In our world, almost everything breaks and Silicon Power flash drives are no exception. The damage is very easy to notice. In some cases, some files begin to disappear from your storage device. Sometimes the drive simply ceases to be detected by the computer or any other device (it happens that it is detected by the computer, but not detected by the phone, or vice versa). Also, the memory card can be detected, but not opened, and so on.
In any case, it is necessary to restore the flash drive so that it can be used again. Unfortunately, in most cases you will not be able to recover any information and it will be permanently deleted. But after this, the USB drive can again be fully used and information can be written to it without fear that it will be lost somewhere. It is worth noting that removable media from Silicon Power very rarely last long after restoration; they still have to be replaced.
You can restore Silicon Power removable media using the programs that the company itself released. Apart from this, there are other software that help in this matter. We will analyze proven methods that have been tested by users from all over the world.
Method 1: Silicon Power Recover Tool
The first and most famous utility from Silicon Power. It has only one purpose - to fix damaged flash drives. Silicon Power Recover Tool works with removable media with Innostor IS903, IS902 and IS902E, IS916EN, and IS9162 series controllers. Its use is extremely simple and looks like this:
Method 2: SP ToolBox
The second proprietary program, which includes as many as 7 instruments. We only need two of them. To use Silicon Power ToolBox to recover your media, do the following:
The program can now be closed.
Method 3: SP USB Flash Drive Recovery Software
The third program from the manufacturer, which recovers flash drives from Silicon Power with great success. In fact, it performs the same process that users usually do using the iFlash service. Read about what it is and how to use it in the lesson on restoring Kingston flash drives.
The point of using this service is to find the desired program and use it to restore the flash drive. The search is carried out using parameters such as VID and PID. So, USB Flash Drive Recovery independently determines these parameters and finds the desired program on Silicon Power servers. Its usage looks like this:
Using this tool also does not make it possible to save the data contained in the drive's memory.
Method 4: SMI MPTool
This program works with Silicon Motion controllers, which are installed in most Silicon Power flash drives. SMI MPTool differs in that it performs low-level recovery of damaged media. You can use it as follows:
- program and run it from the archive.
- Click on the button Scan USB" to start scanning your computer for a suitable flash drive. After this, your media should appear on one of the ports (column " Items"on the left). Click on it in this column to highlight it. Actually, if nothing happens, it means that the program is not suitable for your carrier.
- Next, click the “ Debug" If a window appears asking you to enter a password, enter the number 320.
- Now click the button Start" and wait for the restoration to complete.
In some cases, it helps if you do the above steps several times. In any case, it's worth a try. But, again, don’t expect data to be saved.
Method 5: Recuva File Recovery
Finally, we have reached a method that allows us to restore at least some of the damaged information. Only then will it be possible to restore the functionality of the device itself using one of the utilities described above. Recuva File Recovery is not SP's own development, but for some reason it is owned by this company. It is worth saying that this is not the same program that is familiar to all of us. All this only means that Recuva will be the most effective in working with flash drives from Silicon Power.
To take advantage of its capabilities, read the lesson on our website.
Only when you choose where to scan for deleted or damaged files, select the option “ On my media card"(this is step 2). If the card is not detected or no files are found on it, start the whole process again. Only now select the option “ In a specific location"and indicate your removable media according to its letter. By the way, you can find it out if you go to “ My computer"(or simply " Computer», « This computer" - it all depends on the version of Windows). 
Method 6: Flash Drive Recovery
This is also a universal program that is suitable for most modern models of removable storage media. Flash Drive Recovery is not developed by Silicon Power and is not listed among the recommended utilities on the manufacturer's website. But, judging by user reviews, it is extremely effective in working with flash drives from this manufacturer. Its usage looks like this:
In addition to Recuva File Recovery and Flash Drive Recovery, you can use TestDisk, R.saver and other utilities to recover data from damaged media. The most effective such programs are listed on our website.
After the recovery of lost data has been completed, use one of the above utilities to restore the functionality of the entire drive. You can also use the standard Windows tool to check disks and fix errors. How to do this is shown in the lesson on restoring Transcend flash drives (method 6).
Finally, you can format your removable media using other programs or the same standard means Windows. As for the latter, you need to do the following:
- In the window " Computer» (« My computer», « This computer") right-click on your flash drive. In the drop-down menu, select “ Format…».
