# How to recover data from usb before formatting?



## JanJan (Dec 8, 2010)

My friend have this 4gb Lexar usb and now it's recognized as RAW under disk management and ask the usb to be reformatted. He has bunch of data on it and he said before this happened he has been unpluging the usb without ejecting it first... Anyone know of a way to recover data from this?


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## robn (Dec 8, 2010)

Try testdisk, search for the lost drive partition and fix it.

Once it's back do a Windows error check on it too.


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## JanJan (Dec 8, 2010)

ahh im not sure how to use teskdisk. i messed around a bit but kind of scared to test out any thing. can you possibly specify what option i should look for exactly?

i read that a way to fix it is to format the drive first then try to recover data from that point?


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## JanJan (Dec 11, 2010)

ahh can someone recommend a usb data recovery program that's known to have high percentage of success? it's not that i dont trust the two helpers above, i just need more input. thanks a lot


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## streetfighter 2 (Dec 11, 2010)

Please don't use TestDisk unless you know what you're doing.  That program is not for amateurs...

I've never tried any of the following programs but they've been mentioned on TPU by members:
http://www.ptdd.com/recoverdeletedpartition.htm (Mentioned by JrRacinFan)
http://www.z-a-recovery.com/download.htm (Mentioned by Arctucas)
http://www.filehippo.com/download_recuva/ (Mentioned by xBruce88x)

From looking at the three pages for about 3 seconds I think the second one looks nice...  I should also mention that I've never attempted to recover data off a corrupt USB drive-- I just reformat them...

Sorry I can't be of more help.

*↓*  For a USB drive, my guess would be so.


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## JanJan (Dec 11, 2010)

so it's more common to reformat then recover?


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## Peter1986C (Dec 11, 2010)

I guess he has another copy of the data on his hard disk? If that's the case, just reformat. And whatever you do, make him swear that he will never eject a usb drive without unmounting again.


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## Mussels (Dec 11, 2010)

if you do a quick format, the data can be recovered afterward. only the slow formats actually erase the data.


unplugging without ejecting doesnt cause this, likely its just a dead/dying drive.


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## Zenith (Dec 11, 2010)

I was rescued many times by this program http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm.


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## JanJan (Dec 11, 2010)

i think i will reformat and then try to recover from there. but thing is im afraid if i use a mediocre program it will mess with the data even more. so pls pls let me hear more of your inputs. i have done some research but there are so many program out there that i dont know which to choose..

edit: actually im going to try recuva and easeus partition recovery. wish me luck


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## JanJan (Dec 11, 2010)

just an update: easeus and recuva was no go but file scavenger actually did the job! Thing is that the files recovered are still corrupted (pdf, word etc cant open)  i need more wisdom from you all !!


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## Zenith (Dec 12, 2010)

Which mode did you use? I recommend using long mode. It is quite time consuming but does it job. On the other hand if file is somehow deleted then you would have problems restoring it.


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## JanJan (Dec 12, 2010)

i used long mode for file scavenger and retrived tons of files but they are all corrupted. BUT hey Yujia, i actually did a quick format before recovering, that's probably the reason why all the files are corrupted? 

do you guys know of a reliable program to repair word, excel files etc?


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## Mussels (Dec 12, 2010)

Yulja said:


> I agree with "streetfighter 2" and also suggest you try ZAR data recovery software. There you can try either image recovery mode or general data recovery mode - typically one of them works fine. On top of that their support is also great.
> And one more thing - never format the drive you are going to recover data from - no matter quick or complete format.



quick format loses no data, and at least makes it show as a partition. most recovery tools wont work if the drive is showing as RAW or without a partition.


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## JanJan (Dec 12, 2010)

> quick format loses no data, and at least makes it show as a partition. most recovery tools wont work if the drive is showing as RAW or without a partition.


that's true too cuz numerous programs that i tried wouldnt let me select the usb unless i format it first...


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## qubit (Dec 12, 2010)

Do the following:

- Use an imaging program to copy the raw sectors off that drive into an image. It will be an exact copy of the contents of that drive
- Make another image, then don't mess with the original image or the USB stick. You'll need those if things go tits up or you want to change strategy halfway through and have changed the contents of the second image
- Mount the second image and do the quickie format that Mussels said
- Use recovery tools to get back your data
- Take your time and don't rush this. There's no shortcuts here

Good luck, you'll need it.

And finally, make sure your friend keeps a _minimum_ of one backup as often as possible, then this shit won't ever be necessary again.


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## arnoo1 (Dec 12, 2010)

streetfighter 2 said:


> Please don't use TestDisk unless you know what you're doing.  That program is not for amateurs...
> 
> I've never tried any of the following programs but they've been mentioned on TPU by members:
> http://www.ptdd.com/recoverdeletedpartition.htm (Mentioned by JrRacinFan)
> ...



thanks, the program works fine, eventhough this isn't my threat, i needed software to recover data after formatting


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## dr emulator (madmax) (Dec 22, 2010)

Mussels said:


> quick format loses no data, and at least makes it show as a partition. most recovery tools wont work if the drive is showing as RAW or without a partition.



are you sure M? as i thought the format thing only worked on harddrives as they are magnetic, hence a quick format only removes the fat and doesn't wipe the entire disk 

crazy reason on this thought is ssd's aren't meant to be defraged and memory sicks are also electronic so


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## Mussels (Dec 22, 2010)

dr emulator (madmax) said:


> are you sure M? as i thought the format thing only worked on harddrives as they are magnetic, hence a quick format only removes the fat and doesn't wipe the entire disk
> 
> crazy reason on this thought is ssd's aren't meant to be defraged and memory sicks are also electronic so



what?


quick format erases the listing of what files are where, thats how it works.


SSD, magnetic or flash means nothing - they all use the same filesystems (fat32/NTFS)


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## t_ski (Dec 22, 2010)

Quick format erases the file allocation table (or whatever NTFS calls it) only.  Full format erases the FAT and writes zero's to the drive.


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## Kreij (Dec 23, 2010)

According to MS, a format (full) is equivilent to doing a quick format and then a chkdsk /r
So I don't think it writes zeros to the HD.


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## tompatrick (Dec 24, 2010)

hit the start menu 
run and typed CMD
type Chkdsk e: /r
this chkdsk command used to check a disk for structure corruption
you will seea a warning, "your drive is not a Windows XP drive"
continue by pressing Y to 
It starts to run through files and directories
If you see the file names it means that all the files are not lost
it will then ask if you want to save lost chains in files
pick yes
Chkdsk wil then report what all ut was able to recover
Go to my computer and then try opening the USB drive you will find the files those  Chkdsk had repaired

If in case this all doesn't work you will have to opt for data recovery software for windows stellar phoenix I use most of the times of data loss you can try what ever you like just Google it


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