The flash drive asks to format how to recover the flash drive. The system asks you to format the flash drive: what should you do to prevent the data on the drive from being lost? How to open a flash drive when the computer asks you to format it

There can be many reasons for this (incorrect shutdown, startup, wear, etc.), but the most common is errors on the disk. Out of ten similar problems, in 9 cases it helped standard check disk for errors. The disk error checking program is built into Windows and the command for it is Chkdsk. Let's take a closer look at it. If something is unclear, there is a video instruction at the end of the article.

Calling the command: best from the command line, i.e. Start in the find field, write CMD and press Enter. CMD is needed.

On the command line you need to enter the following: let’s say you need to check drive J: (be sure to look at which letter faulty hard disk), then the command will look like this:

CHKDSK space J: space /f ( chkdsk j: /f) then press Enter. Then the system will check itself HDD for errors and automatically corrects them. Patience, a couple of Our Fathers and our disk with important information will start automatically.

This is how you can easily save and restore important information on your own on an external hard drive that won’t open. After such cases, I recommend duplicating this information on another external media. If suddenly your data has been restored, but not everything will help you, the article about. You can’t do anything this way, let’s go to extreme measures and

Using portable storage media important information- This is a mistake many people make. In addition to the fact that a flash drive can be easily lost, it can fail and valuable data will be lost. An example of this is the situation when it is not readable and asks to start formatting. How to access the necessary files, we'll talk further.

Let us immediately clarify that we are talking about an error, which is shown in the photo below.

It usually occurs when the file system is corrupted, for example due to improper removal of the flash drive. Although it does not work, its contents are not damaged in this case. To extract files we use the following methods:

• program ;


• program ;


• program ;


• Chkdsk command.

It should be said right away that data recovery from a portable device does not always end in success. The probability that the above methods will work can be estimated at 80%.

Method 1: Handy Recovery

This utility is paid, but has test period for 30 days, which will be enough for us.

To take advantage Handy Recovery, do the following:

As you can see, using Handy Recovery is completely simple. If after performing the above procedures the error does not disappear, use the following program.

Method 2: Active@ File Recovery

Same paid application, but the demo version is enough for us.

Instructions for using Active@ File Recovery look like this:

Method 3: Recuva

This utility is free and is a good alternative to the previous options.

To use Recuva, do this:

If you have any problems, you may find a solution in our article on using this program. And if not, write about them in the comments.

If no program sees the media, you can format it in a standard way, but be sure to mark "Quick (clear table of contents)", otherwise the data will not be returned. To do this, just click "Format" when an error occurs.

After this, the flash drive should be displayed.

One of the most unpleasant situations that can arise with a flash drive is that you connect it to a computer to copy important data, and the system requires it to be formatted. It would seem like a hopeless situation, but there is still a fairly simple way to regain access to files stored on a flash drive.

To recover files from a flash drive, we will turn to help third party program Active@ File Recovery , which allows you to return most of the deleted information.

Note! Despite the fact that Active@ File Recovery allows you to recover files from formatted flash drives, do not format the problematic drive until necessary files will not be restored.

Now you need to start scanning. To do this, Active@ File Recovery provides two modes:

1.QuickScan – fast mode. Allows you to recover files faster, however, some parts may be missed.

2. SuperScan – a thorough scanning mode, which, accordingly, will take a much longer time. When using this mode, you have a much greater chance that all information from the flash drive will be successfully recovered.

Naturally, select SuperScan. Will open additional window, which displays the scanning options. If you need to restore all files, then select "All (Slow)" .

If you want to reduce scanning time, you can specify file extensions that the program will search on the drive. To do this, select the item "Some" and check the required file types.

Click the button "Start" to begin the scanning process. A status bar will appear at the bottom of the window indicating the progress of the restore.

Once the scan is complete, a folder called "SuperScan" , which will contain all found file types. Select them and specify the location on your computer where they will be saved.

This completes the recovery process. You can find files from the flash drive in the specified folder. From now on you can calmly.

External hard drive is a compact device that provides the ability to store copies of data and transfer large amounts of information from one device to another. The advantage of an external HDD is the use of a USB interface, which allows convenient connection devices to any tablet, laptop and PC. Its remaining parameters are similar to a regular computer hard drive.

Despite the advantages of conventional hard drives, the device also has disadvantages. When working with external HDD Users may have the following problem: the disk cannot be accessed and needs to be formatted. Let's look at the causes of this problem and how to deal with it.

To organize and store information on any type of storage device ( external hard disk, flash drive, hard drive), you need to apply a set of special rules determined by the location and method of storage. This specific set software that provides access to information in a convenient form for various applications. The most popular file system now is NTFS. It is also used on external hard disks.

