Why does the flash drive not work and how to restore it? Programs for recovering flash drives Windows does not see the flash drive - reasons
A flash drive is an information storage device that connects to any PC via a USB interface. Quite often this device stops working normally. What should I do? Below will be discussed the most effective ways to treat flash drives and corrections of common errors when working with the device.
Follow all the steps sequentially - if the first method does not help, move on to the next one and so on.
What to do if the flash drive stops working
In the modern IT industry, the KISS principle is relevant in a narrow circle, meaning “Keep it simple!” Without special need, there is no need to edit the registry, use complex hardware methods for troubleshooting problems, or try to implement other procedures - you should start with the simplest steps.
- Try connecting the flash drive to another PC, laptop or other device for communication via a USB interface. If the flash drive does not work, then with 100 percent probability we can say that this is the problem - and it is necessary to immediately go to utilities for restoring and fixing a flash drive.
- If the flash drive works on another computer or is at least detected by Windows (but “Explorer” and “This/My Computer” do not appear), then you need to Troubleshoot problems with the OS or file system using the instructions below.
- Disconnect the drive by removing it from the USB connector.
- Shut down your PC by selecting the “Shut down” option.
- Disconnect the system unit from the 220V power supply, press the power button for 5 seconds – this will remove the residual charge on individual modules of the motherboard.
- Connect your computer to power.
- Turn it on, wait until it loads completely and insert the USB flash drive.
- Try connecting it to a different connector, especially if remote front USBs were previously used for this task. The best option is the rear ports
- Sometimes the cause of flash drive malfunctions is the assignment of system ID in the form of a letter, or the disappearance of this parameter altogether, to fix an OS problem, use the Disk Management utility
Utilities for flash drive recovery
Be sure to check the flash drive through utility“USB Troubleshooter” from Microsoft – it is not included with the OS, but is available for download from the official portal here free and only works with OS W7 and higher.
It’s easy to use – run the program and click “Next”. 
After which the software will try to find and fix typical problems with displaying the flash drive in the system. 
If you hear a characteristic sound when connecting a device, but it does not appear in Explorer, then open Device Manager.
Often problem reading USB flash drives appears after updating the operating system - it is provoked by incorrect entries in the registry left after connecting physical storage media.
Searching for them manually takes quite a long time and is better use a special program for searching and clearing non-working keys in the registry.
Best suited for this Vit Registry Fix utility
(free and does general search and cleanup) And utility
USBOblivion
(free and clears all data on previously connected flash drives from regedit).
Main advantages:
The interface is intuitive and has Russian localization.
Download the program, run an automatic search, after it is finished, start cleaning (after checking the boxes in the sections about saving all changed .reg keys in the archive, in order to “roll back” the operation if necessary).
Sometimes the flash drive does not work due to driver incompatibility for USB 2 and 3 versions. In this case, you need to download updated versions from the official website of the motherboard manufacturer.
Why doesn't it see the flash drive? If the PC does not accept any flash drives, then you need to completely reinstall all drivers for USB drives.
The easiest way to do this is through the “Device Manager” (hold Win + R and enter devmgmt.msc, click on “OK”). Find the “USB Controllers” section in the drop-down list and sequentially delete (right-click on the object, select “Delete”) the subsections USBHostController, GenericUSBHub and USB Root Hub, then update the current hardware configuration and restart the PC.
As an addition, run a full system scan.
- Launch the registry (hold Win+R, enter regedit and confirm the action by clicking “OK”).
- Right-click on the HKEY_CURRENT_USER section and select Find, then type Explorer in the search field. If the folder contains NoDrives, then you need to select and delete it (using the Delete button). In addition, in the same registry editor, search for the StorageDevicePolicies parameter (under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE section) and delete it (if present).
Sometimes all the above methods do not give any tangible result.
If the flash drive is identified in the system (at the level of identifying an unknown connected device), then you can try to restore normal operation of the device, formatting it in a special way using a third party HDD Low Level Format Tool utility .
In this case, working with the device occurs at the level of physical sectors, and not the file system (as with standard formatting), which guarantees:
- Wiping bad sectors
- Elimination of any software problems
- Permanently deletes all data from the storage device.
The program is free and available for download from the official website. After installing and launching it, select the required drive, click Continue. 
Find the Low-levelFormat tab and accept the operation by clicking on Formatthisdevice. 
The duration of the procedure depends on the type of flash drive and its capacity, on modern PCs the process takes on average 30-60 minutes. Once completed, you should safely remove the device and restart your computer.
