Recovering a flash drive: identifying the controller, flashing the flash drive firmware. How to choose a utility for restoring a flash drive on an SMI Microsd controller; controller firmware
USB flash drives have now firmly entered our lives as an inexpensive and at the same time quite reliable means of storing data. The cost of a gigabyte of storage capacity for flash drives is quite low, and the ease of working with it (combined with its small size, weight and resistance to vibration and temperature influences) makes flash drives so popular.
But, as with any technically complex device, various troubles also happen with a flash drive, ranging from file system failures or firmware destruction to physical breakdowns (usually). Due to the low cost of the device itself, repairs may not be justified and the drive is sent to the trash heap. Or not even in the trash, but lying somewhere on a shelf or in a desk drawer. Meanwhile, you can try to solve many device malfunctions yourself with a fairly high probability of success.
If The flash drive suddenly stopped being detected as a storage volume or flash drive reading speed or recording to a flash drive Very fell hard, and also if File system errors keep appearing, you can try to reflash the flash drive. Chinese flash drives, popular at one time, with huge volumes, files on which are written but not read back, can also be cured!
The flashing procedure itself consists of updating the microcode of the USB controller, but you can perform a number of useful actions:
- Excluding “bad” blocks from memory. In this case, the flash drive will lose a little in volume (by the volume of excluded blocks), but its stable operation will return.
- Restoring the true storage capacity. This fixes the problem when the flash drive is flashed with a larger capacity than the memory chips installed on it. Then the data is simply overwritten cyclically, which makes it impossible to read large files written earlier.
- Dividing a flash drive into partitions (also creating virtual CD-ROM partitions), additional partitions mounted in read mode, etc.
- Changing identification data (VID, PID, Serial number). .
So, if you decide to flash the firmware, remember one simple thing:
Flashing is fatal for data stored on memory chips. No one can give any guarantee of data recovery (or that the flash drive will work after flashing).
Let's continue.
Determining the model of the controller chip
The most reliable way is to open the flash drive case and read the model of the controller chip (a small chip, usually square in shape, surrounded by legs on all sides). Memory chips are most often rectangular, surrounded by legs on only two sides:
We rewrite all the information from the chip: Phison(brand) and PS2251-60-5(series). This data will be useful to us to find suitable firmware. Incorrectly selected firmware can permanently “kill” a flash drive, so you need to be careful.
If it is not possible to disassemble the flash drive (for example, without damaging the case), then you can use programs to determine the flash drive chip using the software method. This method is less reliable, but nevertheless quite popular. Personally, I use the ChipGenius 4.00 program, but any other program with similar functions will do:
Also, as shown in the screenshot, you can pull out the VID and PID of the flash drive. These are Vendor Identifier and Product Identifier, respectively.
Looking for firmware for a flash drive
Where are we looking? As usual, on the Internet. In particular, a fairly good resource is flashboot.ru, “Files” section to search by controller model or iFlash to search by VID/PID database:
Searching by VID/PID gives a lot of results; you need to select those options that most fully describe our flash drive (model, capacity, etc.).
A search by controller model finds no less firmware; you need to try different options, because the first time you may not even get the firmware that is intended for this chip.
Flash drive firmware
The general appearance of programs for flashing flash drives is approximately the same. We take out and insert the flash drive (first make sure that no other flash drives are plugged in - this will be easier and safer). When the flash drive appears in one of the program fields, press the Start button (to start flashing) or, if you want to dig into the detailed settings (in particular, create an additional partition, etc.), then press the Setting button.
The firmware process can take quite a long time, since blocks are tested for read/write suitability, “bad” blocks are deleted, the entire memory space is reformatted, etc. But when the process is completed, you can check the flash drive in the system itself.
Do you have an inoperable USB flash drive or other storage device and are you wondering what program to choose for recovery?
We reviewed the most popular utilities. Which of the above programs is suitable for you and will restore a flash drive with a 100% guarantee?