Damaged or missing file system

When viewing information about an external drive to which access is prohibited and if it needs to be formatted, you can see that instead of a file NTFS systems became RAW. This indicates a missing or damaged file system on the disk. Often the data itself remains intact.

Not all users know that in addition to recorded files, there are special file identifiers on the HDD. They contain information about the file type, its size and other attributes. This method In terms of organizing information storage, it is permissible to compare it with a table. There is a key and the data itself, and they can be accessed by using a specific identifier. When a key column disappears, access to specific information It will be quite difficult to obtain. This occurs when the disk file system is damaged.

Options for solving the problem when the external hard drive does not open

Most in a simple way to return the file system to the external drive would be to use standard type CHKDSK commands:

1. The command line is launched (press Windows + R, enter “cmd” in the field that appears and click “Run”).
2. A console will appear in which to write the command “CHKDSK disk_name: /f”. In place of disk_name, enter the name external drive, which has a RAW file system.
3. This method copes with minor damage to the file system. There is a risk of losing some data.

There are applications that provide file system recovery on disk. The most popular is GetDataBack. The utility recovers all data without loss.

If these two methods do not work, and the external drive still does not open and asks for formatting, then you need to perform hard formatting disk. Quick formatting will not result in data loss. Information in the form of zeros and ones will remain on the disk, but access to it is lost. There are applications that help restore this information. Normal formatting completely deletes information, but solves the problem with access to external hard disk.

Formatting using Windows

The following steps are required:

1. Connection external hard disk to your computer and open the “My Computer” window.
2. After defining hard drive system and its appearance in the “My Computer” window, you need to open the context menu of the external drive and select “Format”.
3. A window will then open showing the disk formatting settings. Here you need to select the file system, specify the disk name and enable the function quick formatting.

It is better to choose the NTFS file system. FAT has a large number of restrictions, and modern conditions it has become frankly outdated. Using the Quick Format function will create a clean file system without physical removal files from an external drive.

When you disable the Quick Format feature, this process may last several hours. The volume label is optionally set. After setting the required parameters, you need to click on the “Start” button. Then a window opens where a warning is written about deleting all existing data on the disk being formatted. Once the formatting process is complete, the external drive will open again and be available for use.

Formatting via the command line

You can format your external hard drive using the command line. To do this, connect the disk and launch the Windows command line.

Disks are formatted using the FORMAT command. To search for all parameters that accepts this command, just enter “FORMAT /?”.

To format an external hard drive, you must execute the FORMAT command with the following parameters:

1. /Q – enables the quick formatting function.
2. /V:MyDisk – indicates the name of the disk. You can use any other name instead of MyDisk.
3. /FS:NTFS – formatting using the NTFS file system.

To format an external hard drive, you can use this summary command: FORMAT X: /FS:NTFS /V:MyDisk /Q. Here the letter X represents the name of the external drive being used. When formatting using the command line, it is important not to mix up the drives.

There are no additional warnings displayed during the disk formatting process using the command line, so you need to be careful.

Formatting via Disk Management

Windows OS has handy tool, which is called "Disk Management". Its functions include formatting disks, creating and deleting partitions, as well as performing other operations. To access this instrument you need to open the “Run” menu and enter the command “diskmgmt.msc”.

After opening the window, the following steps are performed to format the external hard drive:

1. Search for an external hard drive and open its context menu (right mouse button).
2. Choice in context menu"Format" item.
3. The user is shown a warning about deleting all data from this disk. To start formatting, click on the “Yes” button.

External hard disks very comfortable and useful devices. If a situation arises when the external hard drive does not open and asks for formatting, then you can solve the problem yourself. Just follow the instructions given above in the article. To prevent incidents of information loss, you can copy important data to other storage media.

Hello everyone, Max is here, and today we will talk about how you can restore a damaged flash drive. Due to their versatility, ease of handling and compact size, removable flash drives or otherwise flash drives have become widespread.

Unlike obsolete optical disks, flash drives allow you to store a larger volume of information, they have a higher data rewriting potential and storage life, as well as better protection from external damage.

Alas, although flash drives are considered quite reliable devices, they are not ideal. There are many reasons why a flash drive can fail. Physical breakdown components, controller failure, damage to the file system due to the removal of the device at the time of recording, depletion of the potential of memory cells - all this can lead to the flash drive becoming unreadable or simply no longer recognized by the operating system.

When connecting such a flash drive, the user can receive various errors, For example, " USB device not recognized”, “No access to disk”, etc., however, this does not mean that the drive itself and the data written to it are irrevocably damaged.

If the flash drive does not have severe physical damage, in most cases it can be recovered. Below we will describe the most common problems with flash drives, as well as ways to “treat” them; if one doesn’t help, another will. So, let's begin...