Today, among PC users, there is probably not a single person who would not use items on flash memory. These include USB drives, MP-3 players, memory cards and other devices that use flash memory. At the same time, very often various problems arise with flash drives. Then the computer displays “USB device not recognized”, “Insert disk”, “No access to disk” or “The disk is write protected”, or “Windows cannot finish formatting”. Or it doesn’t detect the flash drive at all. It happens that no serious problems arise with flash drives, but the information is simply accidentally deleted or the flash drive is formatted. How then? On this page you will find everything you need to recover information from a flash drive or repair it yourself. In most cases, it is possible to save the flash drive. And it is almost always possible to restore lost information if rescue measures are taken in time.
USB device not recognized
Such a glitch sometimes happens with the USB driver or with the USB flash drive itself (memory card or MP player) after which the flash drive is not detected in one of the USB sockets. The first thing you need to do is insert the flash drive into other USB sockets or even into another computer to determine which device is not working. If the flash drive is detected in another slot or in another PC and starts working, then the problem is not with it, but with the computer. This way you can understand where to look for the problem in order to fix it. This is a purely software problem and can be resolved by reinstalling the USB driver. In a more complex case, you will have to edit the registry. If you know how to use registry cleaning programs, you can use them. If not, you can edit the registry manually. This is done like this:
Start: run/regedit/OK
Next you need to expand the branches:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USBSTOR
and clean out all folders whose names contain VID & PID. These registry branches contain entries about all USB devices that were connected to this PC. If you know the VID & PID of your flash drive that does not want to be detected correctly, then you can only delete the folder that contains the name of your flash drive or its VID & PID. This must be done from both of these branches. If you clear these registry branches of all entries, then nothing bad will happen. Windows will create new entries there itself. If Windows does not allow you to delete folders in the registry, then this can be done using another OS, for example with a Live-CD. In the same way, in a Live-CD you go into the registry and delete folders just like in Windows. Then download your version of Windows again and check the flash drive. Everything should work. You can look at the expanded registry branch
If you accidentally deleted data or formatted a flash drive
After deleting information or formatting flash memory, you can return information using a simple Recuva program. The main thing is that after losing data, do not write anything to this flash drive, otherwise the information can be overwritten by new data.
You can download the program.
Unable to format flash drive
It happens that a flash drive or memory card becomes so glitchy after a failure that you cannot format it using Windows. The PC gives you the message “Windows cannot finish formatting” or something similar. In this case, “Panasonic_SD Formatter.2000” will help you - a small utility that performs formatting. After formatting the flash drive with this program, you can continue to use it.
You can download it.
The flash drive does not open or is not detected
In this case, you should use special programs for recovering flash drives after serious failures. To know which program to use, you must first find out VID & PID chip.
VID– manufacturer identifier
PID– device identifier
You can find out VID & PID with special programs, such as ChipGenius or CheckUDisk. Programs determine VID & PID even if the computer does not see the flash drive.
ChipGenius– a detailed and understandable program from Chinese manufacturers. CheckUDisk is another program for determining identifiers, albeit simpler.
ChipGenius – download
CheckUDisk – download
After you find out the chip identifiers of your flash drive, look for your pair in the table and download the desired program.
There is another program FlashGenius, which determines the parameters of USB Flash drives based on their markings. FlashGenius detects chip capacity and version, manufacturer, voltage, MLC/SLC type, etc.
You can download it.
How to use AlcorMP flash drive recovery program
watch here
If flash drive recovery programs did not help
In this case, when nothing has helped and there is really nothing to lose, you can try more harsh methods - simply short-circuit the microcircuit. You can do it like this. Disassemble the flash drive or device where the flash memory is located, insert the device into USB, turn it on if it requires turning on and close the contacts of the microcircuit with a needle. How to do it
What if nothing helps at all?
If it happens that none of all the methods helped, then things are really bad. If this is an expensive device that uses flash memory, then you can take it to a service center and they will replace the chip. If it’s a simple USB flash drive, then you can safely throw it away. Because after such recovery manipulations, it will no longer be possible to save the information, and repairing an empty flash drive will cost more than buying a new one.
Good luck!
