One technology that has singlehandedly revolutionized data storage and transfer methods is the 'Universal Serial Bus' interface, which is coupled with flash drive storage technology. It is really hard to imagine a time when USB flash drives weren't available. Data transfer was tedious and slow, before the arrival of USB flash drives and other USB based devices. Every day, millions of gigabytes of data is transferred using USB flash drives. However, when files stored on such a flash drive get corrupted, you can land up in a soup. The aim of this article is to acquaint you with how to recover corrupted files from a flash drive and deal with some of the major flash drive problems.At the outset, let me make it clear that it is possible to recover corrupted files from flash drive, as long as the problems are related to software. If the USB flash drive is physically damaged, then there is no hope for data recovery. If on inserting the USB flash drive in a port, your computer does not recognize it (you get a 'USB Device Not Recognized' message), then it is indeed physically damaged and the data on it is beyond recovery. If however, your computer is recognizing your USB flash drive, but you are unable to copy files from it or open the drive, then there is hope to recover corrupted files from it.
There are two ways in which corrupted flash drive recovery may be achieved. One method uses diagnostic tools on the computer operating system itself to recover data. The second method is recovering corrupted files through use of special software programs. I will acquaint you with both methods in this article.
How to Recover Corrupted Files From Flash Drive
Recovering corrupted files from flash drive is possible using storage drive diagnostic and repair tools provided on a Windows operating system like Windows 7 or Windows Vista. I assume that your drive is getting recognized, but you are not able to access it. Open the 'My Computer' window and right click on the drive label icon. Of all the options that open up, select the last - 'Properties' option. This will open up a window with many tabs. Select the 'Tools' tab and observe the options presented below it. There will be an 'error checking' option there with a 'Check Now' button. Click on that button and select the 'Automatically Fix the File System Errors' option. If this method works, it will scan the USB flash drive for errors and fix any of the errors, that it detects.
This should enable you to recover corrupted files from flash drive quite easily. If the corruption is due to certain viruses, you may have to scan the whole disk with a regularly updated antivirus software program. This will clean out any worms or viruses, which may be hindering access to your stored files. If the check disk function and virus scan doesn't work, you can always go for some of best USB flash drive recovery software available out there.
