, you will be given search results.

In the Chip Model column you will see which other flash drives, besides yours, use the same controller. The Utils column offers utilities for flash drive recovery. Next, look for the proposed program and use it.

If you just bought a new USB flash drive, you should immediately subject it to a thorough check. When you buy some inexpensive models, you will not get exactly what is written on the package.

It often happens that cheap controller chips cannot access all available memory, and the read and write speeds in practice differ from those indicated in bright advertising brochures. Special tools will help you check the condition of the flash drive.

Running Check Flash

Insert the USB flash drive into your computer and, if necessary, create copies of all files stored on it. Then open mikelab.kiev.ua, then select “Programs | ChkFlash" and download the provided ZIP archive. Unpack the archive and run the program.

Calculating the actual capacity of a flash drive

In the program window, in the “Disk” section, select the desired drive and in the “Access Type” section, activate the “As a physical device (only for NT systems)” option. In the Action section, select the Write and Read function and activate Full Set. Under Duration, select the Single Pass option.

Then click on the “Start!” button. and by clicking on the “Yes” button, confirm the action in the notification that all files stored on the flash drive will be deleted. If the flash drive capacity is less than specified, memory errors will appear during the test.

Flash drive speed measurement

In the main Check Flash window, select the desired flash drive and in the “Access Type” section, check the “Use temporary file” option. Under Duration, select the Single Pass option, then click Start! The graph above the button shows the verification process.

In the “Information” area, the utility displays the received data. Opposite the “Read” item the reading speed is displayed, opposite “Write” the measured write speed.

Detection of memory cells containing errors

In the Check Flash program, select the desired flash drive and in the “Access Type” section, select the “As a logical drive (NT systems only)” option. In the "Action" section, activate the "Write and Read" function and then "Small Set". Click on the “Start!” button and by clicking on the “Yes” button in the notification that all files stored on the flash drive will be deleted, confirm the action.

Then open the “Log” tab, and if the utility displays a long list of errors there, then in the future you should not save important files on the flash drive.

Formatting a USB flash drive

Since Check Flash writes data to the flash drive in different places, the next step is to format it. Open Windows Explorer, right-click on the flash drive icon, select “Format” and follow the instructions.

D-Soft Flash Doctor 1.0.3 Rus a new, free, very useful and necessary program that can treat and even format no longer working USB flash drives.

Recuva 1.38.504- Here's another new program for recovering files accidentally deleted from your computer's hard drives. Recuva allows you to recover both files deleted from the Recycle Bin and any other files (photos, music) that were deleted by the user from MP3 players and other mobile devices. Recuva can also recover files deleted due to errors, crashes or viruses.

JetFlash Recovery Tool- Super program for flash drive recovery. If the flash drive is buggy, reads with errors, it is impossible to write anything on it, it is not visible in the system, do not rush to throw it away. This program will save you! Insert the flash drive, run the program, click "Start" and in a few seconds you will get a fully functioning flash drive. Suitable for flash drives produced by A-DATA, Transcend, and in general for all JetFlash.

EzRecover- USB Flash recovery utility, helps when the flash is detected as a Security Device, is not detected at all or shows 0Mb volume. In order for EzRecovery to see the flash drive, after starting the program and issuing an error message, you need to remove the flash drive and reinsert it again, and then everything is fine. Attention! After using the program, all data will not be saved to the flash drive.

Storage Tool 2. To run Recover Disk, the flash drive must be identified as a U-storage controller, and for this you need to install drivers for the flash drives from the U-Storage kit.

F-Recovery for CompactFlash The f_recovery_cf utility allows you to recover deleted photos and videos from CompactFlash cards after formatting or recording errors.

download F-Recovery for CompactFlash

F-Recovery for MemoryStick The f_recovery_ms utility allows you to recover deleted photos and videos from CompactFlash cards after formatting or recording errors.

F-Recovery for miniSD The f_recovery_miniSD utility allows you to recover deleted photos and videos from miniSD cards after formatting or recording errors.

F-Recovery for MultiMediaCard The f_recovery_mmc utility allows you to recover deleted photos and videos from MMC cards after formatting or recording errors.

F-Recovery for SD The f_recovery_sd utility allows you to recover deleted photos and videos from SD cards after formatting or recording errors.

F-Recovery for SmartMedia The f_recovery_sm utility allows you to recover deleted photos and videos from SmartMedia cards after formatting or recording errors.

Universal Flash Testing Utilities

Flashnul A program that allows you to diagnose and correct software errors in Flash drives. Removable media based on flash memory (such as usb-flash drives, SD, MMC, MS, XD, MD, CompactFlash, etc) due to a number of features (hot-plug connection, exposure to static, moisture, temperature, mechanical stress during transportation , normal wear and tear due to the limited number of read/write cycles) fail relatively often. And if simple defects like “not detected”, “writing errors” are detected relatively easily, then diagnosing more complex defects is a very non-trivial task. The flashnul utility was created to solve this problem.

