The pop-up message box asking you to format the USB flash drive before using the drive is a common way for Windows systems to deal with certain types of USB flash drives or removable hard drives. Generally speaking, if there are some faults or problems with the USB flash drive or mobile hard disk, the Windows system will recommend the user to format it.
Formatting is a common operation that can restore the USB flash drive or mobile hard drive to its original state. However, it should be noted that the formatting operation will erase all data stored in the USB flash drive or mobile hard drive. Therefore, if there is important data in the USB flash drive or mobile hard disk and the data is not backed up elsewhere, you should avoid formatting it easily.
Although formatting is an effective way to solve some USB flash drive or removable hard drive failures, it is not the only way. Sometimes, some common improper operations may also cause the USB flash drive or mobile hard disk to not work properly, such as directly pulling out the USB flash drive or mobile hard disk while it is still being read or written. In this case, some professional data recovery software, such as DiskGenius, HiFormat Data Recovery Master, etc., may be able to help recover data in the USB flash drive or mobile hard drive.
For this kind of problem, the first thing to do is to avoid any writing operations on the USB flash drive or mobile hard disk to avoid data being overwritten or further lost. Then, you can use some professional data recovery software to try to recover the data. At the same time, you can also consider contacting a professional data recovery agency or expert for more professional processing.
In general, whether you need to format the USB flash drive before using the drive depends on the specific situation. If a USB flash drive or portable hard drive fails and it is determined that there is no important data on it, formatting may be an effective solution. But if there is important data in the USB flash drive or mobile hard disk, you should consider using other methods to solve the problem.
When the USB flash drive cannot be opened normally, you can try the following methods to fix it:
- Check the U disk hardware problem: The U disk itself may be physically damaged, such as interface deformation, U disk shell damage, etc. You can try inserting the USB flash drive into another computer or other USB interface to see if it can be opened. If it still cannot be opened, you can check whether the USB flash drive is physically damaged and consider contacting after-sales service or replacing the USB flash drive.
- Use disk management tools to repair: In Windows systems, you can use the built-in disk management tools to perform repair operations. Press the Win + You can perform error checking and repair on the USB flash drive.
- Manually repair the U disk file system: The file system of the U disk flash memory may also be damaged and error-prone. You can consider repairing it manually. Open the "Command Prompt", enter "chkdsk x: /f" (where x is the USB drive letter), then press Enter to run and wait for the operation to complete. If it prompts "Windows cannot complete the disk check because the disk is in use", you need to safely remove the U disk first, and then try again the above steps.
- Use data recovery software: If the USB flash drive cannot be repaired after the previous steps and the important data stored on the USB flash drive cannot be lost, you can consider using data recovery software for recovery. There are many free data recovery software available on the market, and you can choose according to your needs. When using it, you need to connect the U disk and select "U disk" as the scanning range, then wait for the scan to complete, and then you can perform the recovery operation if you find the data that needs to be recovered.
In addition to the above methods, you can also try the following two methods:
- Check the USB device problem: You can try changing to another USB flash drive or removable storage device to see if the contents can be read.
- Check whether the computer has disabled the automatic operation of removable devices. If it cannot be opened by double-clicking, you can open it through other methods, such as opening it with winrar. Go to the address bar and pull down to the drive letter of the removable disk to see if you can see the files inside.
It should be noted that before trying the above methods to repair the USB flash drive, you must first back up the data in the USB flash drive to avoid data loss.
After the data in the USB flash drive is damaged or lost, you can take the following steps to try to recover it:
- Use Zhuanzhuan Data Recovery Master for data recovery. Insert the U disk into the computer, open Zhuanzhuan Data Recovery Master, select the "U disk/memory card recovery" mode, select the U disk device that needs to be recovered and click "Start Scan". After the scan is completed, find the file you want to recover and check it, click "Recover", select the file storage location, and wait for the recovery to complete.
- Use U disk properties to repair. Insert the U disk into the computer. After successfully reading the U disk in the computer, right-click the U disk icon, select "Properties", click the "Tools" above in the properties window, then click the "Check" button, and finally in the pop-up window Click "Scan and Repair Drive" and wait for the scan to resume.
It should be noted that during the data recovery process, it is necessary to avoid secondary damage to the original data. For example, do not write or format the USB flash drive during the data recovery process. At the same time, if you encounter any problems, it is recommended to seek professional help in time.
After scanning, the above-mentioned software will let you select the files that need to be recovered, such as pictures, videos and other files, and you can preview them. However, the function of recovering data requires payment. . .
The following method is a free recovery method and only has a certain effect.
Download the PowerDataRecovery data recovery 7.0 gold version file. I have put the download link below, please pick it up yourself:
Link: https://pan.baidu.com/s/1B107dmswTluq4O-StUmQNA?pwd=qgfjExtraction
code: qgfj
--Sharing from Baidu Netdisk super member V7
Unzip this file PowerDataRecovery Data Recovery 7.0 Gold Edition this file
After unzipping, the files inside look like this:
Run PowerDataRecovery.exe inside, and the generated interface is as follows:
Everyone chooses the recovery type according to their own needs, but after relevant tests, this free recovery software is very effective in recovering documents, but its ability to recover videos is still open to question! ! !
For error handling:
Error shown: The volume cannot be opened for direct access. Before using the drive, format the USB flash drive.