The best free programs for repairing flash drives. Recovering SD cards and USB flash drives in Windows Mirex 16 gb recovery

Many users neglect to safely remove flash drives, as a result of which the drives stop working correctly: they are not recognized by the system, require formatting, do not read/write data, show the wrong size (for example, 14 Gb instead of 16 Gb). If you are faced with a similar problem, then the question of how to restore a flash drive will probably become relevant to you.

Is it possible to restore the functionality of a flash drive?

Some may think that restoring a flash drive is a pointless exercise. Drives from Transcend, Kingston, A-Data and other manufacturers have flooded the market, making flash memory cheap. Memory cards and flash drives with capacities from 8 Gb to 32 Gb are not so expensive that you can’t easily throw them away and buy new media. However, old flash drives and Micro SD memory cards are usually not thrown away at all: they lie on the table and wait to be restored.

Recovery is possible if the flash drive or memory card has not completely “died” (usually death occurs when the controller burns out).

But if the drive is simply not detected or shows the wrong volume, then the reason for this behavior is most often a controller firmware failure. We will discuss in detail below how to restore a flash drive after such a failure.

Saving information and searching for the necessary software

If important information is stored on a flash drive or SD card, then before flashing and restoring the controller (and with it the functionality of the drive), it is necessary to extract the data. This can be done using the Photorec utility, which can work with media for which the file system is not detected.

After extracting the necessary information from the SD card or flash drive, you can begin searching for a utility for flashing the controller firmware. But to flash a controller, you first need to determine its model. To do this, we use the CheckUDisk utility (distributed free of charge) and the website flashboot.ru:

After completing the check and receiving the necessary information (VID PID of the drive), you need to download a utility to restore the functionality of the flash drive or SD drive. Go to flashboot.ru and open the “iFlash” tab. Here you need to enter the VID PID values ​​and find the desired manufacturer of the memory card or flash drive (HP, Generic Flash Disk, Protex, Oltramax, Smartbuy, etc.).

If your exact model of flash drive or SD memory card is not in the online service database, then it’s okay: the main thing is that the VID PID and the manufacturer match. If the necessary data matches, then you need to obtain information about the exact model of the controller for flashing and restoring it, as well as the name of the appropriate utility.

The table has columns “Controller” and “Utility”. You also need to pay attention to the volume - the controllers of flash drives and SD cards for 16 Gb and 32 Gb may differ. You need to copy the full name of the utility and download it through the “Files” section on the flashboot.ru website or from another source. Often, along with the recovery program, instructions for its use are downloaded, which it is advisable to read carefully.

Controller firmware

Let's say you have a Protec flash drive with a capacity of 16 Gb. You find it by VID PID through the iFlash online service and download the controller firmware utility for free. What to do next? Carry out measures to restore the flash drive (SD memory card).

Universal instructions for restoring all flash drives:

If the firmware is successfully installed, you should see a positive status of the flash drive - “OK” or “Good”. If problems arise during the operation, an error code will appear: its explanation can be found in the help of the utility found by VID PID, or on other online services.

Restoring any flash drives (SD cards) is carried out approximately according to the same scheme, however, the instructions may differ slightly for different utilities: you need to use the VID PID to find the program for flashing the controller and start restoring the USB drive.

To restore a flash drive, you must additionally format it. You can perform it using standard Windows tools or using special programs. It is recommended to run a full format rather than a quick format. This will take a little more time (especially if the storage capacity exceeds 16 Gb), but you will be sure that the flash drive is now completely clean and functional.

A USB flash drive is not recognized as a disk when connected to a computer or laptop? Can't you write anything on it? And you can’t even format the flash drive? In principle, all is not lost. Most likely the problem lies with the controller. But this can be fixed. And everything will take a maximum of 5-10 minutes.

The only caveat is that restoring the flash drive’s functionality is only possible if it has no mechanical damage (+ it appears in device manager). That is, if you disabled it not through “Safely Remove” (or something like that), then this can be fixed. At the very least, it’s worth at least trying to restore a non-working flash drive.

How to get your flash drive working again

Even if it seems that the USB flash drive has come to an end, you should not take it for repairs. And even more so throw it away. First, you can try to restore the damaged flash drive.

The instructions work for all USB flash drives: Silicon Power, Kingston, Transcend, Data Traveler, A-Data, etc. With its help, you can restore the file system and fix any problems (except mechanical damage).

So, the first thing you need to do is determine the parameters of the USB flash drive. Or rather, its VID and PID. Based on this information, you can determine the brand of the controller, and then select a utility that will help restore the damaged flash drive.

To find out these parameters, do the following:

1. Connect the flash drive to your PC or laptop and go to Start – Control Panel – Device Manager.
2. Find the "USB Controllers" section.
3. Double-click on it and look for the “USB storage device” item. This is your flash drive (let me remind you, it must be connected to the computer).
4. Right-click on it and select “Properties”.
5. In the new window, go to the “Details” tab.
6. In the “Property” field, select the “Equipment ID” (or “Instance Code”) item.

   

7. Look at the VID and PID values ​​and remember them.
   
8. Next, go to the website http://flashboot.ru/iflash/, enter your values ​​at the top of the site and click the “Search” button.
   
9. You are looking for the model of your USB flash drive (by manufacturer and memory capacity). In the right column “Utils” there will be the name of the program with which you can try to restore a non-working flash drive.
   

After that, all that remains is to find this utility by name or follow the link (if it exists) and download it.

Restoring Kingstone, Silicon Power, Transcend and other models is easy: just run the program and follow the instructions.

What to do if you have not found a suitable utility for your model? To do this, go to Google or Yandex and write something like this: “Silicon Power 4 GB VID 090C PID 1000” (of course, you should indicate the parameters of your flash drive here). And then look what the search engine found.

Never use programs that are not suitable for the VID and PID parameters of your controller! Otherwise, you will “kill” the flash drive completely, and you will no longer be able to restore it.

In most cases, recovery of a damaged flash drive is successful. And after that it will be detected when connected to a PC or laptop.

This is how you repair a flash drive yourself using a free utility.

And most importantly: in this way it is possible to restore a damaged flash drive in 80% of cases. While most specialized programs may not be able to cope with this task.

There are many factors that lead to flash drives refusing to work. In this article we will consider not the reasons, but ways to return products to full functioning. To do this, we will study the process of how to flash a flash drive using special utilities.

The function of formatting a USB drive is not available, the operating system software signals errors, and special utilities do not give the desired result? You can restore the functionality of the product by flashing the flash drive, or, more precisely, flashing the flash drive controller firmware.

Firmware is usually called microprogram, which consists of service information on microcircuits and controller microcode. This microcode is embedded in the product during the manufacture of the gadget at the factory. The service can be rewritten many times during operation.

Performing a software repair (repeating factory steps) is as follows:

• Cleaning.
• Memory testing.
• The process of compiling new translation tables and their subsequent recording in service fields.

All of the above actions are “low-level formatting”.

For such work, utilities for controller models have strict specialization. Because of this, the repairman needs to find the appropriate one for a specific instance. Chip options may vary from batch to batch. In some cases, you have to go through more than a dozen options.

Determination of type (brand)

Before flashing a flash drive, you need to determine the PID and VID values ​​for it. With their help, you can find out the model by which the technological program for repair will be determined. To determine the model, the easiest way is to look at the markings after opening the case. A more gentle way is to use software methods.

Special software is used that recognizes any USB flash drive to find the manufacturer identifier (VID code) and product identifier (PID code). For example, let's take the Flash Drive Information Extractor program (there are many other software available).

After the application installation process, run the GetFlashInfo.exe file. Then click on “Get data” and the user will be provided with a report with the codes of interest.

Based on the received VID and PID data, we determine the controller and software (UTILS) in the iFlash database so that the firmware of the flash drive controller can be flashed.

Other devices with a similar controller will be presented in the list. The more similar ones are intuitively selected from them. Now you need to find the utility; enter the found name in the search engine. If what you are looking for is not found on the resource, you can turn to other sources or Google it. If the name is slightly different, everything should work out.

Choosing an operating system for techno-utilities

Technological utilities work best under Windows XP. Manufacturers are more conservative and do not follow fashion. During work it is necessary to install drivers and perform other “dangerous” actions. Therefore you need to have administrator rights.

How to flash a flash drive found program?

First, we disconnect the drive, after which we launch the exe file of the downloaded and unpacked software (in our example, MPTool.exe).

In the archive you need to look for the text file readmi.txt (read me). It may contain useful data, instructions, or a link to a source with it. Google Translate can be used to translate English text.

When the application is launched, connect the USB flash drive to the PC. Information about it will be displayed in the program window. After clicking the “Start” button, the process of flashing the flash drive will begin, which is reflected by a yellow stripe.

When the flashing is completed, an approving text - OK - will be displayed on a green background in one of the cells.

The operating system will immediately prompt you to format the disk. If the necessary driver is installed on the computer, then everything will work out. If the driver is missing, then you need to disconnect/attach the drive. Then the necessary driver will be installed automatically, the flash drive will appear in Explorer, after which you can start formatting.

With other utilities, the actions may differ, but not so critical that the user cannot cope with the process.

Manufacturers began to add software to the public that is intended for repairing flash drives. To download what you need in a specific situation, you should select a model in the technical support section. Sometimes a serial number may be additionally required. Quite often, the serial number is requested by the program itself and checked using the Internet. It would not be a bad idea to carry out authentication using SerialCheck software, since fakes are all around us.

For almost all models, functionality can be restored by using proprietary software. It is possible to find similar situations on the forums. The process of flashing the controller of a Chinese flash drive does not have any differences, except for its smaller capacity in comparison with the declared one. The flash drive may be unrepairable if the brand of the controller is unidentified.

SanDisk flash drives are in difficult situations. This is due to the conduct of their corporate policies. The company itself carries out the full production cycle, starting with the development of non-standard solutions and ending with implementation. There is no repair software for them.

Many factors lead to “diseases” of flash drives (when they refuse to work). In this publication, we will not be interested in them (the reasons), but in ways to return gadgets to full functioning - how to flash or reflash a flash drive.

It is not difficult to flash or reflash a flash drive.

The main purpose of using a flash drive is to record data. The data (together with flash) has a wide variety of purposes - from simple storage to loading the OS (even checking fingerprints).

Architecture and recording system

It is also important for the topic of our article to understand its components:

• The physical connection to the PC is made using a USB interface (sometimes microUSB);
• Controller;
• Memory chip;
• Signal oscillator for USB bus.

The FAT system (16, 32 or ex) is used for recording (depending on the size). For capacities over 64 GB - exFAT or NTFS. If using the gadget becomes problematic (read-write errors), it needs to be formatted or flashed.

Windows tools

Flashing a flash drive

If formatting the drive is not available (the OS program reports errors and special utilities do not produce results), then to bring it back to life you will need to flash the flash drive firmware, or rather, flash the flash drive controller firmware.

The correct name for what is usually called firmware is microprogram consisting of controller microcode and service data on microcircuits. The microcode is embedded in the device during manufacturing at the factory. But the service manual is often rewritten during operation.

Software repair (repeating factory actions) includes cleaning, testing memory, creating new translation tables and writing them to service fields - this is what is called “low-level formatting”.

Utilities for such work have a strict specialization based on controller models. Therefore, the repairman needs to find the one that corresponds to a specific instance (after all, microcircuit options can change from batch to batch!) - patiently going through more than a dozen.

Determining the brand (type)

Before flashing a flash drive, you need to determine the VID and PID values ​​for it. From them we will recognize the model, and from it we will find technological software for repairs. To determine the model, the easiest way would be to look at the markings after opening the case. It would be more gentle to use software methods.

To find the VID (manufacturer identification) and PID (product identification) codes that recognize any USB flash drive, special software is used. For one of the devices, we can use (for example) the Flash Drive Information Extractor program (there are many others).

After installing the application and running the GetFlashInfo.exe file, click “Get data”. Let's get a sample report:

Based on the obtained values ​​for VID and PID, entered into the database window, the controller and program (UTILS) for flashing the flash drive are determined:

There will be other devices in the list with the same controller. The more similar one is selected from them (intuitively). Now we find the utility - enter the found name in the search. If what you are looking for is not found on this site, you can Google it or turn to other sources. Even if the name is slightly different, it’s okay - it should work out.

Choosing an OS for techno-utilities

Technological utilities work better under Windows XP - production workers are more conservative and do not chase fashion. In addition, due to the fact that driver installation and other “dangerous” actions will be required, you must have administrator rights.

Reflash with the found program

We disconnect the drive, launch the executing exe file of the downloaded and unpacked utility (in this case MPTool.exe).

IMPORTANT. It is worth looking in the archive for the “read me” text file (readme.txt) - it may contain useful information. It may contain instructions or a hyperlink to a source with them. Translate the English text using Google Translator.

After launching the application, connect the USB flash drive to the PC - information about it appears in the program window. By pressing the “Start” key, flashing begins. The process is reflected by a yellow stripe.

Upon completion, an encouraging text will be reflected on the green background of one of the cells - OK.

The OS immediately prompts you to format the disk. If you have the necessary driver installed, then everything will work out. If not, then you need to disconnect/attach the gadget. Then the driver will be installed automatically and the flash drive will appear in Explorer - you can format it.

With another utility, the actions may be slightly different, but not so critical that you can’t handle it.

Manufacturers began to make publicly available software for flash drive repair. To download what you need in a particular case, the model (sometimes additionally the serial number) is indicated in the technical support section. In some cases, the serial number is requested by the software itself (checked via the Internet). It would not be superfluous to check the authenticity with the SerialCheck program, since counterfeits surround us everywhere.

Almost any model can be brought to life using proprietary programs. Plus the opportunity to find a similar case on the forums. The firmware of the Chinese flash drive controller is no different, except for their smaller capacity compared to the declared one. A flash drive with an unidentified controller brand may be unrepairable.

Complex cases include SanDisk flash drives. This is due to corporate policy. The company itself carries out the full production cycle - from the development of non-standard solutions to sales. There is no repair software for them. If you can’t find the utility, don’t worry and use a bucket.

Flash drive prevention

As we already understood, it is better not to let the flash drive need repair. Here are some recommendations to minimize unwanted effects:

• Protection from temperature fluctuations, the influence of water, aggressive environments, mechanical influences, X-rays, electromagnetic fields. Accurate insertion/removal;
• When a flash drive is filled to capacity, its file system may be damaged. A dangerous symptom when recording is slowdown and freezing;
• Check the flash drive using OS tools, defragment it;
• Do not use a flash drive as the only copy of data (imagine that you only have one key to your apartment);
• Follow the procedure for safely removing the flash drive;
• To avoid static discharges, do not touch the contacts of the flash drive with your fingers or metal objects, and avoid contact with other synthetics;
• If a flash drive behaves strangely, do not rush to treat it with low-level programs. First, copy important files to another medium, and then start repairing.

Now you know how to flash a USB flash drive and you can figure out this issue yourself. May your flash drives live long.

Leave your comments.

USB flash drives are reliable devices, but there is always a risk of failure. The reason for this may be incorrect operation, firmware failure, unsuccessful formatting, and so on. In any case, if this is not physical damage, you can try to restore it using software.

The problem is that not every tool is suitable for recovering a specific flash drive, and using the wrong utility can permanently damage it. But knowing the VID and PID of the drive, you can determine the type of its controller and select the appropriate program.

VID is used to identify the manufacturer, PID is the identifier of the device itself. Accordingly, each controller on the removable drive is marked with these values. True, some unscrupulous manufacturers may neglect the paid registration of ID numbers and simply assign them at random. But this mainly concerns cheap Chinese products.

First, make sure that the flash drive is at least somehow detected by the computer: a characteristic sound is heard when connected, it is visible in the list of connected devices, and is displayed in "Task Manager"(possibly as an unknown device) and so on. Otherwise, there is little chance not only of determining the VID and PID, but also of recovering the media.

ID numbers can be quickly determined using specialized programs. Alternatively, you can use "Device Manager" or simply disassemble the flash drive and find information on its “internals”.

Please note that MMC, SD, MicroSD cards do not have VID and PID values. By applying one of the methods to them, you will receive only card reader identifiers.

Method 1: ChipGenius

It perfectly reads basic technical information not only from flash drives, but also from many other devices. Interestingly, ChipGenius has its own VID and PID database to provide guessable device information when the controller fails to interrogate for some reason.

To use this program, do the following:

1. Launch it. At the top of the window, select the USB flash drive.
2. Below opposite the value "USB Device ID" You will see VID and PID.

Please note: older versions of the program may not work correctly - download the latest ones (you can find the exact one using the link above). Also in some cases it refuses to work with USB 3.0 ports.

Method 2: Flash Drive Information Extractor

This program provides more detailed information about the drive, of course, including VID and PID.

After you have downloaded the program, do the following:

Method 3: USBDeview

The main function of this program is to display a list of all devices ever connected to this PC. Additionally, you can get detailed information about them.

Instructions for use are as follows:

Method 4: ChipEasy

An intuitive utility that allows you to get comprehensive information about the flash drive.

After downloading, do this:

1. Launch the program.
2. In the top field, select the desired drive.
3. Below you will see all its technical data. VID and PID are on the second line. You can select and copy them ( "CTRL+C").

Method 5: CheckUDisk

A simple utility that displays basic information about the drive.

Further instructions:

1. Launch the program.
2. Select the flash drive from the top.
3. Check out the data below. VID and PID are located on the second line.

Method 6: Study the board

When none of the methods helps, then you can take radical measures and open the flash drive case, if possible. You may not find VID and PID there, but the markings on the controller have the same value. The controller is the most important part of the USB drive; it is black in color and square in shape.


What to do with these values?

Now you can start using the information received and find an effective utility for working with your flash drive. To do this, you should use it, where users themselves create a database of such programs.