Utilities for Apacer

AH220 LFormat Utility WinME/2000/XP

Handy Steno 2.0 Flash Disk Utility WinME/2000/XP

Handy Steno 2.0 LFormat for Write Protect WinME/2000/XP

Handy Steno 2.0 Repair Tool WinME/2000/XP

Utilities Utilities for Sony

Memory Stick Formatter The utility is designed for formatting Memory Stick cards. It helps to return the original volume of the card, and also helps in cases where the computer does not recognize the card. Designed for cards:

"Memory Stick", "MagicGate Memory Stick", "Memory Stick Duo", and "Memory Stick (with Memory Select Function)"
Sony brand "Memory Stick PRO" and "Memory Stick PRO Duo"

Attention! After using the program, all data on the card will not be saved

iFormat For USB 1.1 flash drives on the iCreate i5062 controller. Helps to return the real volume of fake Sony flash drives

IFormat For USB 2.0 flash drives on the iCreate i5122 controller. Helps to return the real volume of fake Sony flash drives

iFormat For USB 2.0 flash drives on the iCreate i5122 controller. Helps to return the real volume of fake Sony flash drives

PortFree Production Program 3.27 Using this utility, you can see the real size of your flash drive, find out if your flash drive is fake or not, and format it to the real size.

Utilities for Seitec

SecureCell Plus Utility for CellDiskPlus/KeyDisk Formatting, eliminating bad blocks, setting the correct size

Utilities for Transcend

A proprietary utility from Transcend for formatting Jetflash. A proprietary utility from Transcend for Jetflash recovery. Solving the problem when formatting Jetflash when the error "No JetFlash found!" appears

AlcorMP One of the best programs for repairing Transcend flash drives of the JF family. (Based on Alcor AU controllers). Solves the following problems: The flash drive is not formatted, there are bad blocks, the memory capacity of the flash drive is incorrect or 0, it is locked for writing or reading, etc.

T.sonic 310 A selection of programs for working with a flash drive (MP3 player). Included are programs for formatting, data recovery, unlocking and many others (Format.exe, LockSev.exe recovery.exe, UDisk98.exe, UDiskNT.exe).

JetFlash 120 Recovery Tool

You must enable showing hidden files (folder properties – view – show hidden files and folders).
Launch the mFormat utility.
Go to the Temp folder in your account directory (For example: Documents and Settings – Leon – Local Settings – Temp).
If everything is done correctly, the JFAPP folder should appear in Temp, in which the JFormat.exe file will be found.
By running JFormat.exe we bypass the message “No JetFlash found!”. A proprietary utility from Transcend for Jetflash recovery.

JetFlash Recovery Tool V1.0.5 A later utility for recovery (repair) USB Flash Transcend.

Driver Drivers for flash drives transcend.

Utilities for A-Data

Format Utility For Adata Flash Disk PD-0.1.2.3.4.5 A utility designed for formatting flash drives, correcting errors, etc.

By downloading free programs for repairing flash drives, you can restore and regain the ability to use it for writing and reading.

In this case, you will have to sacrifice data, which may not be recovered later.

But the alternative to using these applications is both non-working and lack of information.

Diagnosis of the problem

The main signs that a flash drive requires repair are:

Issuing messages about USB media copy protection or about an unidentified device;
The drive cannot be detected by any computer;
Absence from the list of disks;
Inability to read (and, of course, write) information;
Negative results when attempting to restore or format.

Sometimes the problem may be a USB connector or a lack of drivers on a particular computer. But when problems occur on every device, most likely the problem is with the drive.

Utilities for flash drives

You can try to restore the functionality of the USB drive using system utilities.

But when the problem is serious, the best option is to restore it through a program specifically designed for repairs.

Some manufacturers produce their own applications that are best suited for repairing these particular brands.

Although with their help you can restore a USB drive of any brand.

Advice: Special programs are designed for repair, not restoration. It is not recommended to extract information using them.

JetFlash Online Recovery

To restore non-functioning Transcend drives, the manufacturing company has created a special utility that can be found and downloaded for free on its official website.

Adata

The manufacturer Adata also has a freely available program for restoring USB media on its official website.

In some cases, the application manages to save part of the data, even if the USB drive has been formatted.

Unlike most such programs, recovery can be performed not only on video, audio and photo files, but also on Word documents, e-books and spreadsheets.

Universal programs

In addition to specialized software that mainly repairs drives of its own brand, there are several applications that can restore the working condition of most devices.

One of them is the D-Soft Flash Doctor program, which provides the following benefits:

Menu and documentation in Russian;
Lack of localization for individual brands;
Creating a flash disk image for further work not on the drive, but on its virtual copy.