A one-of-a-kind program will help you extract all the data. Hetman Partition Recovery. It is loved by both beginners and professionals for its convenience, speed and advanced information recovery algorithm. Your files will be found and copied even when the media’s FS is no longer accessible or is damaged.
JetFlash Recovery Tool is a proprietary utility that has the simplest possible interface and supports working with Transcend, JetFlash and A-DATA drives. Controlled by just two buttons, you will definitely like it. Do not forget that cleared data cannot be restored, so pre-saving information from a flash drive will not be superfluous.
If you need to always have a universal program with you, which is convenient to use both on your home computer and outside it, we recommend D-Soft Flash Doctor, its platform does not require pre-installation, it launches instantly on any PC. The software is suitable for repairing, unlocking,
restoring the volume of the flash drive and its performance.
If you need to recover SD cards, we recommend downloading F-Recovery SD, which has an effective set of simple options for working with damaged flash drives from digital cameras and other portable devices. From the point of view of a professional approach to Flash drives, it will be interesting to use the Flash Memory Toolkit; the application contains a whole range of additional functionality that can test flash drives; in addition, the program works with any version of the Microsoft OS.
The formatting and recovery utility USB Disk Storage Format Tool, which has a very clear and user-friendly interface, can recognize the maximum number of different types of Flash Drives among the above utilities, as well as quickly restore the drives’ functionality. The USB Disk Storage flash drive repair program will be able to quickly recover data from damaged hard drive partitions, even if problems with the flash drive firmware are detected.
If no flash drive recovery program has helped, we recommend checking the status of the memory controller using the ChipGenius utility. The program works with USB, micro SD, SD, SDHC and USB-MP players from Kingston, Silicon Power, Transcend, Adata, PQI. Further actions to correct errors and recover lost data are only advisable if
The flash drive is detected in Chip Genius.
In this article, you will learn about programs that can recover data on a flash drive, as well as configure settings so that there are no problems with flash drives in the future.
It is possible to correct various flash drive errors by setting up drivers, connecting the flash drive to different ports, and so on. But if this no longer helps, then you need to use more effective methods and use third-party programs.
I’ll say right away that using such programs to recover flash drives does not always solve, but rather aggravates the problem. Therefore, the choice is yours. This risk is yours and yours alone.
In the article on flash drive repair, we will talk about such popular flash drive manufacturers as Kingston, Adata, Silicon Power and Transcend.
Free programs for recovery and repair of flash drives
UtilityJetFlash Online Recovery forflash drivesTranscend
This utility was previously called JetFlash Recovery Tool, now JetFlash Online Recovery. This is the official utility.
Working with this utility is quite simple: connect the flash drive, run the program and then proceed as the flash drive recovery wizard instructs us.
There are two options:
- You can fix the flash drive and save all the data on it.
- You can repair the flash drive and erase all data on it.
Depending on your luck, if the first option doesn’t help, then move on to the second.
Download the utility for free JetFlash Online Recovery
(downloads: 25494)
UtilityUSB Flash Drive Recovery forflash drivesSilicon Power
The utility is freely available on the manufacturer's official website. You can also download it from our website.
Silicon Power
(downloads: 21273)
Kingston flash drive and its repair
If you have a Kingston flash drive (quite common among users), then you can use the utility from the official website of the Kingston manufacturer.
Download free utility for flash drive Kingston
(downloads: 13663)
Now let's go through utilities and programs that are not a product of a specific manufacturer.
Program for data recovery from flash drive D-Soft Flash Doctor
The program is free. Reviews about it are very flattering, so it can help you recover data from a flash drive.
How can I determine which program is suitable for my flash drive?
It happens that a person does not know what kind of flash drive he has. Therefore, we suggest that you use a program that will determine the memory controller you are using - Chip Genius. The VID and PID parameters will be indicated there, they will be useful to you.
As a result, you will be given search results.
In the Chip Model column you will see which other flash drives, besides yours, use the same controller. The Utils column offers utilities for flash drive recovery. Next, look for the proposed program and use it.