- When the formatting window opens, click on the " Begin" If it doesn’t help, start the process again, but uncheck the box next to “ Quick…».
Also try using other disk formatting programs. The best of them are listed on our website. And if this doesn’t help, we won’t recommend anything other than buying a new media.
Silicon Power flash drives: Ultima and Touch series
If the safety of data on your flash drives is really very important to you, we recommend reading about their proper storage and protection. The information provided there is valid for any type of flash drive - from cheap and fragile products from Taiwanese Transcend to durable, high-quality products from American Kingston or Taiwanese Silicon Power. Today, as you understand, we are talking about the latter.
About company
Silicon Power (more precisely, Silicon Power Computer & Communications Inc.) is a Taiwanese company specializing in the production various devices for storing information: hard drives(including external ones), USB flash drives, memory cards with data exchange speeds up to 90 MB/s, memory modules, and so on. The company was founded back in 2003, and now its products are distributed in more than 120 countries around the world.
In 2010, Silicon Power opened its office in Russia (Moscow, Pushkin St., 27). In addition, it already has divisions in Japan, Holland, China, the USA, India and, of course, Taiwan. Over the eight years of its existence, the company has received many awards as one of the most successful Taiwanese projects, including as the most dynamically developing representative of the industry. And in 2011, the Indian magazine Chip - one of the world-famous publications specializing in electronics - as a result of large-scale testing, recognized flash drives and memory cards from Silicon Power as the fastest.
Russian and European experts have previously come to similar conclusions. At the same time, surprisingly, the cost of flash drives from SP is perhaps the lowest in our market. That is why we will now take a closer look at what this company can offer us, and we will figure out whether Silicon Power flash drives really deserve the right to be called one of the best.
Flash drives Silicon Power
Let's start with the fact that all Silicon Power USB devices sold on the Russian market are equipped with USB interface 2.0. Several new devices have already been announced with USB support 3.0, but the company is in no hurry to launch them into mass production.
SP flash drives are made mainly of plastic and metal, cost from 200 to 6,000 rubles, and are designed for information volumes from 1 to 64 GB - that is, almost everyone here will find something to their liking. Another undeniable advantage of these devices is that most of them have hardware encryption and data backup capabilities.
All USB drives from Silicon Power are divided into three large series: Touch, Ultima and LuxMini. And, despite the fact that it is flash drives and the LuxMini lines that are considered the fastest, today we will look at Ultima and Touch devices: they deserve a closer look.
Touch Series
Perhaps this is the brightest and most unusual of all series of USB flash drives from Silicon Power. In it you can find absolutely different models- both in appearance and in technical specifications. They have only one main thing in common: the presence of a special convenient retractable mechanism for the USB connector. Also, almost all flash drives from the Touch series have a shockproof, dustproof and waterproof case, which is one of their main advantages.
is a flash drive with a “sporty” design, as if hinting at the speed and lightness of this model. The body is made of matte black plastic, and the USB connector slides in and out using a red (or green) switch. According to the manufacturer, this element has a unique, unparalleled design - namely, the Wave Surface, thanks to which the device looks very stylish and is quite pleasant to use.
Unfortunately, this solution was not very successful technically: the plastic of the case is quite fragile, from frequent careless use this toggle switch can become unusable and will not be very convenient to use - you will have to press it with your fingers. Also, this mechanism is fixed only in the extended state - accordingly, the connector can easily slide out on its own while carrying a flash drive in a bag or pocket.
However, for the 210-300 rubles that online stores ask for the Touch 610, you are unlikely to find another device so nice in appearance. Another undeniable advantage of flash drives with a retractable mechanism is that they are much more convenient to carry - especially in jeans pockets.
The memory capacity of the Touch 610 ranges from 1 to 16 gigabytes; production of 32 and 64 GB models is not yet planned. Speed this device also cannot boast. Sequential writing is at 8 MB/s, sequential reading is about 13-14 MB/s. Selective reading and selective writing are, naturally, even lower. The speed of the latter is generally only 2.5-3 Mb/s, which is practically unacceptable for modern USB flash drives.
