How to flash a flash drive? Restoring the USB drive. Reviving the Verbatim flash drive Firmware for the verbatim 32gb flash drive

Hi all! It’s not for nothing that I decided to write an article about how to flash a flash drive – I have experience. Yesterday I restored my flash drive Kingston DT Elite 3.0 16GB. Everything worked out, and I thought, why not write similar instructions, and tell me what and how to do, in order to give the flash drive a new life :).

Nowadays, probably every house has a flash drive and very rarely just one. It is convenient to transfer information onto them, they are beautiful and, moreover, in Lately not expensive. But very often USB drives fail. If we talk about why this happens, then we ourselves are in first place. Do you always do a safe removal of your flash drive? So I rarely do. There may, of course, be other reasons why flash drives simply “die”.

One point needs to be clarified here. It happens that the flash drive really “dies”. In this case, it is impossible to restore it. At least at home. But if the USB drive shows at least some signs of life when connected to the computer, then you can try to restore its operation using the controller firmware.

What signs of life might there be? USB storage?

• When you connect the flash drive to the computer, the computer signals that the device is connected - that’s good.
• At Windows connection ask to format the removable drive (but during the formatting process there are problems and errors such as “Windows cannot complete formatting”).
• The flash drive is detected and visible in Explorer, but when you try to open it, the message “Insert disk...” appears.
• Errors occur when copying information.
• Very slow speed of writing/reading information.

If there is valuable information on the flash drive, then you can try to restore it before and after the firmware. This can be done using different programs. I advice Recuva, here is the article but there are many other good programs.

If the information is very valuable, then it is better not to do anything yourself so as not to make it worse. Contact special service centers who are engaged in information recovery.

Let's now look at the entire process of flashing the controller using a real example, using my Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0 16GB flash drive as an example. My flash drive broke down. It’s interesting. I needed to upload files to it and delete those that had already been recorded. I connected it to the computer and started deleting the folder. But the folder was deleted very slowly. I unplugged and plugged this flash drive back in, a message appeared that the disk needs to be formatted “Before using the disk...”.

Since there were no Important files on the flash drive, I started formatting without hesitation.

But the process itself lasted a very long time and never ended, I forcibly stopped it. The message “Windows could not complete formatting” may also appear.

But still, I formatted it, the tenth time, and only in FAT 32. After which the USB drive was detected normally and I was even happy. But it was not there. I started copying files onto it, and the recording speed was approximately 100 kb/s. I decided to flash it, which I did.

Determining the VID and PID of the USB controller

First we need determine VID and PID. This is data about the model and manufacturer of the controller, which is located in our drive. Using this data, we will look for a utility for the firmware. There are many different programs, with which you can determine the VID and PID. I recommend the utility Flash Drive Information Extractor You can download it from the link.

Connect the USB flash drive to your computer and run Flash program Drive Information Extractor (extract the program folder from the archive and run the GetFlashInfo.exe file).

Click the button at the top of the program “Get data about the flash drive”.

The program will give us the result. We look at the information that is located opposite VID and PID.

You can copy these numbers, or leave the utility window open, we will now need the received data.

We are looking for a utility for flashing a flash drive

Based on the VID and PID data, we need to find the utility with which we will flash the controller. There is a good website flashboot.ru, which contains a database of flash drives and utilities for their recovery.

In the search results we look for a flash drive similar to ours. The list may include devices from other manufacturers. They just have the same controller, it was identified by VID and PID. You may have noticed that I have a 16 GB flash drive, but in the list I highlighted 32 GB. I think there's nothing wrong with that (just where the name of the utility is not indicated on 16 GB). You try to choose a more similar device from the list.

We are interested in the field UTILS(utility), copy its name in full.

Unfortunately, the utility that I need was not found on this site. Perhaps you will have better luck and you will see something in the search results. Download the utility to your computer.

But I didn’t stop there and started Googling. I just asked “SK6221 MPTool 2013-04-25” and found this utility on some other site. If you have the same flash drive, then this utility is . True, the name of the archive is different, but this did not stop me from successfully curing my flash drive.

USB drive recovery process

Disconnect the flash drive. Extract the folder with the utility from the archive and run .exe file. In my case it is the MPTool.exe file. Also look text file readme.txt. Perhaps there are instructions there, or a link to a site with instructions. If the instructions are in English, then translate it using the same translate.google.ru.