| VID | PID | Size | Program | Download |
| 1307 | 0163 | 8Gb | MPTool v 3.9.8.0 | Download |
| 058 | 6387 | - | AlcorMP | Download |
| 058f | 6387 | 2 Gb-8 Gb | AlcorMP (090227) | Download |
| 058f | 1234 | 2 Gb-8 Gb | AlcorMP (090227) AU698X, AU3150X | Download |
| 0204 | 6025 | 1 Gb | CBM209X UMP-Tool | Download |
| 058f | 9380 | 16 Gb | AlcorMP.AU9380 (UFD Manufacture Tool) | Download |
| 13FE | 1F00,1A00 | 1 Gb | USB 2K REL90 | Download |
| 1043 | 8012 | 2 Gb | i5128-PDx16V1.32 | Download |
| 125F | 1001 | 2 Gb | Download | |
| 0dd8 | 1430 | 4 Gb | NT2033CMS | Download |
| 0000 | 7777 | 2 Gb | AlcorMP6.18_beta3 | Download |
| 1307 | 0163 | 2 Gb | USB_Flash_Disk_Utility_USBest | Download |
| 0dd8 | 1430 | 4 Gb | NT2033CMS | Download |
| 058F | 6387 | 4 Gb | PCB0 AlcorMP6.18_beta3 | Download |
| 058F | 9380 | - | AU9381 V1.1.0.0, Alcor Micro UFD | Download |
| 067b | 2528 | - | USB Flash Disk Utility | Download |
| 0457 | 0151 | 1 Gb | USBest; UT161 | Download |
| 1307 | 0163 | - | MPTool (UT163) v3.9.12.0, UT165_1.65.17.0 | Download |
| 1005 | B113 | - | USB 2K REL90 (PS2231-UP12) | Download |
| 1307 | 0165 | - | MP TOOL UT165 | Download |
| 3538 | 0054 | - | PQI_LowFormat | Download |
| 090C | 1000 | - | SM32x_G121 | Download |
| 0EA0 | 2168 | - | OTI PT Multi-Device | Download |
| 2008 | 2018 | 4 Gb | MPTool V2.0 | Download |
| 067b | 2517 | - | Download | |
| 1727 | 0000 | - | Prolific UFD Utility v21400 | Download |
| 067B | 2528 | - | Prolific UFD Utility v21400 | Download |
| 0951 | 160F | - | AlcorMP | Download |
| BA63 | 4146 | 4 Gb | UT163 MPTool v3.9.35.0 or | Download |
| 4146 | BA63 | 4 Gb | UT163 MPTool v3.9.35.0 or | Download |
| 1307 | 165 | 8 Gb | Super Stick Recovery Tool V1.0.2.19 (UT161, UT163, UT165) | |
For business - a flash drive, for fun - a hard drive!
Folk wisdom
⇡ Fix it immediately!
Repairing current gadgets is a thankless and often unprofitable task. There are fewer and fewer replaceable parts in them, the layout is ever denser, and meanwhile the prices (with equal functionality) are ever lower. A handicraftsman cannot compete with industrial technologies. Nevertheless, repairers of mobile phones and laptops do not particularly complain about their lives (see articles from 2011 - and). The reason, as they themselves explain, is the fragility of the components - screens, cases, power circuits, a number of microcircuits, as well as unreliable connections. Flash drives—“USB sticks” and, to a lesser extent, memory cards—are confidently following the same path.
Almost every user has already experienced at least one flash drive failure, and many have probably wondered: is it possible to fix it yourself? In the old days, when a fashionable gadget cost a third of your salary, this was suggested by a well-known toad, and later by simple curiosity. Indeed, as for faulty key fobs, at least 50-60% of cases are treated with simple methods that do not require special training or equipment. Why not try it?
Today, repairs are once again becoming relevant as the capacity (and therefore cost) of flash drives increases, and most importantly, with their reliability declining. The flash drive market is fiercely competitive with regular price wars. Manufacturers save every cent of cost and do not care too much about the quality of their products (expensive flagship models are some exceptions). It’s easier for them to include a certain percentage of defects in the price and replace failed devices under warranty. “The sheriff doesn’t care what happens to the flash drive later.”
Unfortunately, warranty services are often unavailable to the user: either the documents are lost (how many people remember them, or at least keep the receipt?), or the place of purchase is far away, or the flash drive has external damage - this is clearly a non-warranty case. What can we say about gray imports and outright fakes (Internet flea markets are full of them - unscrupulous business, alas, is thriving). In such cases, self-repair can fix the problem and bring the broken key fob back to life.
All flash drives, with the exception of monolithic designs, are arranged in the same way and quite simply: a USB connector, a printed circuit board, on it are a dozen or two wiring elements, a controller and from one to eight memory chips (on high-capacity models they are often soldered in pairs, like “ sandwiches"). Repair technologies are simple and accessible to anyone who has a soldering iron and a multimeter. Minimal skills in handling electronics will also not be superfluous.
Successful repairs bring not only legitimate moral satisfaction, but also material benefits. The “extra” drive that appears allows you to manage your data more flexibly (for example, duplicate) and generally feel calmer. According to observations, reanimated devices live even longer than new ones - weak points have already been eliminated, and the owner handles them more carefully.
Very often, the owner of a broken flash drive is not interested in the flash drive itself, but in the data recorded on it. Data recovery (DR) technologies are fundamentally different from repairs as such, since there is no need to worry about the functionality of the entire device. Flash memory chips, on which information is stored, fail very rarely (1-2% of emergency cases). They are protected from the vicissitudes of fate both mechanically - by the case and the design of the flash drive itself (the chips are usually removed from the USB connector, the most stressful part), and electrically - by the controller and harness. The latter take on all the risks of interaction via the interface, including polarity reversal, voltage surges or static discharges. The same is true for memory cards.