- a device with a more stylish, solid and “adult” design. The diamond pattern characteristic of the series is noticeable here, and when the viewing angle changes, the viewer gets a full impression of the three-dimensionality of the design. The color of the case is cherry red, gold or deep blue, the case is made of very high quality plastic. For ease of carrying, the flash drive is equipped with a shiny metal chain, and where the chain is attached to the body there is a 3.5 mm rhinestone. In general, this model looks 5+, and its design is well suited for both men and women.
The technical parameters are also higher than those of the previously reviewed Touch model. Firstly, the permissible capacity is up to 32 GB. At the same time, the dimensions here are significantly smaller - only 34.5x15x5.15 mm and 5 grams of weight. The retractable connector locks well in both positions. The speed of working with data is also rather pleasing: reading 30 megabytes of information takes the Touch 810 no more than a second. The sequential write speed is almost twice as high as the Touch 610: about 16 MB/s. At the same time, the cost of a 16 GB model is only 920-990 rubles.
The flash drive, it would seem, is from the same series as our first two devices - it has a completely different design, which is more suitable for students, men or just office workers. The design here is quite sparse: a single-color silver stainless steel case with a black plastic back and a black metal chain made up of round beads. In this case, Silicon Power relied on reliability and durability: this USB drive is made with COB (Clip-on-board) technology, making it resistant to dust, water and vibration. Here, which is atypical for the Touch line, the connector is not retractable, and this also contributes to the integrity and indestructibility of the structure.
But, as they say, not by strength alone. The Touch 830 has many more advantages. The most obvious is size. The length, width and depth of this device are even smaller than those of the Touch 810, and are 35, 12.3 and 3.5 mm, respectively, and the weight is only 4 g. However, only one flash chip fits into such a small case. memory, and as a result, the maximum capacity of the Touch 830 is only 16 GB.
Since there is only one chip, this device (as well as any other model from the Touch line) is capable of operating only in single-channel mode - which means, especially high speeds You can’t expect it to read and write. For example, data is copied from the device at a speed of about 11 Mb/s versus 32-35 Mb/s for modern expensive models from Corsair Flash Voyager. The recording speed (that is, data transfer to the device) is around 5-6 Mb/s. However, with Transcend things are even worse, so if you have previously used one of the inexpensive USB flash drives, then you will not experience any discomfort when switching to Touch 830. And the undoubted advantages of this model are its excellent “Nordic” design and reinforced concrete strength. The price is also good: from 200 rubles for 4 GB models to 1050-1150 rubles for 16 GB.
The penultimate device in this series that we will consider. Its design is perhaps the cutest for me. The model is equipped with a high-quality retractable connector, which is well secured both “outside” and “inside”. The case, like the Touch 830, is metal, made of zinc alloy, but a translucent crystal-shaped cover is placed on the front side of the flash drive. The model is produced in two versions: steel gray (for men) and gold (for beautiful ladies). Naturally, there are no functional differences between them.
The excellent, stylish and pleasing design of the flash drive itself is considerably spoiled by an indistinct metal braided cord, which purely in appearance resembles an elastic band from sweatpants. It is pleasant to the touch and fits well in the hand or on a keychain, but completely eliminates the flash drive as a stylish accessory, turning it into just another workhorse- even if a little unusual.
And as a horse, the Touch 850 is quite good. Let's start with the fact that the dimensions of this device exceed the dimensions of all models discussed earlier: 31.6x16.4x6 mm with a weight of 6.1 g. Due to this, a flash memory chip with a capacity of up to 32 GB fits inside. The speed of copying information from this flash drive is 23.5-24.5 megabytes per second. The recording speed is up to 9 MB/s, which is more than acceptable, although less than that of the leader in this parameter among this line: the Touch 810 model.
The cost of Touch 850 is also slightly higher than that of the previously reviewed USB flash drive models: from 300 rubles for 2 GB to 1950-2100 rubles for 32 GB. This model takes advantage of its design and good reliability, with a retractable connector and a fairly large maximum volume of stored information.
is the last option we are considering from this line from Silicon Power. As the name suggests, this USB flash drive is very similar to the Touch 850 flash drive. They are the same size and have roughly the same read and write speeds.
The main difference is in appearance: Touch 851 has many small diamonds arranged in a checkerboard pattern; in addition, this model has a much more convenient and beautiful chain. These models also differ in capacity: the maximum capacity of the Touch 851 flash drive is 16 GB versus 32 GB for the Touch 850.
