How to Recover Data from a Dead USB Flash Drive

"My SanDisk USB flash drive is dead. When I connected it with the computer by plugging into the USB port, I tried to access the files. It did not allow me to see the files at all. It must be dead. Is there a way for how to recover files from dead USB flash drive? I really need the files in the failed USB flash drive."

People always say "USB flash drive is dead". There are different symptoms when a USB flash drive performs abnormally. The following are the scenarios people always encounter:

• The USB drive not showing in Windows at all. You can’t see it after connecting it with your computer and there is no warning as well.
• The USB is recognized and you can see it is "Online" in Disk Management. However, you cannot access its files at all.
• The USB shows "Missing", "Unreadable", "No Media", "Not Initialized" in Disk Management.

Actually, the first scenario is really a symptom of the USB flash drive is dead. Usually, the USB flash drive is not detected by your computer mostly because it is physically damaged. In this case, it is impossible to recover data from the dead USB flash drive. You can take it to repair service or replace it with a new one.

If your dead USB flash drive performs like the scenarios in situation 2 and situation 3, then you can retrieve files from dead USB flash drive. For situation 2, you can directly use iBeesoft Data Recovery to restore the files from the USB drive and fix the USB flash drive by formatting. For situation 3. Please fix the issue on the USB by following the guide (Fix USB flash drive) first and then use iBeesoft Data Recovery to do the dead USB drive recovery.

Part 1. How to Recover Files from Dead USB Drive

iBeesoft Data Recovery is professional data recovery, good at recovering data from computer hard drives as well as USB drives no matter for what reason the files are lost or trapped. Once the dead USB is "Online" in Disk Manage, it can retrieve data from dead USB flash drive quickly. Here are the simple steps.

1. Install the USB flash recovery software

Click the DOWNLOAD button to get the latest version of iBeesoft Data Recovery. It has two different versions. One is for Windows PC and another one is for Mac. Download the right version according to your computer OS. After then install it on your computer.

Download for Windows Download for macOS
2. Plugin your USB flash drive to the USB slot, making sure it is successfully connected.
3. Select the desired file type (option)

Launch the software, you can click go to setting to select the file types you want to restore from the dead USB drive. By default, all of them are selected. You can keep them or deselect unwanted ones.

4. Select the USB drive as the target location to scan and click "Scan" to undelete or unformat flash drive.
5. Recover data from dead USB drive

There is a progress bar telling you how is it going with the scanning process. After then, you can see the found files in the left panel and they’re put into the file category. Click to select the file type in the left panel and check out the file details on the right side. When finding the needed files, select them, and click "Recover" to save them on your computer.

Part 2. How to Fix "USB Drive is dead" Problem

As I have mentioned, if in situation 1, you need to take the dead USB drive to a specialist to fix it or replace it with a new one.

For situation 2, after you retrieve files from the dead USB drive, format it and select the right system for it will fix the problem. It’s very likely you can’t access the files is because of the raw file system.

For situation 3. It depends on the warnings/symptom to select a solution.

• If the dead USB drive shows "Missing" in Disk Management, it is either because the USB is damaged or ejected improperly. In this case, you need to reconnect it > right-click the USB drive in Disk Management > choose "Reactivated Disk".
• If it is said the USB drive is "Not Initialized", then initialize it(right-click My Computer > Manage > Disk Management > Right-click the hard drive and click Initialize Disk.)
• If the USB drive is "Unreadable" or "No Media", it is might cause by hardware issues or I/O device errors. You can try to plug it in a different USB port to check out whether it works or not. If not, format it in Disk Management (Press Windows + R keys > type diskmgmt.msc and click Enter > in Disk Management, select the USB flash drive, choose file system, and format it.

If you lost files from the USB drive while fixing the problem in USB flash drive, you can still try iBeesoft Data Recovery to recover lost data. The sooner the better result you will get.