USB Data Recovery Software: Recover Deleted Files from Flash Drive

Are you struggling with USB flash drive data lost due to accidental deletion, formatting, corruption, or other issues? Then you need to learn how to recover deleted files from a USB flash drive using Disk Drill, a powerful recovery tool that lets you reclaim your lost data with ease.

usb data recovery

Common Causes of Data Loss in USB/Pen Drives

Data loss in USB/pen drives is a frequent issue faced by users, who are not always aware of its possible causes. Here’s their quick overview to quickly bring you up to speed.

Accidental Deletion

Accidental Deletion

The most common cause of USB flash drive data loss is the accidental deletion of files. Users often delete files mistakenly or realize the need for these files after deletion.

Formatting Error

Formatting Error

It’s easy to make a mistake when formatting a USB flash drive. Depending on the severity of the mistake, the result may be extensive data loss.

Malware

Malware

Malicious software can hide and delete files, making them inaccessible even though such files may still be present on the USB flash drive and recoverable.

Hardware Damage

Hardware Damage

USB drives are tiny and fragile, and it doesn’t take much to damage them. Fortunately, lightly damaged USB drives can usually be repaired and recovered.

Power Loss

Power Loss

A sudden loss of power may prevent important data transfer processes from finishing correctly and leave you with some data missing.

Software Crashes and Bugs

Software Crashes and Bugs

The fact is that most software applications contain bugs, and some bugs may lead to data loss causing crashes.

Improper Ejection

Improper Ejection

Removing a USB drive from a computer without safely ejecting it can result in a corrupted USB drive and the loss of files that were open or being written to at the time of removal.

Partitioning Mistake

Partitioning Mistake

Careless partitioning can transform your precious USB drive into a data graveyard. But just because the partition is gone doesn’t mean the data is too.

USB Flash Drive Data Recovery with a DIY Tool

There’s no need to enter panic mode when you accidentally format your trusty USB flash drive or lose valuable files to corruption because there are several ways how you can turn the situation around and save your data. We recommend you start with a popular USB data recovery software tool called Disk Drill because it offers many important benefits, including:

  • Intuitive user interface that takes very little time to get acquainted with Intuitive user interface that takes very little time to get acquainted with.
  • Support for all standard USB flash drive file systems, including FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, EXT2/3/4, and APFS + HFS (Mac version only) Support for all standard USB flash drive file systems, including FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, EXT2/3/4, and APFS + HFS (Mac version only).
  • Instant file preview of recoverable files and smart recovery chance predictions Instant file preview of recoverable files and smart recovery chance predictions.
  • Alerts you to create backups when bad sectors are found when recovering a corrupted USB flash drive Alerts you to create backups when bad sectors are found when recovering a corrupted USB flash drive.
  • Free recovery of up to 500 MB of lost data Free recovery of up to 500 MB of lost data.

Recover Deleted Files from Any USB Drive

It doesn’t matter which type of USB drive you have because our favorite USB recovery solution described on this page, Disk Drill, can be used to recover lost files from all USB drives.

USB 1.0–1.1
USB 1.0–1.1

A, Mini-A, B, Mini-B

USB 2.0
USB 2.0

A, Mini-A, B, Mini-B, Micro-B

USB 3.0–3.2
USB 3.0–3.2

A, B, Micro-B, USB-C

Supported Devices

Disk Drill can be applied to recover data from any USB mass storage device, including:

USB pen drives
USB pen drives

Patriot®, Kingston®, SanDisk®

USB flash drives
USB flash drives

Verbatim®, PNY®, Samsung®

USB external hard drives
USB external hard drives

Buffalo®, Western Digital®, Adata®

USB mobile devices*
USB mobile devices*

Samsung®, iPhone®, Huawei®

USB digital cameras
USB digital cameras

Nikon®, Canon®, Olympus®

Video and audio players
Video and audio players

Astell & Kern®, JBL®, FiiO®

*Note: USB Mobile devices are only supported in Disk Drill for Mac at the moment

Recoverable File Formats Commonly Stored on USB Drives

USB drives are used to store all kinds of file formats, which is why Disk Drill can recover everything from documents and file archives to pictures, videos, and audio files. In total, the USB data recovery tool supports over 400 file formats, which is more than most users will ever come in contact with.

