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Are you struggling with USB flash drive data loss 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.
Data loss in USB/pen drives is a frequent issue, and it's often made worse by the fact that most people don't keep backup copies of the files stored on them. In many of these situations, data recovery software is the only way to get your files back. The table below breaks down the most common causes of USB data loss. For most of them, recovery software is either the primary solution or the last resort when no backup exists.
The most common cause of USB flash drive data loss is accidental file deletion. Users often mistakenly delete files or realize the need for these files after deletion.
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.
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.
USB drives are physically fragile, and damage to the drive can complicate recovery. If the damage is minor, data recovery software can often still read the drive, though you may need to work through some extra steps first.¹
A sudden loss of power may prevent important data transfer processes from finishing correctly and leave you with some data missing.
The fact is that most software applications contain bugs, and some bugs may lead to data loss causing crashes.
Improper removal of a USB drive can interrupt read/write processes and often leads to flash drive corruption, which may require specialized tools to recover data.
Careless partitioning can render your USB drive RAW or otherwise inaccessible, but restoring data from a RAW USB drive is often possible.
¹ When the damage is severe enough that the drive isn't recognized at all, software alone won't be enough, and you'll need professional repair to get the drive functional before any recovery attempt.
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 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.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.Alerts you to create backups if bad sectors are detected while recovering a corrupted USB flash drive.Free recovery of up to 100 MB of lost data.It doesn't matter which type of USB drive you have. Disk Drill, the recovery solution we cover on this page, can be used to recover lost files from all common USB drive types.
A, Mini-A, B, Mini-B
A, Mini-A, B, Mini-B, Micro-B
A, B, Micro-B, USB-C
Disk Drill can recover data from any USB mass storage device, including:
Patriot®, Kingston®, SanDisk®
Verbatim®, PNY®, Samsung®
Buffalo®, Western Digital®, Adata®
Samsung®, iPhone®, Huawei®
Nikon®, Canon®, Olympus®
Astell & Kern®, JBL®, FiiO®
Note: Disk Drill can recover data from these devices as long as they can be connected to your PC as storage media. USB mobile devices are only supported in Disk Drill for Mac at the moment.
The steps below describe the process of recovering files from a USB drive with Disk Drill. To avoid jeopardizing your chances of success, stop using the flash drive right away, don't format it even if Windows prompts you to, and if the drive is behaving erratically, it's best to work with a disk image instead of the original (we'll cover how to create one in a later step).
Start by downloading the free version of Disk Drill. Launch the setup file as an administrator and complete the installation process. With the free Windows version of Disk Drill, you can recover up to 100 MB of data from any USB flash drive to test the software and restore any common file type. You can preview an unlimited number of files, and a successful preview guarantees that those files can be recovered in both the free and Pro versions.
Once Disk Drill is installed, go ahead and connect your USB flash drive. Wait for the notification sound confirming that the drive has been recognized, and verify by checking if it appears in File Explorer. You can also just launch Disk Drill directly and check whether the flash drive shows up in its device list. If it doesn't appear in either place, open Disk Management (press Win + X to find it). Any USB flash drive that's correctly recognized in Disk Management can be scanned by Disk Drill, even if File Explorer can't access it.
You're now ready to launch Disk Drill if you haven't yet. Give it a few seconds to collect information about all connected storage devices and present it in the main window. At this point, you can choose the Byte-to-byte backup tool if you want to create a backup image copy of your USB flash drive (useful if you suspect the drive is corrupted or physically damaged, want to back up the drive before scanning, or prefer to scan the image instead of the drive itself to reduce stress on the device). Select either the USB flash drive or the backup image and then click the Search for lost data button to start scanning.
Note: Disk Drill gives you two scanning options to choose from. Universal Scan is the standard mode that works well for most data loss situations, combining multiple recovery algorithms to find deleted documents, photos, videos, and other common file types. Advanced Camera Recovery (ACR) is a specialized module built for recovering unmodified video files, particularly footage recorded directly by cameras. If your USB drive was used to store camera recordings, this mode can deliver better results than a standard scan.
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.
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.
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 around 400 file formats, which is more than most users will ever need.
M4V (iTunes video), MP4 (MPEG-4 video), AVI, FLV (Flash video), WMV (Windows Media Video), MPG (MPEG video)
MP3 (MPEG Audio Stream, Layer III), AIFF (Audio Interchange File), AIF, AIFC, WMA (Windows Media audio files)
JP2, GIF, TIFF, BMP, JPEG, PSP. Polaroid/Sigma: X3F. Pentax: PEF. Adobe: AI, IDML, INDB, INDD, PSB, INDL, APM, INX, LRCAT, PSD.
DOCX (Microsoft Word), PPTX (Microsoft PowerPoint), PDF (Portable Document Format), XLSX (Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet)
DMG (Mac OS X Disk Image), RAR (WinRAR Compressed Archive), 7Z (7-Zip Compressed), CAB (Windows Cabinet File), ZIP (Extended Zip File)
ACCDB (Microsoft Database), OTF (OpenType Font), SQL (bundled SQL queries), DB (Paradox), MYO (MYOB Limited Windows File)
Protect
You can always guarantee successful data recovery before it is lost by activating 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 Recovery Vault before files are deleted for this feature to work.
If you don't want to install USB data recovery software, there are other ways to recover deleted files from a pen drive.
If you're comfortable using the command prompt in Windows, you can try a couple of commands that may help you access files on a problematic USB drive. Keep in mind that these commands don't recover permanently deleted files the way data recovery software does. But what can they actually do? Read on.
Note: The CHKDSK command, in particular, modifies the file system to fix errors, and that process can actually make some files harder or even impossible to recover afterward. Because of this, we recommend backing up or recovering your files with software first, and only then running these commands to fix the drive.
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 up. 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), there’s some chance of recovery.
To recover deleted files from a flash drive, follow these steps to check if File History saved copies of your files:
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.
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 |
 Recoverit USB Flash Drive Recovery |
 EaseUS USB data recovery software |
 MiniTool Power Data Recovery |
 Stellar Data Recovery |
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Usability
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Trial recovery limit
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100 MB |
✘ |
The default free space is 500 MB, and you can get another 1.5 GB by sharing the product on social media |
✘ |
✘ |
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Price
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$89.00 - Yearly
$149.00 - Lifetime |
$59.99 - Monthly
$99.99 - Yearly $129.99 - Lifetime |
$69.95 - Monthly
$99.95 - Yearly $127.96 - Lifetime |
$69.00 - Monthly
$89.00 - Yearly $99.00 - Lifetime |
$99.99 - Yearly
$199 - Lifetime |
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Files recovery chances prediction
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✔ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
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Increase scan speed by scanning only free space
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✔ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
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Safe non-intrusive read-only scanning algorithms
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✔ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
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Auto-resuming scans of failing flash drives
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✔ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
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Backup failling flash drives to a disk image
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✔ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
✔ |
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BitLocker support
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✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✘ |
Partial support |
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RAW photo recovery
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✔ |
Partial support |
Partial support |
Limited support |
Partial support |
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Video file recovery (DV, HDV, MPEG-2, AVCHD, H.264, MPEG4, etc.)
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✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
Partial support |
Partial support |
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Built-in preview of photo / video files
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✔ |
Limited support |
Limited support |
Limited support |
Limited support |
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Mount recovery results as a virtual drive
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✔ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
By taking certain precautionary steps, you can avoid USB flash drive data loss and all the hassle associated with it.
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.
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%.
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.
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.
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.
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.
by Disk Drill Team
Start by checking any backups you may have, whether that's cloud storage, an external drive, or a File History backup on Windows. If you don't have a backup copy, you can use the free version of a data recovery tool. For example, Disk Drill lets you recover up to 100 MB of files for free and guarantees that all files available for preview can be recovered, so you can verify your files are intact before deciding whether to upgrade to the paid version.
In our testing process, we used a variety of USB drives and simulated different data loss scenarios to measure the effectiveness of each recovery tool. Here’s our top list:
We cover these tools in much more detail in our top data recovery software for Windows review.
A corrupted flash drive may not show up in File Explorer or may display errors when you try to open it, but it should still appear in Disk Management (press Win + X to open it). If it shows up in the Disk Drill interface, create a byte-to-byte image of the drive first to secure your data, then scan that backup for recovery. Once your files are safely recovered, you can simply format the flash drive to get it back to a clean, working state. If the flash drive doesn't appear in either Disk Drill or Disk Management, the damage is likely physical, and you'll need a professional data recovery service.
Stop using the formatted USB drive immediately to prevent overwriting. A quick format only marks the storage space as available without actually erasing the files, so recovery is usually possible. Scan the drive with Disk Drill to preview and restore your lost data. If the drive was fully formatted, recovery chances drop close to zero because a full format actively overwrites each sector with zeroes. In that case, you can still try scanning the drive, but for irreplaceable files, a professional data recovery service is more realistic as a last option.
Any data deleted from a flash drive on Windows doesn't go to the Recycle Bin by default, so it's considered permanently deleted right away. But that doesn't mean it's gone for good. The data actually stays on the drive until it gets overwritten by new files. The best thing you can do is stop using the pen drive immediately (don't write anything to it) and scan it as soon as possible with data recovery software like Disk Drill.
If your USB device isn't recognized, then you can plug the drive into a different USB port, try a different cable or adapter, and test it on another computer to rule out a port or system issue. If that doesn't help, open Disk Management (Win + X) and check if the drive appears there. Sometimes assigning a new drive letter is all it takes. If the drive shows up in Disk Management but not in File Explorer, you can try scanning it with Disk Drill. If it doesn't appear in Disk Management at all, the problem is likely hardware-related and you'll need a professional recovery service.
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.
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.
Some CMD commands like CHKDSK can bring a USB drive back to a working state, but they're risky to use. CHKDSK fixes file system errors by modifying the drive, and in some cases, that process can lead to permanent data loss. Because of that, CHKDSK is only worth using when the data on the drive isn't particularly important to you. If the data matters, recover your files first using Disk Drill or another recovery tool. Once your files are safe, there's no real reason to run CHKDSK at all. You can just format the drive and start fresh. If the USB is completely unreadable and doesn't appear in Disk Management as a storage device, only a professional recovery service can help.
If it comes down to the drive being corrupted, Disk Drill is a godsend. Saved years of my work and footage from being lost.
The overall scanning process in Disk Drill is pretty fantastic.
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