The era of CDs and DVDs is almost completely over. Today, flash drives are used everywhere as universal storage media. USB drives are small in size, have a sufficient amount of built-in memory and allow you to add or delete any files without any harm to existing ones.
Everything seems to be fine, but flash drives have one significant drawback - if used incorrectly, they often fail... The most typical failure is the computer identifying the drive as an unknown device or a disk with zero memory capacity:
If you were careless to unplug your USB drive from its slot without first using the safe removal function, it is quite possible that it will become a victim of a short circuit and become unreadable. Is it possible to restore a flash drive after such an incident? Read on...
Types of flash drive failures
So, if you are reading this article, then most likely you already have a “dead” flash drive. Before you try to revive it, you need to find out what kind of trouble happened and how your USB drive reacts when connected to a PC. In other words, let's see how bad it is :)
The flash drive can react in two ways: either the indicator diode on it will light up or not. If the diode does not light, then a physical breakdown can be diagnosed. In this case, you can try to repair the drive only if you have a soldering iron and know how to work with it (the last section of the article is about this).
A much more optimistic forecast can be given if the indicator lights up and does not go out. This means that our problem is software and can be fixed using special software. In this case, one of two scenarios awaits us: the flash drive may be detected as an unformatted disk with a capacity of 0 bytes, or it may not be detected at all.
If the computer sees an empty drive, then everything can be solved by correct formatting. However, most often the problem is that due to a sudden power surge, the firmware of the flash drive is damaged and we will have to look for it on the Internet.
To summarize the algorithm for diagnosing a breakdown, I suggest you act according to the scheme below:
Formatting treatment
The easiest damage that can happen to your flash drive is a file system failure. Failure can be of two types: with a violation of the cluster layout and without. In the latter case, you can even do without formatting and save all the data on a flash drive!
You can diagnose a failure without violations if the flash drive is detected by the computer, but does not open. The computer simply freezes when trying to display its contents, so we don’t try to open anything. We look at what letter the removable media is identified under, launch the Command Prompt (Start - Run - cmd) and enter the command "CHKDSK G (or other letter): /f":
The /f key will automatically try to correct file system errors that led to the unreadability of your flash drive and, if the command completes successfully, you will receive a fully functional drive with all the data that was on it before the error appeared!
Unfortunately, it’s not often that you get off so easy... Much more often you have to deal with flash drives, whose size is determined by the computer as 0 bytes. In this case, formatting can help. And not with standard tools, but with special utilities. One of the most universal in this regard is HP USB Disk Storage FormatTool (you can download it in the archive via the link at the end of the article):
This utility allows you to correctly format any media in FAT32 and NTFS systems. To do this, just select the desired device from the drop-down list and click the “Start” button. By default, the quick format option is activated, but this mode may not work with a damaged flash drive. If unsuccessful, you must uncheck the corresponding box before starting the procedure again.
In particularly advanced cases, when even HP USB Disk Storage FormatTool gives an error, but the flash drive is still recognized as removable media, so-called low-level formatting can help. It erases all memory sectors byte-by-byte and fills them with zeros, making it impossible to attempt to recover data in the future.
If saving a flash drive is more important to you than saving the data that was on it, then the HDD Low Level Format Tool utility (available in the archive for the article) can help you format it using the above-mentioned method:
When you start the program, a window will appear asking us in what mode we want to use the HDD Low Level Format Tool. Naturally, we need a free one, so we click the “Continue for free” button or simply close the window. A main window will appear with a list of disks. Select the one you want, click “Continue”, confirm your consent and wait for the process to complete.
Low-level formatting itself takes quite slowly, so be prepared in advance for the fact that it can take about an hour (depending on the capacity of the flash drive and its read/write speed). Moreover, in free mode, formatting speed is limited to 50 megabytes per second (approximately 180 gigabytes per hour).
Determining the controller type
If formatting does not produce results or the flash drive is initially detected by the computer as an unknown USB device, then the problem is most likely due to damaged firmware. Finding firmware for popular media models on the Internet is not that difficult, but you need to know exactly what to look for. And to do this, first of all you need to determine the type of flash drive controller.