I'll tell you how I did it (you just may have a different utility and everything may be different there, but it shouldn’t be very different).

The utility is running. We connect the flash drive. I have information about the flash drive in two lines in the program. Press the button Start. In my case, the yellow strip signaled the firmware process. We wait.

When the process ended, I saw green color, everything seems to be fine.

A Windows message should immediately appear asking you to format the disk. But most likely nothing will work out the first time. Unplug the flash drive and plug it back in. The driver should be installed and the removable drive should appear in Explorer. You can format it.

I checked the recording speed, everything is as it should be for USB 3.0, everything is fine!

You need to be prepared for the fact that the actions may differ from those I described. And not everything can work out the first time. The main thing is not to give up and everything will work out!

How to recover Verbatim brand flash drives

Method 1: Disk formatting software

This is the simple name for proprietary software from the manufacturer. To use this, follow these steps:

Choose one of the options:

« NTFS Format» — formatting removable media with the NTFS file system;

« FAT32 Format» - formatting a drive with FAT32 system

« convert from FAT32 to NTFS Format"- converting from FAT32 to NTFS and formatting.

Check the box next to the desired option and click on the “Format” button in the lower right corner of the program window.

Wait for the formatting process to complete. Usually it takes very little time, but it all depends on the amount of data on the flash drive.

To find out what type of file system is already used on your USB drive, go to “My Computer” (“This Computer” or simply “Computer”). There, right-click on it and open the item “ Properties" The next window will contain the information we are interested in.

This instruction is relevant for Windows; on other systems you need to use additional software to see data about all connected drives.

Method 2: Phison Preformat

Very simple utility, in which there are a minimum of buttons, but a maximum of actually working functions. It works with those flash drives that use Phison controllers. Many Verbatim devices do just that. Regardless of whether this is the case in your case or not, you can try using this program. To do this, follow these instructions:

« Full Formtting» - full formatting;

« Quick Formatting» - quick formatting(only the table of contents is erased, most of the data remains in place);

« Low Level Formatting (Quick)" - fast low level formatting;

« Low Level Formatting (Full)" - full low-level formatting.

You can try using all these options in turn. After selecting each of them, try using your flash drive again. To do this, simply check the box next to the desired item and click " OK" at the bottom of the program window.

Wait until Phison Preformat completes all its functions.

If after startup a message appears with the text “ Performat does not support this IC", this means that this utility is not suitable for your device and you need to use another one. Fortunately, there are quite a lot of them.

Method 3: AlcorMP

A fairly well-known program that copes well with the devices of the most different manufacturers. The problem is that on this moment There are about 50 versions of it, each designed for different controllers. Therefore, before downloading AlcorMP, be sure to use the iFlash service on the flashboot website.

It is designed to find the necessary recovery utilities based on parameters such as VID and PID. How to use it is described in detail in the lesson on working with removable media from Kingston (method 5).

By the way, there are other similar programs there. Surely, you can find several more utilities there that are suitable for your instance.

Let's say AlcorMP is in the list of programs and you found the desired version on the service. Download it, insert your USB flash drive and follow these steps:

The drive must be detected on one of the ports. If this does not happen, press the " Resfesh(S)' until he appears. You can also restart the program. If after about 5-6 attempts nothing happens, it means this version does not suit your copy. Look for another one - one of them should definitely fit.

The process of low-level formatting of the USB drive will begin. You just have to wait until it ends.

Also in some cases you will need to change some parameters. To do this, in the main program window, click on the “ Settings" or " Setup" In the window that opens, we may be interested in the following:

Tab " Flash type", block MP " Setup", line " Optimize" It offers a choice of one of three options:

« Speed ​​optimize» — optimization for speed;

« Capacity optimize» — volume optimization;

« LLF Set optimize"—optimization without checking for bad blocks.

This means that after formatting the flash drive will be optimized for fast work or working with large amounts of information. The first is achieved by reducing the cluster. This option implies an increase in recording speed. The second point means that the flash drive will work slower, but will be able to process more data. The last option is used extremely rarely. It also implies that the media will run faster, but will not be checked for damaged parts. They, of course, will accumulate and someday will completely damage the device.