The following programs, not so well known, but also free and quite effective, are:

ChipEasy, which can not only easily restore a flash drive, but also recognize the manufacturer if its name is not written on the case or has been erased over time;

Now all that remains is to find the corresponding program in the Chip Model column, paying attention to the match of controllers.

You can find and download it for free on the Internet.

The principle of operation for all of them is approximately the same - more emphasis on restoring performance, less on saving data.

Thematic video:

How to recover a flash drive that won't start? it is very easy!

The best free programs for repairing flash drives

Good time!

It’s not uncommon for all sorts of troubles to happen with SD cards and USB flash drives: sometimes they can’t be read, sometimes copying takes too long, sometimes various kinds of errors appear (what, what formatting is required, etc.). Moreover, this sometimes happens out of the blue...

In this article, I want to recommend a dozen utilities that have helped me out more than once or twice. With their help, you can work with flash drives and drives from different manufacturers (Silicon Power, Kingston, Transcend, etc.), i.e. This is a universal software. I think the material will be very helpful to everyone who periodically faces similar problems.

For testing and diagnostics

CrystalDiskMark

A very useful little utility. Allows you to quickly obtain read/write speed data. Supports not only USB flash drives, but also classic HDDs, SSDs, external hard drives and other drives (which Windows sees).

Note: in most cases, they are guided by the first line “Sec” (sequential read record speed). Read - reading, Write - writing.

USB Flash Benchmark

Developer website: http://usbflashspeed.com/

Another utility for testing the speed of flash drives. Allows you to get not only some numbers, but also compare them with other drives (i.e. evaluate your flash drive with other device models). This can be done due to the fact that the test results are saved on the website of the same name (along with flash drive models).

By the way! If you are thinking of buying a fast flash drive, just go to the website http://usbflashspeed.com/ and look at the top 10. This way you can acquire what other people have already experienced in practice!

H2testw

A small utility from German programmers. Designed to scan USB drives for their actual capacity (approx. : some flash drives, for example, from Chinese manufacturers, come with a “fake” inflated volume) . In these cases, it is enough to run the flash drive using H2testw, and then format it correctly.

How to find out the real capacity of a flash drive and restore its functionality (using H2testw) -

Flash Memory Toolkit

Flash Memory Toolkit is a good package for servicing USB devices. Allows you to perform a whole range of the most necessary actions:

testing drives for errors when reading and writing;
data recovery from flash drives;
viewing properties and characteristics;
the ability to create a backup flash drive;
low-level drive speed test.

Flashnul

Developer's website: http://shounen.ru/

This program can diagnose and correct many software errors (especially when it is unclear what is happening with the flash drive: that is, no errors are displayed). In addition, it supports almost all flash memory media: USB flash drives, CompactFlash, SD, MMC, MS, XD, etc.

Possibilities:

reading and writing testing: the availability of each sector of the media will be checked;
checking the integrity of files located on a USB drive;
the ability to make an image of the contents on a flash drive (may be useful for data recovery);
possibility of sector-by-sector recording of an image to a USB device;
Some operations can be performed for other types of media: HDD, CD, Floppy disk, etc.

ChipEasy

A free and very simple utility for obtaining complete information about a flash drive. It is very useful in cases where the markings on the flash drive itself have been erased (or there were none at all).

What data does ChipEasy provide:

VID
manufacturer;
controller model;
serial number;
firmware information;
memory model;
Max. current consumption, etc.

Flash Drive Information

The utility is similar to the previous one. Allows you to find out all the information about the drive (flash drive, memory card) in 2 clicks: model, controller, memory, etc.

For formatting and repair

HDD Low Level Format Tool

A program for low-level* formatting of hard drives, SD cards, flash drives and other drives. I would note its “unpretentiousness”: even if other utilities freeze when trying to access a flash drive (or don’t see it), the HDD Low Level Format Tool can help in most cases...

Peculiarities:

Most manufacturers (Hitachi, Seagate, Samsung, Toshiba, etc.) and interfaces (SATA, IDE, USB, SCSI, Firewire) are supported;
formatting clears absolutely all information from the disk (partition table, MBR);
Recovering information from a disk after formatting using HDD Low Level Format Tool is almost impossible!

MyDiskFix

A free small utility designed for low-level formatting of failed flash drives. It is useful in cases where your flash drive cannot be formatted using standard Windows tools, when the flash drive shows the wrong volume, or a recording error occurs.

Note: before formatting in MyDiskFix, you need to find out how many actual working sectors are on your flash drive. This can be done, for example, using the H2Test utility (which I cited above).

USB Disk Storage Format Tool

A small utility for formatting HDD/USB Flash drive (file systems supported: NTFS, FAT, FAT32). By the way, the USB Disk Storage Format Tool does not require installation, and does not freeze if it works with faulty flash drives, from which you need to wait minutes for a response (like, for example, the standard formatting utility in Windows).

