How to Recover a Flash Disk

A USB flash disk is convenient for carrying data from one computer to another.

USB flash disks (or "flash drives," as they are also called) are convenient as storage devices due to their small size and compatibility with both PCs and Macs. Continued use of a USB flash disk can result in disk errors that will cause the file structure on the disk to no longer allow the contents to be read by the computer. You can recover the contents of the USB flash disk by running a disk repair program, many of which are available at no charge and work in a similar fashion on a Mac or PC, before reformatting the USB flash disk.

Instructions

Recovering the USB Flash Disk on a Mac

1. Insert the USB flash disk into a USB slot on the Mac. Wait for the icon of the USB flash disk to appear on the Mac's desktop.

2. Double-click on the Mac's hard drive icon and double-click on the "Applications" folder. Scroll down to the "Utilities" folder.

3. Double-click on the "Utilities" folder. Scroll down to the "Disk Utility" program. Double-click on the "Disk Utility" program to launch it.

4. Click once on the icon of the USB flash disk that has appeared in the left side of the "Disk Utility" program. Click on the "First Aid" tab at the top of the "Disk Utility" program.

5. Click on the "Repair Disk" button at the left lower corner of the "Disk Utility" program. Click "Yes" in the confirmation window that pops up. Wait as the "Disk Utility" program repairs the file structure of the USB flash disk.

6. Quit the "Disk Utility" program when the repair has completed. Double-click on the icon of the USB flash disk that is on the desktop to open its window. Drag the contents of the USB flash disk to the desktop.

7. Right-click on the icon of the USB flash disk when the copying is done. Select "Format" from the pop-up menu. Click "OK" in the confirmation window that appears.

8. Drag the contents of the USB flash disk from the desktop to the icon of the USB flash disk when the formatting is completed.

9. Right-click on the icon of the USB flash disk. Select "Eject" from the pop-up menu. Remove the USB flash disk from the Mac's USB slot.

Recovering the USB Flash Disk on a PC

1. Download a disk repair program to the PC's desktop (see Resources section). Double-click on the program when it has fully downloaded to decompress it to the desktop.

2. Insert the USB flash disk into a USB slot on the PC. Wait for the icon of the USB flash disk to appear on the desktop.

3. Double-click on the icon of the disk repair program to launch it.

4. Press the "Down arrow" icon on the disk repair program's main screen. Select the USB flash disk from the list of choices presented in the drop-down menu that appears.

5. Select "Intel" from the drop-down menu beneath the "Partition Table Type" icon.

6. Press the "Enter" key on the keyboard when a new screen appears.

7. Select "Other" from the drop-down menu beneath the "File System" icon on the new screen that appears.

8. Press the "Browse" button. Navigate in the window that appears to the desktop. Click the "OK" button to close the window.

9. Wait as the disk repair program locates the contents of the USB flash disk and saves them to the desktop. Quit the disk repair program once the program states that it has finished.

10. Right-click on the icon of the USB flash disk on the desktop. Select "Format" from the pop-up menu. Select "OK" from the confirmation window. Wait as the PC formats the USB flash disk.

11. Drag the contents of the USB flash disk that are now on the desktop to the icon of the USB flash disk.

12. Right-click on the icon of the USB flash disk when the copying is done. Select "Eject" from the pop-up menu. Remove the USB flash disk from the USB slot of the PC.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not use inexpensive USB flash disks; they are prone to failure due to being made with inferior memory.

• Do not attach the USB flash disk to a USB hub; only a built-in USB slot can provide the uninterrupted connection that is needed while the repair program is running.

• Pulling a USB flash disk out of the USB slot of a computer before it has been ejected will result in disk errors.

References

• Apple Support: Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks
• Kent Brewster: Easy Flash Drive Data Recovery with PhotoRec

Resources

• Amstore Memory: History of USB Flash drives
• GS Security: PhotoRec