Video
Video
M4V (iTunes video), MP4 (MPEG-4 video), AVI, FLV (Flash video), WMV (Windows Media Video), MPG (MPEG video)
Audio
Audio
MP3 (MPEG Audio Stream, Layer III), AIFF (Audio Interchange File), AIF, AIFC, WMA (Windows Media audio files)
Images
Images
JP2, GIF, TIFF, BMP, JPEG, PSP. Polaroid/Sigma: X3F. Pentax: PEF. Adobe: AI, IDML, INDB, INDD, PSB, INDL, APM, INX, LRCAT, PSD.
Documents
Documents
DOCX (Microsoft Word), PPTX (Microsoft PowerPoint), PDF (Portable Document Format), XLSX (Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet)
Archives
Archives
DMG (Mac OS X Disk Image), RAR (WinRAR Compressed Archive), 7Z (7-Zip Compressed), CAB (Windows Cabinet File), ZIP (Extended Zip File)
Other Files
Other Files
ACCDB (Microsoft Database), OTF (OpenType Font), SQL (bundled SQL queries), DB (Paradox), MYO (MYOB Limited Windows File)
6 EASY STEPS

How to Recover Files From a USB Flash Drive With a USB Recovery Tool

Follow the steps below to recover files from a USB drive with Disk Drill.

1. Download and Install Disk Drill USB Data Recovery Software

Start by downloading the free version of Disk Drill. Launch the setup file as an administrator and complete the installation process. With the free version of Disk Drill, you can recover up to 500 MB of data from any USB flash drive. You can also preview an unlimited number of files to verify their recoverability before you upgrade to the Pro version to unlock unlimited recovery.

Download and Install Disk Drill USB Data Recovery Software

2. Plug Your USB Flash Drive into Your Computer

Have you been able to successfully install Disk Drill on your computer? Great! You can now go ahead and connect your USB flash drive. Wait until you hear the familiar notification sound to tell you that it has been successfully recognized and mounted, and verify this by checking if the drive appears in File Explorer or (if it doesn’t) the Device Management tool (press Win + X to open it). Any USB flash drive that’s correctly recognized by the Device Management Tool can be scanned by Disk Drill.

Plug Your USB Flash Drive into Your Computer

3. Launch Disk Drill and Scan Your USB Flash Drive

You’re now ready to launch Disk Drill. Give it a few seconds to collect information about all connected storage devices and present it in the main window. Select your USB flash drive and then click the Search for lost data button to initiate a scan. Disk Drill will automatically run all recovery methods in the optimal order to recover as many files as possible. All you need to do is wait for the scan to finish.

Tip: Disk Drill offers the ability to create exact byte-by-byte USB flash drive images for safe recovery.

Launch Disk Drill and Scan Your USB Flash Drive

4. Preview and Select Recoverable Files

After the scan, you will see all recoverable files organized into up to three major categories (Deleted or lost, Existing, and Reconstructed). You can select any file to see its preview or narrow down the list of files using the filters in the left pane. When you find a file that you want to recover, check the small checkbox next to it to add it to the recovery queue.

Preview and Select Recoverable Files

5. Click the Recover Button to Restore Selected Files

To recover the selected files, you need to click the Recover button below the list of recoverable files and specify the recovery directory. Make sure to choose a recovery directory on a different drive than the USB drive you are recovering from to prevent data overwriting.

Click the Recover All Button to Restore Selected Files
cleverfiles PROTECT

Undelete Protected Data

You can always ensure successful data recovery before it is lost. Activate Recovery Vault to make invisible copies of deleted files and keep them protected from accidental deletion. When active, Recovery Vault helps make the recovery process fast (a matter of a few seconds) and 100% efficient. All the original metadata stays intact. Keep in mind that you’ll need to enable data protection to benefit with Recovery Vault.

flash drive recovery

Recover Deleted Files from a Pen Drive Without Software

If you don’t want to install a USB data recovery software application, there are other ways to recover deleted files from a pendrive.

SOLUTION 1

Restore Deleted Files from a USB Drive Using CMD

Provided you’re comfortable using the command prompt in Windows, you may be able to restore deleted files from a USB drive with just a few commands. This method delivers the best results when dealing with corrupted USB drives and hidden files, but you shouldn’t expect it to recover permanently deleted files the same way data recovery tools like Disk Drill can.

  1. Plug the USB drive into your computer.
  2. Launch the Windows command prompt by typing “cmd” in the search box.
  3. Enter the following command to verify and fix the integrity of the USB drive:
    chkdsk X: /f
  4. Enter the following command to recover hidden files:
    ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D X:*.*
  5. Exit Command Prompt and open your USB drive in File Explorer.
Restore Deleted Files from a USB Drive Using CMD
SOLUTION 2

Use Windows File History

Backups created by the Windows operating system can also be accessed using the File History tool. The effectiveness of File History depends on whether the data was backed If the files were not backed up before deletion or loss, File History won't be able to retrieve them. By default, File History backs up Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders, so if you’ve ever moved your flash drive data to them (even temporarily), these’s some chance of recovery.