This can be done in two ways: using special programs or using PID and VID identifiers. It is preferable, of course, to use programs with good databases, since controllers from completely different companies may have the same identifiers and you will have to search for a long time for a suitable utility for flashing the firmware...
The best in terms of determining the type of controller are the Chinese programs ChipGenius and ChipEasy, and from the Russians, perhaps, Flash Drive Information Extractor (everything is in the archive). You can use any of them, however, the disadvantage of the Russian language is the lack of links to download utilities for firmware (highlighted in pink in the screenshot):
All of them provide quite a lot of different information, however, we are mainly interested in two parameters: device identifiers (highlighted in yellow in the screenshot) and, directly, the controller model (highlighted in green). Knowing this data, we can find a firmware program on the Internet.
By the way, Chinese programs already give us links to such programs, but it’s not always possible to download them, even if you use Google’s page translator, so the search will be discussed separately below. It’s a pity, of course, that our developers couldn’t integrate the search for a link to the firmware into their program, but oh well :)
In the meantime, it’s worth mentioning that you can find out the identifiers (but not data about the controller!) of a flash drive without special utilities. To do this, you need to go to Device Manager (context menu of the “My Computer” icon - “Properties” - “Device Manager”), select our drive from the list, call up its properties and in the “Details” tab select the “Hardware ID” property:
We have at our disposal an unnamed flash drive (alas, it’s working :)) and we found out its identifiers, as well as the type of controller and its model. Now it's time for the most difficult procedure - searching for a program for firmware.
Flash drive firmware
Firmware or firmware (abbreviated F/W) is a microprogram that controls the operation of the flash drive controller. If it fails, the drive, while remaining physically functional, stops responding to standard computer requests, which is why you can neither read nor write information from it.
Fortunately, the firmware for most controllers is freely available on the Internet. Therefore, the main problem is only finding them. You can search directly in search engines using queries such as: "Alcor (chip manufacturer) AU6982 (chip model) VID: 058F PID: 6387 firmware", and on specialized sites.
One of the best Russian-language resources for searching and downloading firmware for any flash drive is FlashBoot.ru:
On the search page we need to enter the PID and VID identifiers, and then click the "Search" button. We will receive a whole list of flash drives that have the same ID as ours. The task now comes down to finding a device with the same controller model as ours.
If you find a flash drive in the table that resembles yours in all respects, click on its name and see detailed information about it:
Here we are primarily interested in the UTILS line, which contains the name of the utility needed to flash our flash drive. We copy this name and search for it on the Internet. You can do it differently. You can search on the same site. To do this, go to the "Files" section in the top menu. True, the names of the programs on the list and those on the site differ, so the search will not always be successful.
In any case, we found out that our flash drive is based on an Alcor chip and its model is AU6982. This is already enough for a successful search, which leads us to the need to download the AlcorMP utility one of the versions available on the website:
We unpack the downloaded archive into a folder, check whether the program version matches the version that we identified by identifiers and run the executable file. If the firmware version is suitable, then we will see data about our flash drive in one of the cells of the working window. All you have to do is press the "Auto" or "Setup" button (if you know how to configure parameters) and wait for the firmware to finish.
If the working window is empty, which often happens, then we were unlucky the first time :) You need to try downloading other versions of programs suitable for the same chips as your flash drive. In short, this is where the lottery begins and sometimes you can try up to a dozen different utilities until you find the only one that will correctly identify your drive.
After flashing the firmware, safely unplug the flash drive and reinsert it. If everything worked out, then it should be detected by the computer without any problems. If not, try other flashing programs until you succeed.
Treatment for physical injuries
The most severe case of a flash drive failure is when it does not show any signs of life when connected to a PC: the indicator does not blink, messages about unknown equipment do not appear, and there are no unidentified devices in the Device Manager. In this case, real physical damage can be stated.