Therefore, “raw” data on chips, as a rule, is saved, and the most reliable way is to unsolder all the chips, read them at the physical level using a special device (programmer, or reader) and assemble a file system image from the resulting dumps. The last stage is the most difficult, since it is necessary to reproduce the algorithm of the controller. Manufacturers are not at all eager to disclose such things, so they have to carry out reverse engineering - the notorious reverse engineering.
The results of labor-intensive excavations end up in a database, sometimes called a decision system. Through collective efforts, we have accumulated more than 3,000 solutions that allow us to emulate almost any controller. For assembly, specialized software is used, which is very expensive (about 1,000 euros) and difficult to master. In the territory of the former USSR, as well as in many other countries, two hardware and software systems have gained the greatest popularity: Flash Extractor from the Moscow company Soft-Center and PC-3000 Flash SSD Edition from ACE Lab (this Rostov developer is also known for its repair tools hard drives).
Reader from the Flash Extractor complex. Replaceable sockets allow you to connect microcircuits of all major types
It is clear that such technologies are the prerogative of specialists. But this is the only option in cases where the controller burns out or the service information on the chips is damaged. The flash drive is then not recognized at all or does not provide access to data, and even replacing the controller with a known good one does not help (the efficiency of this outdated technology is only 15-20%).
If hardware problems do not affect the controller and firmware, then after repair the data becomes available again - you can kill two birds with one stone. True, such a profitable “doublet” is possible only in the simplest cases, such as a blown fuse or other wiring element. A bent USB connector or a broken board (typical failures with which flash drives are brought in for repair), alas, do not apply to them. Often in such situations the firmware crashes, and even after fixing the board, you won’t be able to get to the files.
The reason is the users themselves: they try to work with a damaged flash drive by pressing the connector with their hand. And it’s in vain - you still can’t achieve stable contact, but the controller is blocked by chattering (which is equivalent to multiple connections and disconnections). The flash drive is no longer detected, after which simple solutions no longer work.
You have to choose whether you need “info” or the drive itself. In the first case, the user can expect professional data recovery (if it’s worth it...), and in the second - repair, most likely independently. It brings the flash drive to a “like new” state, destroying everything previously recorded. So repair and DR technologies are generally incompatible.
How do flash drives and memory cards break? Let's look at the main types of faults, their causes and methods of elimination.
⇡ Popular mechanics
Mechanical problems are hard to miss. In relation to flash drives, these are defects in the case, breakage of the cap and other moving parts, damage to the USB connector (the most common case), cracks and chips of the printed circuit board and radio elements on it. Flash drives do not like moisture, and if they are drowned or flooded, they will not work.
The exception is expensive and rarer protected models, where the internal volume is filled with silicone (they often bear the marketing names Extreme, Voyager, etc.). By the way, this same silicone makes it quite difficult to unsolder chips during hardware repair or data recovery—every pin has to be cleaned with a scalpel. Monolithic structures stand out separately: they are relatively resistant to water and (minor) impacts, but serious damage is definitely fatal.
This Corsair flash drive, which arrived “on date,” had to be literally torn out of the silicone
A broken case, a missing cap, or jammed moving parts may not affect the performance of the flash drive, but it becomes inconvenient and even difficult to use, and its service life is sharply reduced. If the USB connector is bent, wrinkled, or broken (as with other contact problems), the flash drive is either completely inoperable or is recognized only once and will not last long. A damaged board definitely requires repair, but it does not always lead to success - it is difficult to restore the internal tracks of a multilayer structure.
A cracked flash drive cap is one of the most common breakdowns. In cheap models this happens after a month or two of use.
Unlike flash drives, mechanical damage to memory cards is usually fatal: repairs may not be necessary. A paper-thin printed circuit board suffers from any serious impact - its conductive paths are torn and contact with memory chips is broken. And the chips themselves can crack with the loss of all “information”. So only minor faults can be eliminated.
Thus, SD cards experience delamination of the housing halves and (most often) loss of the write-blocking slider. In the latter case, the card becomes read-only, nothing can be written to it (the slider itself is not a switch, it simply mechanically opens the write prohibition circuit in the card reader, so that writing is possible on some devices). An SD with a peeled or bent casing can be difficult to insert into and, more importantly, remove from the slot. Using force (tweezers, pliers, etc.) only worsens the situation. There is also a possibility that the entire contents of the card will sooner or later fall out of the case - this will most likely destroy the device.
In the hands of an impatient user, the SD card did not last long
Mechanical damage is most often caused by user negligence. Flash drives are inserted crookedly and abruptly into the USB port of a computer or laptop; those already inserted are touched by a hand, foot, bag or mop. Outside the computer, key fobs are dropped on the floor, stepped on, sat down, run over by the wheel of a chair, and so on. Flash drives end up in the washing machine, in street dirt and under spilled coffee, they are bathed in seas and baths. I've seen storage devices that have been in dog teeth.