The flash drive is recognized by Windows, but its file system is designated as RAW:

The prognosis in such cases is usually the most favorable. The reason for converting the file system of a flash drive to RAW is most often logical errors. In this case, the media is recognized by the OS, but its contents are inaccessible, and when you try to open it, the system prompts you to format it.

Indeed, formatting a flash drive can restore access to it, but this method is unacceptable if there are important files. Here you can go in two ways: restore the damaged file system or the data itself using recovery programs deleted files type Transcend RecoveRx or .

After recovery, the flash drive can be formatted in any way convenient for you. To reconstruct the file system we use standard utility Chkdsk. Run command line as administrator and run a command like this: chkdsk T: /f

Letter T in in this example has a flash drive, you will have your own letter. In most cases, this simple trick will restore access to the media, but it may also happen that when you run the command you will receive the message “Chkdsk is not valid for RAW disks.” In this case, we perform data recovery using the first method, and then format the flash drive.

The flash drive is recognized by Windows, but there is no access to data:

If the media is recognized, but shows the wrong capacity, when trying to view the contents, errors “No access to the disk”, “Insert disk”, etc. are displayed, the firmware (firmware) is most likely damaged.

Such breakdowns most often result from power failures or unsafe removal of the device from the USB port. Also, the errors described above can be caused by failures and damage to the flash memory itself. In such cases, when trying to format the drive, the message “The disk is write protected” is displayed.

The case is more complicated than with a file RAW system, however, with the right approach a non-working drive can be restored. For these purposes they are used special programs class MPTool, allowing you to perform so-called low-level formatting.

Since all these tools are strictly specialized, for each flash drive model and controller type you need to use its own “native” utility. And to do this, at a minimum you need to know the device identifier (PID) and manufacturer identifier (VID).

Connect the USB flash drive to your computer, open Device Manager, in the storage category or portable devices find in the category " USB controllers» connected drive and open its properties.

In the list of properties you need to find the parameter: Device ID or Device Instance Code. In the “Details” field you will see a line containing the elements VID_XXX; PID_XXX, where XXX is the manufacturer ID and device ID, respectively.

If specified parameters you do not have, use the utilities to obtain complete information about removable media: Flash Drive Information Extractor.

Or CheckUDisk

After receiving the information, go to the specialized website Flashboot, enter the resulting VID and PID in the appropriate fields and perform a search. You will receive a list of utilities for disk recovery.

If there is no utility that exactly matches the VID and PID of your flash drive, refer to the manufacturer of the removable device. It is not possible to give consistent instructions for using each utility since they are all different from each other; the main thing when using them is to strictly follow the instructions of the wizard.

However, you can use universal software for recovering flash drives, for example, D-Soft Flash Doctor. This free program It is not tied to a specific manufacturer or controller type, and therefore can be used to treat flash drives of various types.

Additionally D-Soft Flash Doctor Supports creating disk images and scanning for logical errors. Using the utility is simple, you just need to select a non-working flash drive in the window and click the “Recover media” button.

The flash drive is not recognized by the system:

In the cases discussed above, the flash drive, although unreadable, was still recognized by the system, but what to do if Windows cannot recognize the connected drive? It is not displayed in Explorer, nor in the Disk Manager, and the only indication of the connection is a window with the notification “USB device not recognized.”

And also marked yellow icon warning item in device manager.

The error in this example can be caused by: software problems, so physical damage flash drive components. Here it is important to exclude hardware failures, since this almost always means that the flash drive will either have to be sent in for repairs or simply replaced.

First of all, try connecting the problematic drive to another USB port, or even better, to another computer. If the error does not occur, you need to look for the reasons on your computer. Most often, such reasons are damaged or incorrectly working external drive drivers.

Go to device manager and find your flash drive among devices. Because it will be marked in yellow exclamation mark, this will not be difficult to do. If the flash drive is in the “Unknown devices” category ( what is most likely), try updating its driver using the context menu.

If the driver update fails unknown device you will have to use one of the programs to search for drivers on the Internet, for example DriverPack Solution . If a non-working flash drive shows up in the “USB Controllers” category, open its properties and, switching to the “Driver” tab, click the “Roll Back” button.

If the button is inactive, click “Delete”.

And then, through the main menu “Action”, perform “Update hardware configuration” and check if the device has become identifiable.

Did updating/reinstalling drivers fail? Try another option - manually clear the registry keys in which device entries are stored.

Using the method described above, find out the VID and PID of your flash drive, then open and expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEMCurrentControlSet/Enum/USB branch. In the last directory, find subfolders whose names will have specific VIDs and PIDs and delete all their contents.

Do the same with the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Enum/USBSTOR branch, and then restart the computer. What to do if none of the above methods helped? The most reasonable thing in this case would be to take the flash drive to a service center, where experienced specialists will help you determine the causes of the gadget’s malfunction.

Sincerely,