However, unless the flash drive has been dropped from a great height, exposed to high temperatures, or dropped into water, you have a small chance of saving it (and sometimes even the data on it!). Most likely the problem is that due to a short circuit on the flash drive board, something has become unsoldered. Often the legs through which food flows are unsoldered.
In any case, we will have to open the flash drive case to try to restore it. To do this, unfortunately, you may need to unscrew it if it does not disassemble. Inside we will see something like this board:
The main “problem” areas are the legs of the USB plug and the power stabilizer, which over time tend to become unsoldered or burn out due to short circuits. If you know how to work with a soldering iron, first try soldering the outer terminals of the plug, which are responsible for power and grounding. This should restore normal power to the flash drive.
If, after manipulating the soldering of the outer legs, the flash drive starts blinking when connected to a PC, but is not detected, perhaps the problem is in the unsoldered legs, receiving and transmitting data. Solder them too and check again. If the connection is not accompanied by a blinking indicator, then most likely you need to solder or replace the power stabilizer.
conclusions
Alas, sometimes it happens that even after all attempts at resuscitation, the flash drive shows no signs of life. In this case, you should admit that you did everything you could and, with a clear conscience, throw the media in the trash.
Although, if the flash drive is very dear to you, you can take it to a good service center. There they can remove the memory chip for you and transfer it to a new board. True, the cost of such an operation is comparable to the cost of a new device, and sometimes even exceeds it! Therefore, it is advisable to do this only if there is some important information on the flash drive.
However, most often the matter does not reach the service center. Most flash drives can be restored at home. Our article and program archive will help you with this, which you can download from the link below. I wish you success!
P.S. Permission is granted to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.
Before talking about the repair of USB flash drives from the American company Kingston, it is worth mentioning a couple of significant facts about this company, which is the undoubted leader in the supply of USB drives, second in the world in the production of flash memory and third in memory cards.
The Californian company Kingston was founded on October 17, 1987, but although the company is American, its origins were from Taiwan, John Tu and David Sun. Kingston Technology currently ranks 77th on Forbes' list of the 500 Largest Private Companies in the United States.
A huge variety of flash drives in shape, color, case material, as well as volume, from the smallest to 1 TB. There are series of drives with data encryption that are suitable for corporate use that requires a high degree of protection and encryption of information.
All Kingston USB flash drives are covered by a warranty that guarantees the exchange of a faulty device if the breakdown is not the fault of the buyer. The minimum warranty period is 1 year; there are lines of flash drives and memory cards for which the warranty is valid for up to five years. As a rule, no breakdowns occur in the first years of use. Repairs are often required after warranty service and, despite the high reliability of this company’s products, no one guarantees that one day your drive will stop working.
If your storage device is no longer detected correctly, shows zero or incorrect capacity, asks you to insert a disk, etc., then this indicates a software failure at the controller level. These and other similar faults can be repaired. There are several programs for repairing Kingston flash drives, not counting universal utilities. Let's look at a few of them so you know how to work with them. Download the archive containing all three utilities from the link.
Phison Preformat v.1.30
The program helps restore flash drives on Phison controllers, which are also used by Kingston. Run it with the file preformat.exe, if it displays the message: Preformat does not support this IC, then the controller is not supported. If the program is launched, a window will open, as in the image below, where you are given four options: full format, fast, fast low-level and full low-level.
No instructions for use are needed. Select modes one by one and check the drive. Remember that after a quick and complete low-level formatting, it will be impossible to recover the information that was stored on it, so take care of this in advance.
Another very simple utility that can help fix errors. Everything is simple, if it starts, then the device is assembled on a controller compatible with it. There are only two buttons: Format and Cancel. The first is low-level formatting, which helps to repair the device in case of logical failures, and the second is to close the utility.
A production utility that has managed to bring many flash drives back to life. The instructions are simple: run the AlcorMP.exe file, if your drive is detected in Device Status, then click Start and check its functionality.
These three programs for repairing flash drives from the manufacturer Kingston can “cure” most devices. If the universal utilities for diagnostics and recovery provided on the site.