Follow these steps to recover deleted files from flash drive using File History:

  1. Connect the USB flash drive to your PC.
  2. In the taskbar’s search box, type Restore your files using File History.
  3. Ensure that the File History option is turned on.
  4. Look for the files you want to recover.
  5. Select Restore to recover the files to their original location, or select Restore to if you want to save them to a different folder.
Use Windows File History
SOLUTION 3

Use a Recovery Service to Repair a Damaged or Unresponsive USB Flash Drive

Recovering data from a physically damaged USB flash drive is no easy feat since it often requires special equipment and expert technical skills. Instead of attempting to get your data back by yourself and potentially making the situation much worse than it already is, consider contacting a professional data recovery service.

Use a Recovery Service to Repair a Damaged or Unresponsive USB Flash Drive

Comparison of USB flash drive recovery software

Are you looking for the best USB flash drive recovery software? Our detailed comparison is here to help you effortlessly evaluate several popular options.

Disk Drill USB Flash Drive data recovery software

Disk Drill

Recoverit USB Flash Drive Recovery

Recoverit USB Flash Drive Recovery

EaseUS USB data recovery software

EaseUS USB data recovery software

MiniTool Power Data Recovery

MiniTool Power Data Recovery

Stellar Data Recovery

Stellar Data Recovery

Usability

Trial recovery limit

500 MB

The default free space is 500 MB, and you can get another 1.5 GB by sharing the product on social media

Price

$89.00 - PRO (never expires)

$499.00 - Enterprise (never expires)

$79.99 - 1 Month license

$99.99 - 1 Year license

$159.99 - Lifetime license

$69.95 - Monthly

$99.95 - Yearly

$149.95 - Lifetime

$69.00 - Monthly subscription
$99.00 - Personal ultimate lifetime
$89.00 - Yearly subscription

$99.99 - Premium 1 year license

$149 - Premium lifetime license

Files recovery chances prediction

Increase scan speed by scanning only free space

Safe non-intrusive read-only scanning algorithms

Auto-resuming scans of failing flash drives

Backup failling flash drives to a disk image

BitLocker support

Partial support

RAW photo recovery

Partial support

Partial support

Limited support

Partial support

Video file recovery (DV, HDV, MPEG-2, AVCHD, H.264, MPEG4, etc.)

Partial support

Partial support

Built-in preview of modern photo/video files

Limited support

Limited support

Limited support

Limited support

Mount recovery results as a virtual disk

How to Avoid USB Flash Drive Data Loss

By taking certain precautionary steps, you can avoid USB flash drive data loss and all the hassle associated with it.

Be careful when formatting

Be careful when formatting

If there is one operation that you need to be extra careful with when working with a USB flash drive, it’s formatting. Also, double-check that you’ve selected the right drive before you wipe it clean.

Keep your battery charged

Keep your battery charged

When transferring data to a USB flash drive from a laptop, make sure the laptop’s battery charge level never falls dangerously low. To be extra safe, we recommend you always keep it above 20%.

Update your computer

Update your computer

Outdated software with unpatched bugs is more likely to crash unexpectedly at the worst possible moment, such as when transferring files to a USB flash drive, so keep it up to date.

Install an antivirus

Install an antivirus

Certain computer viruses and other kinds of malware can erase all data from USB flash drives, which is why you should always have a reliable antivirus solution installed on your system.

Protect it from physical damage

Protect it from physical damage

USB flash drives are fragile, and they can be easily damaged if not handled with care. While it’s sometimes possible to recover data from a physically damaged USB flash drive, specialized equipment is often required.

Back up your data

Back up your data

Backups are, by far, the most reliable protection against USB flash drive data loss. If possible, back up your USB flash drive every day to a different storage device and check if your backups are recoverable from time to time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated on by Disk Drill Team

How can I recover deleted files from a flash drive?

To recover deleted files from a flash drive follow this procedure:

  1. Download and install Disk Drill USB Recovery for Windows or Mac.
  2. Connect the flash drive/USB stick to your Windows or Mac machine.
  3. Launch the application and select your flash drive from the list of available storage devices.
  4. Click Search for lost data to scan for deleted files.
  5. Preview and select the flash drive files for recovery.
  6. Click Recover and then select a safe recovery location.

