💡 This article is written by humans, with all solutions and steps verified.
A USB drive, also known as a pen drive or thumb drive, is one of the most widely used portable storage devices nowadays. As a result, many users rely on it to store important documents, photos, and videos. However, a single accidental click can cause you to lose some or even all of these files. Thankfully, there are many ways to recover deleted files from a USB drive, whether you are using Windows or Mac.
This article will introduce these methods one by one. We’re sure that at least one of them will help you get data back. In addition, we will explain why deleted files can be recovered and what precautions you should take.
Many people might be wondering where exactly these deleted files go. Can they be retrieved? The answer lies in making clear the underlying storage logic of flash drives.
Simply put, when you save a file to a USB drive, the operating system writes its actual data to an unoccupied physical sector. Simultaneously, it will also add a new index entry in the File Allocation Table(FAT), which records detailed information about this file, such as its name, size, and the physical sector locations where the data is stored, for quick searching and reading.
Conversely, when you delete a file on the flash drive, the system will only remove its entry from the FAT and mark the sectors storing its data as "available." Therefore, the file's actual data is still intact, but because the index entry is gone, the file is no longer visible to you.
As mentioned above, since we now know that files deleted from a USB drive are not actually erased, they can be recovered. Fortunately, professional data recovery software can bypass invalidated index records, directly scan the raw data in the flash memory sectors, and reassemble the complete accessible file to achieve recovery.
Note: If you use an erase tool to delete files from a flash drive, it will not only remove the index records but also overwrite the sectors where the original file data was stored with "0" or random characters. This means that they will be permanently destroyed and cannot be restored.
Before explaining how to recover deleted files from a flash drive, we would like to provide you with some important tips that are guaranteed to have a positive impact on the recovery process:
When you find that some files are missing from your USB drive, the first thing you should do is to check whether you have backups or some system settings. Perhaps this allows you to find them quickly.
Once you confirm that files on your USB drive have been lost due to deletion, your actions after the incident can significantly impact the chances of successful recovery. Therefore, you should never perform the following operations:
As mentioned above, to recover deleted files from a thumb drive, you need a suitable data recovery software program. We recommend you try iBeesoft Data Recovery first. Here are the reasons why we recommend it.
Sure, though iBeesoft Data Recovery is comprehensive and powerful, other software programs can help you recover lost files on a flash drive. In the following, we introduce 6 popular options, hoping you'll find one that suits your needs.
Disk Drill is a well-known data recovery program that can help you recover over 400 files in different formats on USB drives. According to its official information, it works in almost all data-loss scenarios. Our tests confirmed this claim. However, unfortunately, some recovered files lost their original names.
What we like most about Disk Drill is its unique "Data Protection" feature, which can monitor specific files and folders in real time to prevent accidental deletion in the future. Although the Disk Drill lifetime license version has increased in price, we still think it's well worth using, considering the features it offers.
For those who accidentally delete files, the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is an extremely easy-to-use and effective tool. Whether you are using Windows or macOS, you can find a corresponding version.
During the scan, we found that this application briefly becomes unresponsive when your USB drive has bad sectors. However, we can forgive this minor flaw in EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, as it ultimately recovered all the data.
There are many USB drive recovery software programs available on the market, but only a few are as comprehensive as Stellar Data Recovery. It has been available for more than 30 years, and its file-explorer-like interface makes it intuitive and user-friendly for most users.
The biggest advantage of Stellar Data Recovery is its ability to customize the types of files to recover. Compared with Disk Drill and EaseUS, the scanning speed is relatively slow, but the recovery result is the best.
When it comes to USB file recovery, we have always believed that R-Studio is one of the most powerful tools on the market. It offers multiple versions, and its technical-oriented interface makes it more appealing to advanced users and enterprise users.
In our tests, R-Studio found more files than any other tool. Therefore, if you cannot recover deleted files with other software, give R-Studio a try.
Recovering deleted files from a USB drive with Recuva is straightforward, making it accessible to anyone. It provides a wizard-based interface that guides you through the entire process step by step. Although it also offers a deep scan option, it did not recover all the data on our test drive.
Compared with other tools on the list, Recuva is lightweight and offers relatively basic functionality. If you only need to handle simple data loss situations, it is worth trying.
Although the text-based user interface makes it difficult to use, PhotoRec's performance is excellent compared with many paid software solutions. You can quickly and freely recover files from flash drives without installing it.
Our only complaint is that it does not allow you to preview files before recovery, which other programs offer. However, considering that PhotoRec is open-source software, we are willing to accept this drawback.
Generally, the software solutions mentioned above can help you recover data from a USB drive in good physical condition. However, they may not work effectively in certain situations, especially when NAND flash chips overheat or the device shows signs of physical damage. In these cases, seeking help from professional data recovery services is the better choice.
Technicians use specialized equipment to remove the NAND flash chips from the USB drive, then professional tools to extract the data. Although such services can be expensive, we believe they are worthwhile if the lost files are extremely important and cannot be recreated in a short period of time. It’s simple to get their help. You only need to search for a local data recovery service provider online.
We hope this article has helped you understand what happens and what to do after files are deleted from a USB drive. In most cases, the final result largely depends on the actions you take afterward. As long as you follow our tips, we think you can successfully recover deleted files from your USB drive in Windows 11/10 or Mac.
Lastly, to prevent data loss from happening again, we suggest you back up files using the computer's built-in tools and cloud storage services. Additionally, when you remove a flash drive from your computer, click the "Eject" first.
The Recycle Bin is primarily designed for the computer's internal disks and partitions, which offer ample storage space and predictable file system management. In contrast, pen drives are treated as removable devices, and their file systems typically use FAT32 or exFAT. They were originally designed with portability and compatibility rather than for recovering deleted files. Furthermore, deleting files bypassing the Recycle Bin speeds up the deletion process and reduces wear and tear on flash memory units.
Unless you backed up these files before deleting them, recovering them without software is almost impossible.
Of course! All the software solutions introduced in this article can help you recover data from a flash drive when the password is unlocked. If you have forgotten the password, please use Stellar Data Recovery or a professional data recovery service.
Yes. Although formatting can make the situation worse, as long as you have not saved any new files to the drive, there is still a chance to recover those deleted files with powerful software such as iBeesoft Data Recovery.
Actually, there are many free programs available. In addition to the tools mentioned in this article, such as iBeesoft Free Data Recovery, Recuva, and PhotoRec, you can also try DMDE Free Edition, Wise Data Recovery, Glarysoft File Recovery Free, and others. If you would like to learn more about free USB recovery software, we have a review article that covers it.
Of course! As long as your USB drive can still be recognized by your computer, these programs can bypass the damaged file system and directly read the contents of the NAND flash chips to recover your data.
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