Models with folding and sliding parts suffer from unnecessary effort during transformation. The moving parts themselves are not very durable and wear out quickly if they are made of cheap soft plastic. This is especially true for various latches - inserting such a “self-folding” flash drive into the port can be difficult. Wear is greatly accelerated in a dirty and aggressive environment (for example, in a pocket near your keys). Dust and moisture easily penetrate into a USB connector that is not protected by a cap, causing contamination and corrosion of the contacts (they are not always gold-plated, as required by the standard).
The Kingston flash drive tends to fold when connected - the working position lock has worn out. The slider has to be held by hand
Manufacturers' policies also play a role in this. They treat cheap flash drives as a disposable product and save on everything. Hence the flimsy case, the cap that cracks after a week, the thin PCB board, and sloppy, skimpy soldering. More expensive models are usually made better and are mechanically more durable. When purchasing, you should choose them. True, if the money was spent on an elaborate design, then it is better to be careful - the glamorous body may contain weak and slow filling. By the way, these are mostly gift corporate flash drives - it is unwise to use them for business, problems will begin very quickly.
More about choice. In life, the strongest flash drives are egg-shaped, not too compact. Long and thin models break first. The more metal in the case, the better - metal provides not only strength, but also good heat dissipation. The more reliable cap is the one that is held in place by friction over the entire area of the USB connector - it will not crack in the area of the retaining protrusions. It’s good when the cap is secured against loss with a cord or cord. Sometimes the removed cap can be put on the back of the flash drive - this is not so convenient, but better than nothing.
The recently fashionable open connector (without a metal band, four contact plates are in plain sight) is unsuccessful in terms of reliability: it easily breaks and scratches, and most importantly, it is subject to destructive static. In addition, it is often combined with a monolithic design - elegant and compact, but not repairable. If, for example, a laptop falls off a table, then the connector of the inserted regular flash drive simply breaks off, but the monolith cracks in half, upsetting both the user and the repairman.
Broken connector on regular and monolithic flash drives. In the latter case, there is no need to talk about repairs and even getting data is a big problem. The circled contacts will not help here
Mechanical repair has the goal of restoring the functioning and reliability of a flash drive, its content is quite obvious. At the “do-it-yourself” level, this means gluing or replacing the case, selecting a suitable cap, and the like. In many cases, cyanoacrylate superglue comes to the rescue, especially with an activator (hexane), which allows you to glue any plastic, including “resistant” polyethylene and polypropylene. For a loose or bent USB connector, the fasteners should be soldered, especially the ears on the sides (they take the bending load and come off first), and then the contacts themselves. Roughly straightening the connector in the opposite direction is not the best method: it often breaks nearby traces on the board, and repairs become very difficult, if possible at all.
On SD, instead of a lost slider, a piece of a match is easily glued in - although without the possibility of blocking, but few people use it. Contacts are cleaned with a cotton swab with a special product “Kontaktol” or, at worst, an alcohol-gasoline mixture. It is advisable to observe antistatic hygiene (grounding bracelet on your hand, conductive covering of the table and floor, etc.) or at least touch a grounded object before work. Remember that cards are static sensitive.
It’s a good idea to check the contact pads under a magnifying glass - their gilding can be very conditional or absent altogether. Worn, corroded, or discolored contacts (not uncommon on cheap cards stored in a humid environment) are a signal for decommissioning; such a card will not work reliably. This also applies to microSD→SD adapters.
⇡ Burnt out at work
Electrical malfunctions of flash drives are primarily the failure of the controller (“burnout”), as well as various defects of SMD wiring elements: filters, fuses, resistors, capacitors, stabilizer, quartz. These parts experience a break, breakdown, or deterioration of parameters (for example, a decrease in the output voltage of the stabilizer from 3.3 to 2.5-2.6 V, at which the controller no longer starts). This also includes problems with the board, including damage to current-carrying paths and poor contact of parts. Often during operation defects in factory assembly appear (incompletely soldered connections, cold soldering, corrosion from unwashed flux).
This filter (circled in white) burned out due to a voltage surge. Treatment is standard - replacement with a similar one or simply soldering a jumper
Contact problems have become noticeably more numerous after the introduction of the European Union RoHS directive (it is aimed at eliminating lead, mercury and other harmful substances from circulation). Eco-friendly lead-free solders have proven to be difficult to use: they spread worse and wet the contact pads, have a higher melting point, and are less durable. High-quality soldering with them requires a high production culture, and small Chinese factories are no different in this...