How can I recover files from my USB for free?

You can recover files from your USB without spending any money with the free version of Disk Drill:

  1. Download and install Disk Drill.
  2. Choose your USB drive from the list of available storage devices.
  3. Click the Search for lost data button.
  4. Preview recoverable files and select those you want to get back.
  5. Click the Recover button and specify the recovery directory.

What is the best flash drive recovery software?

11 Best USB Flash Drive Recovery Tools:

  1. Disk Drill Flash Drive Recovery Software
  2. Recuva Pen Drive Recovery Software
  3. Undelete 360 Recovery
  4. TestDisk
  5. Wondershare Recoverit Data Recovery
  6. SalvageData Total Recovery
  7. Data Rescue PC
  8. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
  9. PhotoRec
  10. R-Studio
  11. Wise Data Recovery

How do I recover files from a corrupted USB flash drive?

You can recover files from a corrupted USB flash drive using a recovery software tool like Disk Drill, which is capable of handling corrupted file systems:

  1. Download and install Disk Drill.
  2. Connect the corrupted drive to your computer.
  3. Start the app and choose your drive from the list.
  4. Click Search for lost data to scan for deleted files.
  5. Preview found files and select those you want to recover.
  6. Click Recover to restore the files to a storage location of your choice.

How to recover deleted data from a formatted flash drive?

To recover data from a formatted flash drive follow these steps:

  1. Download and install Disk Drill for Windows.
  2. Connect the formatted flash drive to your computer.
  3. Launch the app and choose your flash drive from the disk list.
  4. Click Search for lost data to look for files.
  5. Preview and select the files you want restored.
  6. Click Recover to retrieve the selected files.

How can I recover permanently deleted data from a pen drive?

You can recover permanently deleted data from any pen drive by following the steps below:

  1. Download, install, and launch Disk Drill.
  2. Select your pen drive and click Search for lost data.
  3. Select the files you want to recover.
  4. Click Recover.
  5. Specify the recovery directory.

How can I recover my USB device not recognized?

If your USB device is not recognized, you should first reinstall its driver before you attempt to recover data from it.

  1. Open Device Manager.
  2. Select Universal Serial Bus controllers.
  3. Right-click USB Root Hub or USB Root Hub (USB 3.0) depending on the type of your USB flash drive.
  4. Select Uninstall Device.
  5. Restart your computer and wait for Windows to automatically reinstall the driver.

Can you get data off a broken USB?

That depends on the extent of the damage. If the USB drive is only lightly damaged and recognized by your operating system, you should be able to recover data from it using USB data recovery software. However, if the damage is extensive, you need to send the drive to professionals and hope for the best.

What happens to a file deleted from a USB drive?

When you delete a file from a USB drive, the storage space occupied by it is made available for other files. However, the file itself remains on the drive until new data is stored in its place, which is why you can recover it using a USB recovery tool.

How do I recover data from a malfunctioning USB?

The easiest way to recover data from a malfunctioning USB is with the help of data recovery software. If you are looking for an easy-to-navigate, effective, and quick solution, then you should try Disk Drill.

Follow these steps to recover files from a corrupted USB drive:

  1. Download and install the free version of the Disk Drill data recovery software.
  2. Connect your flash drive with your computer.
  3. Launch the app and select your USB drive from the list of available devices.
  4. Click Search for lost data to start the scan.
  5. Preview the recoverable file and choose the ones that you want to restore.
  6. Click Recover and choose where you want to save the retrieved files.

How do I fix an unreadable USB using CMD and recover data?

Here’s how to repair an unreadable flash drive using CMD and recover files from it:

  1. Plug your USB drive into your computer.
  2. Open the Start menu, type cmd in the search bar, and hit Enter on your keyboard.
  3. To check the drive for errors and fix them, type in chkdsk E: /f /r /x (replace E with the letter assigned to your flash drive) and hit Enter.
  4. Type in ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D E:*.* (replace E with the letter assigned to your flash drive) and press Enter to scan the flash drive for lost files.
  5. Once the process is finished, you’ll be able to view the recovered files in a separate folder on your USB drive.

Customers and software guru say

LISA BOYNTON LISA BOYNTON
I have used a number of recovery programs including "Acronis True Image"(an excellent program). However, Disk Drill is in a new class of excellence. I was able to recover over 280,000 files from a 1 terabyte hard drive. Further, it recognizes hard drives that other programs do not see. I am pleased beyond words to express my satisfaction and recommendation of this program.
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The overall scanning process in Disk Drill is pretty fantastic.
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