Using a convenient lever on the rear panel, the USB connector can be easily tucked inside the drive - here, too, there are no differences from the previous model. At the same time, the cost of Touch 851 is 50-100 rubles less than that of Touch 850.
Ultima Series
This series is distinguished by a more strict design, the absence of a retractable connector and, accordingly, more substantial dimensions. These models were created not for students or schoolchildren, but for respectable and respectable businessmen. However, nothing prevents their use by a wider range of users.
The case of flash drives from the Ultima series is always metal, uniformly painted in a soft, calm color. The USB connector is covered with a steel cap. The strength of flash drives from this line is at a very high level.
- a beautiful and inexpensive flash drive, placed in a two-part, partially metalized, embossed case. Can be made in three colors: black, green and white. The surface of this USB flash drive is scratch-resistant and fingerprint-resistant. That's why they are popular among cybercriminals who climb into twenty-story windows and steal information from the computer of a high boss. What, you thought they didn’t have a flash drive special for this? Naive!
Also, oddly enough, Ultima 110 is popular among ordinary users- they appreciate her for being presentable appearance and good speed. The dimensions are larger than those of the Touch series models, but still small: 55x17x8 mm.
In one second, up to 18 megabytes of information are written to this flash drive, and up to 30 megabytes are read. Ultima 110 capacity is 8 or 16 GB. The 8 GB model costs about 400 rubles, the 16 GB model costs in the range from 900 to 1300 rubles.
- the second, but already the penultimate USB drive from this line, which we are planning to review today. The fact is that, as already mentioned, the Ultima series is not as diverse as the Touch series, so most of the models here have similar characteristics and appearance.
Ultima 155 stands out here because it has a built-in special microSDHC card reader, which allows you to write data not only to the flash drive itself, but also to a microSDHC card when you connect the device to a computer. This makes life very easy for users mobile phones where used this format memory cards.
In Russia, it is not so easy to find Ultima 155 on sale - primarily due to the higher cost, which scares off unskilled customers. But we have found wide use of another Silicon Power model, which is no different from the Ultima 155, except for the color and the absence of a microSDHC card reader: the Ultima 150 flash drive.
- like Ultima 155 - comes in two versions: gray or lilac. The internal parts of the flash drives are securely placed inside dark plastic, and then additionally encircled on top with a steel plate. Therefore, these devices turned out to be very durable and do not deform, even if you step on them. The capacity of these flash drives is 8 GB (320-350 rubles for Ultima 150) and 16 GB (570-650 rubles). Yes, this model is very inexpensive.
Dimensions Ultima 150 and Ultima 155 - 59x18x8 mm. At the same time, the read speed is up to 32 MB/s, and the write speed is up to 18 MB/s, which is perhaps a record in our review today.
But ahead of us lies a fascinating acquaintance with the favorite of international reviews - the LuxMini line and its record-breaking representative LuxMini 920. We will also learn about the SP Widget program produced by Silicon Power, which allows you to work even more efficiently with flash drives from this company.
Today we will look at:
USB drives from Silicon Power have a simple and elegant design. By purchasing such a stylish product, we hope that the miniature storage media will last quite a long time.
It is very unpleasant when flash drives unexpectedly fail, while the drive contains valuable information that was not duplicated. According to customer reviews, 16 GB USB drives from Silicon Power are the most vulnerable to logical errors and physical influences. Don’t despair right away; in most cases, you can restore the performance of the storage device and save the information.
Signs that a USB device has failed and needs to be repaired or restored
- Flush is periodically or not detected at all.
- When turned on, it is detected as a connected device, but a message is displayed that it is not recognized operating system(unknown device).
- Inability to perform file access, read or write operations, and messages are displayed: “no access to the disk”, “disk is write protected”, “insert disk”, “file or folder is damaged. Reading is impossible."
- Defined as media with reduced or zero memory capacity.
- The message “Before you can use the disk in the G:\ drive, you must format it. Format?" After several tries, it turns out that "Windows cannot complete formatting."
Causes of malfunctions
- Logical – incorrect formatting, deleting and removing a device while recording, transferring or downloading information, incorrect use of a flash drive when watching movies on TV, file system failure.
- Mechanical - shocks, falls, etc.
- Thermal and electrical discharges static electricity, power instability during power surges and overheating.