In such cases, the flash drive most often shows no signs of life, but is sometimes detected in the computer as "Unknown USB device." In particular, this happens when the flash memory chips are in unreliable contact with the board (a frequent case lately is that the flash drive bends slightly in clumsy hands and one of the legs comes off). If the soldering is poor, the device can only work in a certain position, and only if you press the case with your hand (usually in the area of the USB connector). It happens that defects appear only after warming up, but a cold flash drive works fine. Over time, the intervals of performance become increasingly narrower and eventually it comes to complete failure.
Electrical damage to flash drives and memory cards can also include water getting inside - problems are most often caused not by water itself, but by insufficient drying of the device before use. Once you supply power to a damp flash drive, the controller easily fails, the reason being leakage currents between the pins. Of course, prolonged exposure to water, especially sea water, can also cause banal corrosion, but this is not fatal: it was reported that the memory card from a “drowned” camera started working after a year on the seabed.
The causes of electrical damage are unstable power supply, discharges of static electricity from the user’s body or PC case, as well as overheating of drive parts, primarily the controller (memory chips can withstand up to 100-120 °C and rarely “burn”). Overheating is caused by poor cooling in a cramped plastic case, prolonged active operation, or even just idling. Advice: remove the unused flash drive from the USB port, and the memory card from the card reader slot - depending on the OS driver, they can get quite hot, and this is hardly predictable.
A combination of several risk factors is especially dangerous. For example, with an increased voltage of 5 V, the flash drive heats up much more, and an intense data flow, especially for recording, can easily finish it off. The more productive (and more expensive) the model, the greater the risk of overheating under these conditions. This also applies to memory cards - there have been reports of damage to high-speed SD cards during serial photography or dumping movies.
Cheap desktop cases also shorten the life of flash drives: in them, the USB ports on the front panel are connected to the motherboard with an unshielded cable that collects all interference. This puts extra load on the connected device, which affects its operation - failures, slowdowns and increased heating. Failure under such conditions is quite likely, especially with ungrounded electrical wiring.
Increased mechanical loads, especially alternating loads (bent and straightened), as well as falls and impacts, contribute to the appearance of soldering defects. Although flash drives are considered shock-resistant drives, their circuitry usually contains a quartz resonator. And this (in standard SMD packaging) is a rather fragile part that cannot even withstand a fall from a meter height. If the quartz is cracked or detached from the contacts, the flash drive is recognized as "Unknown USB device" with zero VID/PID codes and is unusable. Bad controller contacts manifest themselves in the same way; Pure software glitches are also common (see below for details).
Hardware repair is already required here. You can’t do without a multimeter, a 25-30 W soldering iron with a thin tip and a technical hair dryer: you need to ring connections, strengthen the soldering (warming the board with hot air often helps), restore damaged contacts or current-carrying paths - primarily those adjacent to the USB connector. Failed parts are replaced. We are talking about strapping elements - most often resistors (including zero values that act as jumpers), quartz and a 3.3 V stabilizer.
Previously, flash drives often had power fuses and inductive noise filters in signal circuits broken. This was treated by selecting analogues or even banal shunts, and a broken discrete stabilizer was changed without problems (issue price 20 rubles). True, sometimes the board smoked when turned on, which means that the controller was the first to fail, and the replaced part worked as a fuse.
Modern models no longer have such elements - manufacturers have “optimized” them. The controller takes all the hits. The stabilizer is also integrated there, so its breakdown (identified by the instantaneous and unbearable heating of the chip) requires replacing the controller, and with exactly the same model with the same firmware version (second or third rows of chip markings). Non-working quartz is identified by the absence of 12 MHz generation; For this you need at least a simple oscilloscope like the C1-94 commemorative for radio amateurs.
A pleasant exception is new models of flash drives with a USB 3.0 interface. The high-speed device consumes significant current (up to 900 mA according to the standard, in reality 150-250 mA at idle and 300-600 mA under load), so the designers returned to a discrete stabilizer, this time of the pulse type, as well as choke filters. With such an elemental base, flash drives have become more maintainable.
In most cases, it is not practical to replace flash memory chips - they are relatively expensive, and after soldering, the flash drive requires a full software repair, which may not be possible if you do not have enough experience or the necessary software. The controller is also a peculiar thing: such microcircuits are not sold at retail (you won’t order a batch of 1000 pieces), so you can only get serviceable copies from donors. It is quite stupid to disassemble a working drive, so you are left with flash drives that died for another reason. Considering the current variety of controllers (each model is available in several modifications, which are often incompatible with firmware), a lot of donors will be required - at least several dozen. It is unlikely that a non-professional repairman will have such deposits.
A burned controller is physically damaged, but this is a rare case. Hardware faults are usually invisible from the outside.
Let’s not forget about the technological difficulties - for an amateur they can be significant. Carefully, without distortion, “snot” and miscontacts, soldering 64 or 48 pins with a pitch of 0.4-0.5 mm (typical packaging of controllers and memory chips, respectively) on the fly is not so easy, especially if the tools are not the best. This is also why hardware repairs in most cases are limited to replacing piping elements.
