How to Recover a Compact Flash Drive
Compact flash drives are extremely convenient for carrying data and are automatically recognized when inserted in the USB port of a Mac or PC. Removing a compact flash drive before it has been properly ejected from the computer can damage the file structure, rendering the drive unusable. You can repair the file structure using software programs that come with the computer’s operating system. The repair can be done within a few minutes and will let you again access the files on the compact flash drive.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
Recovering a Compact Flash Drive on a Mac
-
1
Double-click on the icon of the hard drive to open its window. Scroll down to the “Utilities” folder. Double-click on the “Utilities” folder to open its window. Scroll down to the Disk Utility program. Double-click on the Disk Utility program to launch it.
-
2
Insert the USB connector of the compact flash drive into a USB port on the Mac. Wait for the icon of the compact flash drive to appear in the left column of the Disk Utility program’s main screen. Click once on the icon of the compact flash drive to select it.
-
-
3
Click on the “First Aid” tab at the top of the Disk Utility program’s main screen. Check the “Show details” box in the middle of the Disk Utility program’s main screen.
-
4
Click on the “Repair Disk” button at the lower right of the Disk Utility program’s main screen. Wait as the Disk Utility program repairs the file structure on the compact flash drive. Click “OK” in the confirmation window when the repair has been completed. Quit the Disk Utility program.
-
5
Double-click on the icon of the compact flash drive to open its window. Verify that icons of the files are showing in the window.
-
6
Drag the icon of the compact flash drive to the icon of the Trash at the lower left corner of the screen. Wait for the icon of the compact flash drive to disappear from the screen. Remove the compact flash drive from the USB port of the Mac.
Recovering a Compact Flash Drive on a PC
-
7
Download a file recovery program to the PC’s desktop, for example, the trial version of Undelete (see Resources). Double-click on the program once it is downloaded. Follow the menu commands to install the program. Restart the PC.
-
8
Insert the USB connector of the compact flash drive into a USB port on the PC. Double-click the icon of the file recovery program that is on the desktop to launch it.
-
9
Click the check box next to the name of the compact flash drive that appears in a list in the file recovery program’s main screen. Click the “Next” button to go to a new window.
-
10
Click on the check box next to the “Root” folder icon in the left column of the window. Click on the check boxes of all of the files and folders that appear in the right column of the window. Click on the “Save” button to bring up a pop-up window.
-
11
Click on the “Save data to local drive” tab at the top of the pop-up window. Click in the “Local Drives” text field and navigate in the window that appears to the desktop. Click the “OK” button to close the window.
-
12
Uncheck the “Compress Data” check box. Click on “OK” to close the pop-up window. Click on the “Save” button in the window that is still on the screen to repair and save the files and folders from the compact flash drive to the desktop. Quit the file recovery program once all of the files and folders have been saved.
-
13
Right-click on the icon of the compact flash drive that is on the desktop. Select “Format” from the pop-up menu. Name the compact flash drive in the “Name” column of the window that appears. Leave the rest of the settings alone and press the “Format” button. Press the “OK” button in the confirmation window when it appears.
-
14
Drag the files and folders that were in the compact flash drive and are now on the desktop to the icon of the compact flash drive. Right-click on the icon of the compact flash drive when all of the files and folders have been copied. Select “Eject” from the pop-up window. Remove the compact flash drive from the USB port of the PC.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Plug the compact flash drive directly into a USB port on the computer for the most stable connection, and not a USB hub.
Do not click on the icon of the compact flash drive in an attempt to open a window to see the files it has inside. This will only further damage the file structure.