Tab " Flash type", block MP " Setup", line " Scan Level" These are the scanning levels. Paragraph " Full Scan1"The longest, but the most reliable. Respectively, " Full Scan4» usually takes little time, but finds very little damage.

Method 4: USBest

Another fairly simple program that allows you to quickly correct errors on some removable media Verbatim. To find your version, you must also use the functions iFlash service. After you have downloaded and installed the program on your computer, do this:

Set the desired recovery mode. This is done using the appropriate marks in the “Repair Option” block. There are two options there:

« Fast» - fast;

« Complete" - complete.

It's best to choose the second one. You can also check the box next to “ Update firmware" Thanks to this, during the repair process, the latest software (drivers) will be installed on the flash drive.

Click the button Update"at the bottom of the open window.

Wait until formatting is completed.

Conveniently, the program can visually display how many damaged blocks are on the device you are using. To do this, on the left side of the window there is a diagram and the line “ Bad blocks”, next to which it is written how much of the total volume was damaged as a percentage. You can also see on the progress bar what stage the process is at.

Most users say that this program, mainly works with Verbatim media. For some reason it doesn't work very well with other flash drives. In any case, we can use this utility. To do this, follow these steps:

Download trial version SmartDisk FAT32 Format Utility or buy a full one. The first involves pressing the button " Download", and the second - " Buy Now»

Recovery of a Verbatim Store N Go flash drive is current problem Nowadays. The products of this company are of very high quality, but sooner or later they may fail. USB drives, like hard drives, store all their data in memory; their size can be 8Gb, 16Gb, 32Gb or more. The operating system can later retrieve these files if it gains access to them. Any time a USB drive becomes damaged or unresponsive, you can use data recovery software.

There are many reasons why information on a flash drive may be inaccessible to the user. If the drive was improperly disconnected from the port, this could result in file corruption. Other possible reason information corruption is incorrect data in the main boot entry(Master Boot Record), Partition Boot Record (PBR), or directory structure on the USB drive.

There are other reasons why a flash drive refuses to work. Failure can occur due to physical or logical damage. The most common hardware and physical problems include broken connectors, dead file stores without power, broken chips, etc.

Stellar Partition Recovery Application

A user who has already recovered disk drives knows that using special software you can try to solve simple and complex problems associated with data loss. You can download such a program for free and install it on your computer to scan devices and recover files. The first thing you can try is Stellar Partition Recovery software, which scans large USB drives for inaccessible or formatted files.

To recover data from a damaged or inaccessible flash drive, you need to follow these steps:

• download and install Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Professional;
• connect the problematic one USB disk, which you are trying to restore;
• in the Select Location section, the device will be designated by a specific letter (D, E or any other);
• select the drive and click the Scan button for the software to begin the scanning process;
• the application will examine the media and display a list of all files to be recovered so that they can be previewed;
• Choose all necessary files and folders, then click the Recover button.

Physical damage to the device

A user who has already recovered data from an inaccessible USB drive knows that they first need to determine the exact cause of problems when trying to read information on a flash drive. If a physical malfunction occurs, such as a breakdown of a connector, microcircuit or NAND memory chip, this means that the failed element needs to be repaired or replaced.

Trying to do these steps yourself may make the situation even worse. In such cases, it is recommended to entrust the work to experts.

You can contact any company that specializes in restoring drives after physical damage. Technicians will be able to repair damaged equipment using special tools and software.

• "Please insert removable drive»;
• “The USB device is not recognized or is faulty”;
• "You need to format the drive before using it."

If the silver connector of the flash drive is damaged or the chip fails, this often leads to a power outage to the device. In this case, the board may need to be repaired. It is not recommended to do this yourself, since you may lose access to the file storage of the flash drive if it fails. This will reduce the likelihood of successful data recovery or even eliminate it completely. Fixing the above physical malfunctions requires special equipment and experience, so it is better to entrust this matter to professionals.

Software errors

The “please insert a removable disk” error occurs when the flash drive controller software is corrupted. This can also happen if there are problems with the NAND memory. The above error may be caused by low quality chips. The disk's condition deteriorates if it is read and written too frequently.

The error indicates that there is a problem with the NAND memory chips. The metadata has been corrupted or erased, rendering the drive unreadable. As a result, every time the user tries to access information, he receives a message: “Please insert a removable disk.” If you try to check the size of the disk, its capacity may be 0 Mb instead of the declared 16Gb.