As for wet flash drives, including “drowned” ones, a three-stage technology developed for mobile phones is applicable to them. The board is first washed from salts and dirt in clean, preferably distilled water, then immersed in isopropyl alcohol (it has a concentration of 99.7% and actively displaces water from capillary slits, such as those found under microcircuits) and finally dried with warm air. Do the same with the body parts. Final drying before assembly should take several hours.
By the way, the first to use absolute alcohol as a desiccator was D.I. Mendeleev. In 1890, he proposed replacing the drying of pyroxylin (the base of smokeless gunpowder) by dehydrating it with alcohol, which is completely safe. Since then, throughout the world this stage of gunpowder production has been carried out only according to the Mendeleev method.
Naturally, all such work is preceded by disassembling the flash drive, which in some cases requires subsequent mechanical repairs (there are structures assembled with glue or fragile disposable latches). The variety of models makes their classification difficult. In most cases, the body consists of two halves or has the form of a sleeve into which the filling is inserted. Parts are held in place by a screw (better), friction, or hidden latches (worse). In any case, if you are unable to gain access to the board, then further repairs are contraindicated.
Elaborate, unusual models are more difficult to understand than their ordinary counterparts
In the second part of this material, we will introduce you to software problems with flash drives and methods for solving them, and also give you some tips on how to avoid flash drive failure. Coming soon to your screens!
Read, what to do if Windows does not display the connected device. How to restore functionality to such a device if this is the reason. A flash drive or any other USB drive should be automatically detected by the computer and displayed in Explorer and the “This PC” folder after connecting to the USB port.
Content:
Diagnosis of the problem
The first thing you need to do if the connected USB drive is not displayed in the Windows file manager, you need to check the tool Disk management.
To open Disk management in Windows 8/10, right-click on the menu Start and select "Disk Management". In Windows 7, press the Windows key + R key combination to open the dialog box "Run" and enter the command in it diskmgmt.msc.
Check the list of drives in the window Disk management and find the USB drive that is not detected. It should appear here even if it is not in the folder "This computer", and match in size. Sometimes it is defined as "Removable device", but not always.
If you do not see your disk or flash drive even in Disk Management, then try the following:
- Turn on the disk, if there is such a function. Some external hard drives have a separate power cable or are turned on using a separate key dedicated to this.
- Connect the device to another USB port. Disconnect the flash drive from this USB port and connect it to another. Perhaps one of the USB ports on your computer has failed.
- Connect the device to your computer without a USB hub. If the flash drive is connected to the computer via an extension cord or USB hub, try disconnecting it from it and connecting it directly to the computer. Perhaps the reason is in the hub.
- Try another computer. Connect the flash drive to the USB port of another computer and see if it is recognized by it. If the device is also not detected by another computer, then most likely the problem lies with it.
Solution
If the problem options described above do not apply to your case, then your problem can most likely be solved using one of the methods described below. Depending on what you find in Disk Management, there are options for solutions to the problem that has arisen with identifying an external storage medium.
If Windows sees the disk, but cannot read it, then this means that it has a file system that it does not support. In this case, the operating system will prompt you to format the disk before using it. But don't rush to do it! This will destroy all your data.
If other computers see the flash drive, but yours doesn’t
If other computers detect your USB drive, but yours does not, then most likely there is a problem with the device drivers.
To check this, open Device Manager and look for Disk devices And USB controllers. Look to see if these sections contain devices marked with a yellow exclamation mark. If there is such a device, right-click on it and select Properties. The properties will contain information about the error and driver status.
To fix the driver problem, right-click on the device, select Properties / Driver / Update.
If the disk is visible in Disk Management
If the disc is visible in Disk Management, but it does not have a letter, then it is for this reason that it may not be displayed in Windows Explorer. In order for the system to start displaying it in Explorer, such a drive must be assigned a letter.
To do this, right-click on it and select "Change drive letter or drive path". If there is no such item in the pop-up menu, this may be due to the absence or unsupported file system type of the storage medium.
In the menu that opens, you will see that the drive does not have a letter assigned - assign it. To do this, select Add / / Ok.
If the disk is visible in Disk Management, but it is not allocated
If the disc is visible in Disk Management, but it is not distributed, which means that it is not formatted. In order for such a disk to become operational, right-click on it and select "Create Simple Volume".
Select the maximum suggested partition size and assign a drive letter suggested by the system. After this, the disk will be normally detected by the system and ready for use.
If the disk is visible in Disk Management but cannot be formatted
If for some reason the disk cannot be formatted, then to restore its functionality, you can completely erase it and then re-create the partition.
Note. As a result of such manipulation, all data from the disk (as well as flash drives or memory cards) will be permanently deleted. Therefore, worry about their safety in advance - scan the disk or flash drive using Hetman Partition Recovery, and save your data in a convenient place.