- Software and hardware malfunctions in the operation of electronic parts of flash drives.
- Damage or removal of the driver program for device recognition by the operating system.
- , written specifically to deliberately remove or distort information.
Solutions for restoring flash drives
Upon restoration of functionality USB drives It should be taken into account that in most cases this results in a complete loss of the data recorded on them.
For serious logical errors file system, knowledge of specialists in computer technology is needed.
In case of mechanical, thermal and electrical impacts and destruction, the device is usually not suitable for use. However, if only the body of the flash drive is damaged, there is a possibility of recovering the information in service centers.
The “driver” program can be reinstalled by downloading it from the manufacturers’ official website using the link Silicon Power drivers.
As in the previous case, the program is launched without installation through the executable file “RecoveryTool (.exe)”. Screenshot of the start and scanning start screen:
Before scanning begins, a warning is displayed stating that while the program is running there is a risk of losing data from the media. By clicking on Start, the process of restoring the flash drive begins.
SoftOrbits Flash Drive Recovery is a program for recovering information from flash drives after repeated formatting. You can download the trial version from the official website softorbits.com.
The program must first be installed. The launch is carried out through the executable file “frecover (.exe)”. The screenshots below show the process of starting the trial version of the program, where you select the media to scan, select files for recovery, hard drive space for recording them, as well as a preview window for the recovered information:
To obtain final recovery results, you must purchase a registered version of the program on the Softorbits website.
Controller firmware
If using the above software did not lead to the expected results, there is a more complex option for restoring flash media - this is the so-called “controller firmware”. This option consists of using special utilities to recover hardware failures of a specific type of flash media using known unique identifiers USB devices– VID and PID.
Upon careful examination of the operating window USB programs Flash Drive Recovery described above, you can see that the VID and PID values are automatically recognized during operation. If these numbers are entered into the database of identifiers of known flash drives on the Iflash website , It’s easy to find in the table the model of your flash drive from the manufacturer Silicon Power and a utility for restoring it (“flashing”).
Experiments along the way various options restoring the functionality of your flash drive will definitely lead to the desired results and pleasant personal discoveries.
24.03.2017
Almost every person carries with him a USB drive on which various documents, photos or audio recordings are stored. Sometimes it happens that the flash drive is not displayed in Windows or does not allow you to write new information. Similar errors often occur on drives with two memory chips. For the well-known company Silicon Power, flash drives of 16, 32, 64 GB sometimes become unreadable on the computer or the message appears "Disk is write protected". Such problems can be easily eliminated with special programs.
Causes and symptoms of an error
In total, there are 5 reasons that may cause the device to malfunction:
- logical errors;
- physical damage to parts;
- electrical overload and overheating of the carrier;
- Damage to the memory controller firmware;
- NAND memory wear or failure.
Logical errors appear when:
- incorrect formatting;
- sudden removal of the device during information exchange;
- Using the wrong file system.
Physical damage, overheating, or an unexpected power surge most often damages the contacts on the board. They can be restored by soldering. But if the microcontroller is damaged, it cannot be repaired.
If the controller's logic program is violated, the following problems are observed on the flash drive:
- not detected on the computer (there is a connection sound, but the disk is not displayed);
- prohibition on recording new data;
- no disk access;
- The drive size is specified incorrectly.
To restore the device's functionality, you will need to reflash the microcontroller. But after performing this operation, all data from the disk will be irretrievably lost.
Method 1: SP Toolbox
Branded programs are most effective for restoring Silicon Power drives. SP Toolbox combines various components for flash drive diagnostics.
After diagnostics are completed, you can begin to restore the media.
Method 2: D-soft Flash Doctor
As a rule, it is stored on flash drives important information, which I would not like to delete. To avoid losing it, you can create a disk image. D-soft Flash Doctor allows you to scan drives, create and burn disk images. The software also allows you to restore a flash drive; for this, a full format is performed.
To perform a restore, follow the instructions:
- Select the damaged disk.
- Click "Recover media".
Method 3: SP G50 FW Update Program
Silicon Power was created to update the firmware special utility SP G50 FW Update Program can be downloaded from the official website. Find the section on the page "USB drives" and click download.
The software is downloaded in an archive, which contains an .EXE file and English instructions for use. After launching the application, a window with a simple interface will appear.