When the Verbatim flash drive is not recognized by the system in normal mode, it can be seen if you open “Device Manager” and go to the “ Disk devices" In this case, the letter that was previously used to designate a flash drive can be changed. In this case, you need to find specialists who perform data recovery on USB devices.

If some logical or software errors, then they can be easily fixed, regardless of the number of GB available. You will need to restore the file structure so that the flash drive can be used again. To scan your drive for problems with using Windows, you need to follow these steps:

• insert the drive into USB port;
• right-click on the removable disk icon and open “Properties”;
• click the “Check Now” button;
• get the options “Automatically fix file system errors” and “Scan and try to repair bad sectors”;
• select 2 of the above options at once;
• Click “Start”, which will start the scanning mode;
• Click “Close” after the process is completed.

If you are using Windows 7, you can follow these steps to restore your drive:

• insert the removable disk into the USB port;
• open “My Computer”, “Removable Disk”;
• right-click on the “Removable disk” icon and open its properties;
• go to the “Tools” tab;
• click the “Rebuild” button;
• wait for the scanning process to complete and then close the window;
• Right-click on the flash drive icon and select “Eject,” after which you can remove the device from the USB port.

What to do when the device is not detected?

To fix a flash drive that is not detected, you need to follow these steps:

• open “Start”, “Control Panel”, “Device Manager”;
• open the list next to the “Disk devices” option;
• on the flash drive there will be an icon depicting a down arrow, which you should click on 2 times and select “Enable device”;
• click “Next” 2 times in a row;
• Click "Done".

To format a removable drive, you need to select file system NTFS. After this, you should repeat the process, but using FAT32. If the flash drive is not recognized, you need to check the USB port. In some cases, the problem may not be with the drive itself, but with the slot into which it is inserted. Before you start trying to repair your flash drive, you should make sure that the USB port is working properly.

To check the functionality of the connector, you need to remove the removable disk, restart the computer and connect the device again. It is quite possible that after this the flash drive will work. Sometimes it happens that 1 of the USB ports on the computer is faulty, but all the others are working fine. You should carefully check each connector on your PC. It is also recommended to try reading the flash drive on another computer.

There are several solutions for creating data backups:

1. Built in operating system applications. Microsoft Windows provides ways Reserve copy data that involves storing files and data on external or built-in storage media. All modern versions Windows already include the ability to create backup copy necessary files or just hard drive, if necessary. Provided Windows functions are complete and independent, and are aimed at ensuring that you do not need to use third-party services or programs.
2. Copying data manually. You can always use the old proven method of creating a data backup - manually copying the data to an external storage medium. This is a long process, but if you work with a small amount of data, this solution may be quite acceptable for you.
3. Online services. Recently, the most modern method of data backup has become increasingly popular - these are numerous online services. Companies that provide backup of your files directly on the Internet. Small installed on your computer background application, creates copies of the necessary data and stores them on remote server. However, the volumes provided by such companies for storing your files in free version do not allow their use as a comprehensive solution. Often the space offered for data backup does not exceed 10 GB, so there is no need to talk about creating a backup copy of the entire hard drive. Such services are rather aimed at reserving a separate number of files.
4. Creating a disk image. This is the most complete solution to create a backup copy of data, which is used by advanced users. This method involves the use third party program to create an image of the entire disk, which can be deployed, if necessary, on another storage medium. By using this decision, you can in a short period of time gain access to all the data that was on the disk at the time of its backup: documents, programs and media files.

Verbatim flash drive models for 64gb, 32gb, 16gb, 8gb, 4gb, 2 gb:

• Store n Go;
• Store n Stay;
• V3 MAX;
• Micro Plus;
• Dog Tag ;
• Mini;
• Swivel;
• Nano;
• Metal Executive;
• Micro;
• Pinstripe;
• Clip-it;

Do you have an inoperative 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 support for 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 that 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, launches instantly on any PC. Software Suitable for repair, 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 others 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.

Recognize maximum quantity various types Flash Drive flash drives, among the above utilities, and the format and recovery utility can also quickly restore the performance of drives USB Disk Storage Format Tool, which has a very clear and user-friendly interface. The USB Disk Storage flash drive repair program will be able to quickly recover damaged data. hard sections disk 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 restore lost data are only appropriate if
The flash drive is detected in Chip Genius.