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Have you ever encountered the problem of USB file loss? USB flash drive devices are very common in our life nowadays. Many people like to use USB drives to copy, store, and transfer files. However, such portable data storage equipment is sometimes very fragile. An improper operation or unexpected reason may lead to the sudden loss of files stored in the USB. For example, when the files in a USB drive are still being transferred, you accidentally pull out the drive, and all the files are lost.
Believe me, you are definitely not the first person to experience this situation. To deal with such unexpected problems, we have tried several USB file recovery techniques and summarized some feasible methods in this article. Read on and learn how to recover deleted files from USB flash drives on Windows computers.
Is USB File Recovery Possible?
The short answer is: Yes!
But restoring files on a USB flash drive is more troublesome than retrieving them on an internal drive. When the files in the internal drive of a Windows computer are deleted, they will be moved to the Recycle Bin by default. The files in the recycle bin can be restored anytime and will not be easily overwritten by other files.
However, flash drives do not have a safe haven like Recycle Bin. When USB data is deleted, the location where the data was originally stored may be easily overwritten by other data, and there is a high possibility that the data will never be retrieved.
But this is not to say that USB file recovery is impossible. If you follow the principles below and use the methods we mentioned in the next chapter correctly, you still have a good chance of recovering accidentally deleted files in the USB flash drive. (The premise is the drive is physically accessible.)
- Stop writing new data in the USB drive immediately.
- Do not copy the content in the drive to a different location if the drive is virus-attacked.
How to Recover Deleted Files from USB with Software
USB data can disappear without warning due to malware infection, virus infection, accidental deletion, software corruption, hardware failure, power surge, improper ejection, etc. As long as a USB flash drive is not physically damaged, you can use data recovery software like WorkinTool Data Recovery to rescue the lost data.
Unlike restoring deleted files without software using built-in tools in a computer, WorkinTool Data Recovery enables users to preview the specification of the lost and deleted items like file size, name, type, and deletion date before recovery. Users who want to recover specified files manually can try this data recovery tool instead of recovering all lost files using CMD or restoring previous backup versions in File History.
Key Features
WorkinTool data recovery software attracts users’ attention mainly with these features.
- Recover up to 500 MB of data for FREE. And users can get the paid version at a relatively lower price than its competitors.
- No knowledge or skill is required. Easy to use for everyone.
- Restore 1000+ types of files like videos, images, documents, audio files, and more.
- Retrieve deleted, formatted, and even corrupted files easily.
- Get back lost files from Windows desktop, USB drive, memory card, digital camera, etc.
To Restore Deleted USB files with WorkinTool:
Step 1: Connect your USB flash drive to a Windows computer and launch WorkinTool Data Recovery.
Step 2: Click USB/Memory Card Recovery, select your drive and start a quick scan.
Step 3: Go to the Deleted Files menu, find and tick the files you want to restore, and hit Recover to bring them back.
Note: The filter option and the search bar in the upper right corner of this software enable users to search lost files by type, size, name, and deletion date.
How to Perform USB File Recovery without Software
Compared with using software to restore USB data, the methods without software are relatively more straightforward. But some limitations come with it, such as not being able to restore specified files precisely. But as long as these methods can help users find what they want, why not worth a try?
How to Recover Deleted Files from USB using Command Prompt
Command Prompt, also called CMD, is a built-in computer command-line interpreter on the Windows system. This Windows command processor is possible to recover those accidentally removed files from a USB flash drive. This solution can be the most difficult one to retrieve lost files because users need to master some complicated commands. We start with it because it doesn’t require any download or pre-enabled data protection feature.
To recover deleted files for free using CMD:
Step 1: Connect the USB flash drive to a computer.
Step 2: Type CMD in the Start menu, and hit Run as administrator.
Step 3: Enter chkdsk X: /f in the Command Prompt window. (Replace the letter “X” with your USB drive letter.)
Step 4: Type ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D X:*.* and press Enter. (Still, the letter “X” represents your USB drive.)
Step 5: Wait for the recovery process to finish.
How to Recover Deleted Files from USB with Previous Versions
The Restore previous versions feature is available in all recent Windows OS, including Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7. It is possible to retrieve deleted files in USB drives without third-party software. However, this feature works only when it is activated before deleting your files.
To restore deleted files for free from previous versions:
Step 1: Connect the USB drive to a computer, and find it in This PC > Devices and drives.
Step 2: Right-click your USB drive and select Properties.
Step 3: In the Previous Versions tab, select a previous version and click Restore.
Concluding Thoughts
Lost files in USB flash drives are not impossible to get back. In this post, we have enlightened three workable solutions to recover deleted files from USB drives, including a professional data recovery tool named WorkinTool Data Recovery. It is up to you to rescue lost data using this convenient tool or built-in computer tools.