This article contains information about programs for the treatment of flash drives. If the given storage device is not detected by the computer, or it is impossible to write information to it or, conversely, to read it, we can conclude that, in all probability, it will need to be restored. In this case, you can achieve a positive result quite successfully by using special programs for the treatment of flash drives.
Inoperative flash drives
A flash drive, which today is a cheap alternative to external hard drives as a storage device for information, may or may not function properly. For example, because the computer virus that got inside the computer encrypted the information, or the file system was broken.
Cons of flash drives
Before you begin to consider programs for the treatment of flash drives, let's talk about its shortcomings, which, of course, are much less than the advantages. This device is designed for a limited number of erase-write operations. Important USB flash drive features such as read and write speed are limited by USB capabilities. In addition, this storage device is very sensitive to electrostatic discharge.
What are the failures of flash drives. Reasons for their occurrence
Breakdowns are of two types: logical and physical. Physical breakdowns are caused by exposure to this memory device at high temperature or moisture penetration into the flash drive, as well as its mechanical damage. Logical breakdowns occur due to the incorrect use of the flash drive, its deterioration, as well as due to a failure in its file system.
How to return a flash drive to working condition
In this section of the article about programs for treating flash drives, we’ll talk about methods for repairing them. In the event of physical damage caused by the wear of the device, the influence of high temperature on it or the penetration of moisture into the flash drive, a positive result can only be achieved if its memory chip is not damaged. In the context of this, it is worth noting that the device that has got moisture inside must first be dried for several days, and only then try to connect it to any device in order to check whether it is working properly or not.
The cause of logical breakdown of flash drives may be their incorrect use. For example, very often these devices break down when they are removed during a data transfer operation. They may also stop working when they are disconnected from the computer in the wrong way, without using the “Safely Remove from Computer” feature.
Often flash drives stop functioning due to the wear and tear of the memory of these devices, an indicator of which are the occurrence of errors during copying and the slowness of data transfer. The penetration of viruses into the file systems of devices is also one of the probable causes of their breakdowns.
Programs - flash drive rescuers
It is worth noting that system utilities can return a broken flash drive to working condition. If their application did not give a positive result, then it is worth trying to restore it by using programs specially designed to repair these storage media.
It is worth warning that the use of the following programs may not solve, but exacerbate the problem. The risk of spoiling a workable flash drive by applying one of these utilities, the user assumes.
D-Soft Flash Doctor - a program for the treatment of flash drives. This utility is designed to restore the performance of USB-drives. A program with a Russian interface creates a disk image, scans the device to find errors, restores files from the image, applies low-level formatting and soft reset. The program "sees" flash drives that are not available to the system. It is easy to use and does not require professional knowledge. The application functions in Windows XP and in all later versions, including Windows 10.
This program for the treatment of flash drives in Russian has disadvantages, such as: difficulties with updating from the official site and poor additional functionality. According to some users, this utility also does not always recognize a damaged flash drive.
JetFlash Online Recovery - a program for the treatment of flash drives. Designed to restore non-working drives. This free utility must be downloaded from the official site. Using this program, you can not only repair the USB flash drive, but also try to restore it without losing data.
SP Recovery Tool Utility - a program for the treatment of flash drives, which was created by the manufacturer of USB flash drives Silicon Power and is intended, first of all, to restore the functionality of these devices. You can download this special application by visiting the support section of the official Internet resource of this company.
Analogs of the above utilities
USB Flash Drive Online Recovery - another program for the treatment of USB-flash drives from the manufacturer Adata, which is available for download on its official website.
MediaRECOVER 4.0 Digital Image Recovery will help bring Kingston storage to life. The advantages of this utility over analogues are its “ability” to restore not only audio and video information, but also books, documents, tables.
Flash card treatment for viruses
When there are suspicions of the presence of various malicious applications on the media, you should try to use a program for treating a flash drive for viruses, such as Anti-Autorun. There are other ways to secure a flash card. As an example, removing the virus from a portable storage device is quite possible using the command line of the operating system.