In the main window it says that before clicking the button "Update" must be done backup copy data, since all files will disappear after flashing. It will be impossible to restore the information.
- Launch the program.
- Insert the Silicon Power flash drive.
- In the window "Device" The device letter will appear.
- If a window appears "Conductor" Windows, then be sure to close it.
- Click "Update".
Wait for the process to complete. Typically this takes about 1 minute. After updating the firmware, you can continue to use the device for its intended purpose. If you did it before backup, then restore the data.
Method 4: Formatting and checking for errors
If third-party operating systems, such as Ubuntu, Kali Linux, etc., were previously written to the drive, then quite often after this a problem arises with recognizing the flash drive. This error is due to data formatting features in Windows and Linux.
If the drive is detected in the system, but errors like "Access denied", "USB device not recognized" etc., then check the flash drive for errors. For this:
If the errors have not been corrected, then format the drive as FAT32 or NTFS.
First, try formatting the media as FAT32; if that doesn’t help, then use NTFS.
Method 5: Diskmgmt.msc
Sometimes incorrect reading can occur due to assigning the same letters to different drives. To fix this error:
The above steps allow you to restore the Silicon Power flash drive. To prevent errors in the operation of the media in the future, try not to interrupt USB operation device while recording or deleting information. To restore the media, in addition to proprietary programs from Silicon Power, you can use third party software, however, it rarely turns out better utilities from manufacturers.
The appearance of this miracle was not something so unexpected for me, because... For the last two months everything has been leading up to this. Company Silicon-Power, positions it as a program for restoring one’s own, like USB2.0, so USB3.0-flash drive.
; Testing on Emtec 16GB flash drive on UP23
If, according to garlic, the program absolutely does not care about the manufacturer, the only thing that interests it is VIDPID. In all flash drives from SP, use the original values of these identifiers, which may not cause positive emotions.
The utility is a shell consisting of five files:
SP Recovery Utility.exe– the application itself;
recoveryTool.ini – configuration file indicating the file names and VID PID that correspond to them. Tampering with symbols will lead to nothing, because... the original version will still be restored by the program;
setting.ini– indicates where to look for these files on the server. After applying to a flash drive with one or another VIDPID, it adds paths to already downloaded files on the hard drive;
DiskUtil.dll– some kind of utility library from Sitronix;
ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.dll– A free C# compression library. Apparently, this program unpacks downloaded .ZIP archives.
So-called SP_RECOVERY, currently uses the following recovery files:
048D1181.zip– 21-Oct-2013 10:35 (10M) ~ URescue.exe, for iTE IT1181;
090C1000.zip– 25-Oct-2013 12:00 (6.3M) ~ SMIRecoverTool.exe, for SMI devices, type SM3257ENAA;
1F750916.zip– 25-Oct-2013 14:02 (1.5M) ~ RecoveryTool.exe, for Innostor IS916 and IS916EN;
13FE4100.zip– 21-Oct-2013 10:35 (350K) ~ Restore-v3.12.0.0.exe, for Phison PS2251-67;
13FE5200.zip– 21-Oct-2013 10:35 (350K) ~ Restore-v3.12.0.0.exe, for Phison PS2251-03;
recoveryTool.ini– 23-Oct-2013 18:27 (277B)
After launching the application, it automatically searches ( Scan Device Information) suitable flash drives. If it doesn’t find any, it displays a message - No device, Please plug in the device.
If the detected flash drive matches the type-pid criterion, then the program loads ( Download Recovery Tool Kit) the right tool from the server.
Next, it is unpacked ( Tool Kit UnZip) and run ( Execution Tool Kit), then the utility closes automatically.
Towards the release of this shell Silicon Power, changed and recombined some components several times. For example, an element for flash drives based on controllers Silicon Motion (SMI), rolled back for previous version. I don’t know why this is connected, maybe the latest release was often buggy or they themselves got stupidly confused in their files.
If we take into account the development of the Internet network in the world, I don’t quite understand why they missed the last one. OFFLINE-option UFD_Recover_Tool, which weighed only about 10-20 megabytes.
There is not much point in downloading this program for you, because... All components can be downloaded individually from my website. And you don't have to customize VID_PID flash drives or go into the browser to apply it to a seemingly inappropriate flash drive.
Download SP Recovery Tool Utility V1.0 you can from the following page:
