What to do if the flash drive does not open?

For the past five years, USB drives have successfully supplanted optical discs from the information technology market. Currently, ordinary CD and DVD discs are used only by owners of car radios and gamers who purchase copies of games in stores. Flash drives have gained popularity due to their compactness, versatility, and reusable data storage. But no matter how convenient they are for data transfer, problems often arise when working with flash drives. Data stored on a USB drive can be lost in the event of mechanical damage to the USB drive or software failure. What if the flash drive won't open? Is it possible to recover files on it?

As a rule, failures in the operation of a flash drive begin after overcoming the maximum number of rewriting cycles. Undoubtedly, depending on the manufacturer of the flash drive, the quality of its manufacture and the frequency of use, its "durability" can vary from several months to several decades. At the same time, it should be understood that there is no drive capable of storing data forever. In our world, only papyrus paper has preserved the manuscripts of the Egyptian pharaohs for several thousand years.

The reasons for the inoperability of the USB drive can be both software and hardware, associated with mechanical damage to the flash drive or moisture ingress into the case. If the board is damaged, it is impossible to recover any data from the drive. Often, if a flash drive is misused, the USB interface falls off. If you have "straight" hands and the ability to work with a soldering iron, it is quite possible to restore the interface for connecting to a computer.

It is much easier to open the drive on the computer and copy files from it in case of software failures. If, when you try to open a USB flash drive, the system refuses to you, try inserting it into a different slot. The situation has not changed? Disconnect all peripherals (mouse, keyboard, hub) and reconnect the USB drive. If the flash drive opens, then most likely there is not enough power. In this case, it is worth purchasing a USB hub (hub) with additional power supply.

Do not connect drives through the port on the front of the system case, because in most cases, USB 1.1 power is not enough to open USB drives. Also, do not connect drives via USB extenders with a cable length of 1.8 meters or more.

Isn't the food problem? If the flash drive does not have any important data, then format it in the FAT32 system with a standard cluster size. To do this, connect the USB flash drive to your PC and open "My Computer". Right-click on the drive's shortcut and go to the "Format" tab.

Specify FAT32 file system and default cluster size. Give any name to the flash drive (volume label) in Latin, tick the "Quick (clear the table of contents)" checkbox and click the "Start" button.

After formatting is complete, disconnect the USB flash drive from the computer and re-insert it into the USB port.

If Windows informs you that it cannot complete formatting, then you need to use a special utility for low-level formatting, for example PeToUSB.

Download a small utility from the Internet and run it on your computer. Insert the USB flash drive into your PC and wait until the name of your flash drive appears in the "Destination Drive" window.

Check the “Enable Disk Format” checkbox and click the “Start” button.

What to do if the flash drive stopped opening, but the computer does not see it when connected? The first step is to check if the drive is detected by the disk management service. Open the "Start" menu, right-click on the "My Computer" link and select the "Manage" tab.

Connect your flash drive and go to Disk Management.

If the drive is not identified, then it is best to throw out the USB flash drive and buy a new one. If the section is healthy and active, then in this case the problem arose due to a software failure of the USB bus controller. Open the "Device Manager" tab on the left side, right-click on the "USB Controllers" tab and select "Update Hardware Configuration". After reinstalling the drivers, reconnect the flash drive.

When you connect the drive to a computer, Windows automatically installs drivers for it and stores them in memory. If, when you try to open a USB drive, Windows asks you to "insert a disc", then there is probably a conflict between the drivers of different drives. In this case, you need to remove all drivers for USB-flash drives from the computer's memory.

Perhaps the best way to uninstall old drivers is to use the DriveCleanup utility available at http://uwe-sieber.de/files/drivecleanup.zip. Driver Cleaner is compatible with 32- and 64-bit Windows 7 and 8 and Windows XP.

Before starting the program, shut down the system and disconnect all USB devices from the PC except the mouse and keyboard. Turn on your computer and download the above utility. Unpack the contents of the archive to the System32 folder along the path C: \ Windows \ System32. Then press the Windows and R keys on the keyboard at the same time, type cmd and click the "OK" button.

Run the drivecleanup.exe process from the command line. Windows will begin removing the USB drivers and registry entries. Wait for the process to finish and close the window. Then restart your computer and reconnect the flash drive.

However, viruses can often become the reason for the "temporary" inoperability of a flash drive. Before opening any USB drive, you should check it for malware. Did the above methods fail to solve your problem? Be sure to watch the following video:

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