To clean the disk, open Command line as administrator and clean it up using the command diskpart – "clean".
In the modern world, people are accustomed to using flash drives to transfer information. A few years ago there were disks, and before that there were floppy disks. Compared to these already outdated devices, a flash drive is much more productive and smaller in volume. Of course, with such popularity, they began to develop quickly, and now you can already find external drives from 1 GB to 516 GB.
Unfortunately, like any other equipment, they can break. This happens for various reasons: they took out the flash drive while recording, or it broke due to heavy loads, etc. Users began to look for options on how to repair the flash drive. If the problem is related to the hardware, then you can simply throw it away. Another case is software glitches. In this case, you can try restoring the external drive. You should not immediately take your USB drive to a service center, since it is not difficult to bring a flash drive back to life, the main thing is to follow the rules. Let's look at how to repair a flash drive yourself.
Flash drive won't open
You may have connected a flash drive, the computer sees it, but errors occur when you try to open the contents. If your computer says “No access,” then most likely you need to clean your external drive from viruses.
What is the problem? Once the malicious files entered the flash drive, they created an autorun.inf file. This is the reason why the external drive does not start.
How to repair a flash drive? In this case, you need to check the external drive with an antivirus. Once you remove the malicious files, we need to manually remove the autorun.inf file. Go to “My Computer” and right-click on the flash drive. Then select “Open”. The flash drive will open in a new window, all we have to do is delete the malicious file.
USB drive is not formatted
The reason why the flash drive does not open may be a memory failure. How to repair a flash drive? In this case, it is enough to format the external drive. Unfortunately, all content will be erased.
Go to “My Computer” and right-click on the external drive. Next you need to select “Format”. Unfortunately, this method does not always help. If you were unable to restore your external drive, then you need to try the second method.
So, we need to go to the Disk Manager directory. To do this, press the key combination Win + R. In the new window you need to enter the command diskmgmt.msc and click “Ok”. The “Disk Manager” will open, where we need to select the flash drive and click “Format”.
on the computer
To make sure that the problem is with the external drive, you need to take it out and try to insert it into other USB connectors that are located on the motherboard. If the problem persists, then you need to check the USB drive on another computer.
How to repair a micro-SD flash drive? First you need to check it in other USB connectors. If the problem persists, then the problem may lie in the card reader. Try changing it.
If the external drive is detected on another computer, then you need to try removing the drivers. How to do it? Go to the “Control Panel”, where we select the “Device Manager” directory. In a new window, look for the line “USB storage device” and remove the drivers.
After these steps, disconnect the flash drive and restart the computer. After this, connect the USB drive and install new drivers.
If the reinstallation does not bring results, then you need to clear the registry branches. They contain all the information about your device. First we need to collect this information, or rather, find out several parameters (PID and VID). To find out this data, you need to return to the “Device Manager” directory and right-click on the flash drive. Go to the “Information” item, where the device code will be displayed.
After that, press the Win + R key combination and enter the regedit command in a new window. So we will open the registry editor, where we need to find two parameters, the first ends with the word USB, and the second USBSTOR. We open these directories and look for identifiers, after which we delete them. Reboot the computer and check the functionality of the external drive.
External drive is detected, but dimensions are not displayed
If you find yourself with such a problem, then there are memory failures. How to repair a flash drive? In this case, you need to download the ChipGenius program. This way we can find out the VID and PID of your external drive. After you have found the model of the flash drive chip, you need to go to the website flashboot.ru, where you need to enter the received data. Let's start the search. So what did we find? These are the appropriate drivers and utilities for your removable drive. After installation, your flash drive should work.
How to repair a USB flash drive if all else fails
Of course, there may be various problems with an external drive that do not allow you to restore a flash drive due to the problems already described. There is another way to bring a removable disk back to life. However, this method is suitable specifically for a flash drive; memory cards cannot be restored this way. If you are wondering how to repair a Transcend flash drive, then try this method.
Where should I start? Take your USB drive and remove the plastic cover. We need to put our device into test mode. Turn the flash drive over as shown in the picture. There is a small button in the corner that will need to be closed. As a rule, you need to close contacts 29 and 30. How to do this? Take a needle and press in the right place.
We insert the removable disk so that the computer detects the flash drive and it becomes accessible. Only after this do we open the contacts. However, you should not disconnect it from your computer, as it will not work yet. Next, you need to install drivers and utilities; we have already covered how to do this.
Conclusion
After these steps, your USB device should work. If this does not happen, then there may be problems with the hardware. In this case, it is easier to throw it away than to restore it. As you have already noticed, it is not difficult to repair a flash drive if the problem lies in the software part. However, in order to quickly and efficiently restore your device, you need to immediately identify the problem.
