Summary:
If you are looking to recover deleted files from your flash drive, then you will find answers here. On this page, you will find solutions to help recover deleted files from your USB drive.
Ever since USB drives came into existence, it has been one of the most popular mediums for data storage. When a USB is consistently used to transfer files, it is easy to make a careless error and accidentally delete files from your USB stick.
Before we begin to recover deleted data from your pen drive, there are a few precautions that you will need to follow-
- Stop using your USB drive until you have recovered the deleted files.
- Ensure that your Windows system and drivers are updated.
Methods to Recover Deleted Files from a USB Drive
1. Recover Deleted Files from USB Drive using SFWare
It is fairly uncommon for USB drives to have a backup making data loss prevention a top priority. SFWare Data Recovery is a professional data recovery software that can safely recover deleted files from any USB drive. You can follow the steps below to recover your deleted files from a USB drive using SFWare.
This tool is also capable of recovering data from USB that is not showing on Mac
Step 1: Download, Install, and Launch SfWare Data Recovery Software.
Step 2: Select the USB drive from which you would like to recover your deleted files from and click on “Start Scan”.
Step 3: You can view the recovered files during the scan.
Step 4: After the scan is complete, locate Preview, select all the files that you would like to recover, and click on “After the scan is complete, locate, Preview, and select all the files that you would like to recover and click on “Save”.
2. Recover Deleted Files from USB Drive using Windows File Recovery
Windows File Recovery helps recover personal data and is available in the Microsoft Store. You can use it to recover personal files that were accidentally deleted. Try it for yourself by following the steps below-
- Download, Install, and launch Windows file recovery from the Microsoft store.
- A Command prompt window shall open. The command is to be entered in the following format.
winfr G: E: /extensive
Note:
- Replace G with the drive letter assigned to your pendrive.
- Replace E with the letter of the recovery drive ( preferably another empty USB drive with equal or more storage space.)
3. Repair Pen drive using CHKDSK
CHKDSK is a command that you can use to scan your flash drive for system errors and rectify them if any. If you are not familiar with computers and technology it would be safer to try out other methods.
Use the Windows+R command to open the Run command.
Type in “cmd”.
Click on OK.
Type “chkdsk F:” and press Enter.
Note: Replace F with the drive letter assigned to your SD card.
4. Recover Deleted Files from USB Drive using Recycle Bin
USB drives have their own inbuilt Recycle Bin that you can use to recover deleted files. However, the name may vary based on the USB format.
FAT file systems – \RECYCLED.
NTFS file systems – \RECYCLER (excluding Windows Vista).
If you do not have one currently, you can create a USB Recycle Bin using the steps below.
- Open the Run command using the Windows+R shortcut
- Type regedit and click on OK to open the Windows Registry editor.
- Locate-
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. - Right-click on Explorer, select the New tab, and choose DWORD 32-bit Value.
- Right-click on RecycleBinDrives and select Modify, change the Value data to ffffffff (8 F’s), and click on OK.
- Every deleted file on the USB will now be moved to its own RecycleBin. To permanently delete files from your USB, you go to the USB RecycleBin and delete it from there.
Conclusion
There is a lot that can go wrong when USB drives are misused, to minimize complications please use the eject option before disconnecting your pendrive. Feel free to let me have any suggestions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Is it possible to recover deleted files from a flash drive?
Yes, it is possible to recover deleted files from a USB stick. You do so by –
- Recovering the deleted files from the Recycle Bin present in the flash drive
- Using professional data recovery software
- Approach a professional data recovery service
Q2. What can I do to ensure a smooth recovery process?
You can take the following measures until after you have recovered your data.
- Avoid using your pendrive normally until after you have recovered your data.
- Recover all the healthy data onto another healthy drive that is formatted. Accordingly and has the required amount of space in it.
Q3. Where is the Recycle Bin on my Pendrive?
Some USB drives have a Recycle Bin and are named accordingly-
FAT file systems – \RECYCLED.
NTFS file systems – \RECYCLER (excluding Windows Vista).
If you are not able to locate one, you can set up a RecycleBin in your Pendrive for future use.
Q4. How to recover deleted files from USB on Mac?
With the help of a safe and secure tool, you can recover deleted files from a flash drive on macOS. As mentioned above for Windows, files deleted from USB surpass the Mac trash. Therefore, it becomes impossible to recover files from Mac trash. In such situations, you can always rely on SFWare Data Recovery Software for Mac.