Peculiarities:

fast and safe formatting of the drive;
when fully formatted through the utility, all data from the flash drive is deleted (later, not a single file from it will be recoverable);
scanning the drive for errors;
creating partitions with the FAT 32 file system larger than 32 GB;
tested with 1000 different flash drives (Compact Flash, CF Card II, Memory Stick Duo Pro, SDHC, SDXC, Thumb Drive, etc.), and various manufacturers (HP, Sony, Lexar, Imation, Toshiba, PNY, ADATA, etc. ).

Format USB Or Flash Drive Software

A specialized utility for working with failed USB drives. Allows you to format and restore the flash drive. I would also note its very simple interface (see screenshot above), and the ability to work without installation.

Peculiarities:

file system support: FAT, FAT32, eXFAT, NTFS;
simple and convenient interface;
possibility of full and quick formatting;
the ability to “see” drives that the explorer refuses to “show”;
possibility of integration into the Windows menu;
Compatible with Windows 7, 8, 10.

Transcend RecoveRx

Multifunctional program: allows you to recover files from flash drives, format them, and protect them with a password. In general, this program is intended for flash drives from the manufacturer Transcend, but I can’t help but note that the formatting option also works for flash drives from other manufacturers.

RecoveRx is a fairly “omnivorous” program: it supports USB flash drives, memory cards, MP3 players, external hard drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD).

JetFlash Recovery Tool

This utility will help in cases where standard Windows tools simply do not see the flash drive. Officially supported USB flash drives are only from Transcend, JetFlash and A-DATA (unofficially - much more).

Important! Keep in mind that during the process of repairing (restoring) a flash drive, the program completely deletes all data from it! If you have the opportunity to save something from a faulty flash drive, do so.

Peculiarities:

simple and free utility (only 2 buttons!);
compatible with Windows 7, 8, 10 (also works with older OS Windows XP, 2000 (other OS - operation is not guaranteed));
Only 3 manufacturers are officially supported: Transcend, A-DATA and JetFlash;
automatic recovery of the drive (the user only needs to press 1 button);
low system requirements;
no utility installation required.

SD Formatter

Formatting a Canon SD card in SD Formatter

This utility is designed to repair and restore memory cards: SD, SDHC, SDXC, microSD. The developers specifically targeted their product to the needs of photographers, videographers, and service specialists for such equipment.

The drive is restored in auto mode. Suitable for a variety of cases: software errors, virus infections, failures, due to improper use, etc.

Note: while working with a flash drive, SD Formatter will delete all data from it!

D-Soft Flash Doctor

A small portable program for diagnosing and repairing broken flash drives (low-level formatting, soft reset). In addition, it can create images from flash drives/memory cards and write them to other storage media.

The program supports the Russian language (since the developer is from Kazakhstan), and is compatible with all modern Windows 7, 8, 10 operating systems.

To recover files from a flash drive

R.Saver

An easy-to-use program for recovering deleted files from various types of media: hard drives, memory cards, flash drives, etc. Can be used for various errors, file system failures, after formatting, virus infection, etc.

Supports NTFS, FAT and ExFAT file systems. For residents of Russia (when used for non-commercial purposes) the program is free.

Important!

You can learn more about working with R.Saver in the article on how to recover photos from a MicroSD memory card or USB flash drive -

Recuva

A file recovery program from the developers of CCleaner (the famous utility for cleaning Windows from junk files).

Recuva allows you to work not only with HDDs, but also with USB flash drives, external drives, SSDs, and memory cards. The program is aimed at the novice user, so its use is very simple.

Peculiarities:

all actions in the program are performed step by step;
2 modes for scanning drives;
sorting files by their name, size, status, etc.;
The utility is free;
Russian is supported;
Compatible with Windows XP, 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits).

MiniTool Power Data Recovery

A very powerful program (with unique scanning algorithms) that will allow you to recover data from damaged flash drives, memory cards, external drives, CDs and other drives. Popular file systems are supported: FAT 12/16/32, NTFS.

I would like to note on my own that, in my humble opinion, the program’s algorithms are actually different from other programs of a similar kind, because several times with its help it was possible to recover information when other software simply did not find anything...

Note: in the free version of MiniTool Power Data Recovery, you can only recover 1 GB of information.

Addition!

In general, there are quite a lot of similar programs ( approx. : which can scan the drive and recover some of the deleted files). In one of my previous articles, I already cited a dozen of the most successful free products (most of them work not only with classic HDDs, but also with flash drives). I am posting a link to the article below.

10 free programs for recovering deleted data: files, documents, photos -

That's all for now. Additions to useful and interesting utilities are always welcome.