How to recover deleted data, photos and videos on a flash drive. How to recover a flash drive without formatting

Hello friends, in this article we will look at how to recover deleted files from a flash drive or how to recover files after formatting a flash drive. I often have to deal with this problem and I want to tell you how it can be solved. The article is long and detailed, since I sincerely want to help users recover deleted files.
It is important to know that files on a flash drive may be inaccessible for two reasons:
1) Infection of the contents of the flash drive with a virus. In this case, your files on the flash drive are intact, but they have been modified by a virus program, and the virus has assigned them the “Hidden” attribute. In this case, we check the flash drive with an antivirus and remove the malicious program, then remove the “Hidden” attribute from the files. We do everything quickly and clearly (details later in the article).

2) Second reason. In fact, your files were deleted from the flash drive for some reason. Usually, users themselves delete files on a flash drive, for example, format the flash drive, but then remember that it contained the necessary information. In this case, you need to resort to free or paid program on recovering deleted files, in this article we will recover files deleted on a flash drive using several very good similar programs. Now about everything in detail, but at the beginning of the article there is a letter from our reader Sergei.

How to recover deleted files from a flash drive, disappeared in a rather strange way. My story is this: I inserted a flash drive into a friend’s laptop, copied the necessary information, then came home, connected the flash drive to my computer and was very surprised, my antivirus alarmed and immediately removed ten viruses from the flash drive. Then I went to the flash drive and did not find a single file there. I read on the Internet that you need to restore deleted files carefully, using some special program and in no case to the damaged flash drive. And I also read that it is quite possible that the files were not deleted, but simply due to an error or virus infection, they were assigned the “Hidden” attribute, this attribute needs to be removed by running some kind of “batch file”. Tell the admin, what should I do and where to start? I myself tried to use two programs to recover deleted information on flash drives, but unfortunately I didn’t find anything other than garbage on the flash drive.

How to recover deleted files from a flash drive

This information will be useful to all people who, even if not often, deal with a computer and flash drives.

How to recover deleted files from a flash drive using the free DMDE program

How to recover deleted files from a flash drive for free using R.saver

How to recover deleted files from a flash drive using the free Recuva program

How to recover deleted files from a flash drive using the program Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional

If you have lost all the files from your flash drive, then it is quite possible that the flash drive is infected with a virus, the first thing you need to do is check it with an antivirus, even if your flash drive is cleared of viruses, the files will not appear immediately, first you need to enable the display of protected system files in your operating system settings files and hidden files and folders.

Enter the "Computer" window, then select "View" - "Options" "Change folder and search options"

Uncheck the box "Hide protected files" system files" and vice versa, check the box "Show hidden files and folders", then click "Apply" and "OK".

Now we go to our flash drive and see that all the files and folders are there, but have a translucent appearance, which means the virus has assigned them the “Hidden” attribute and needs to be removed; this can be done using a hacker method.

We'll do some simple programming, create a batch file, then copy it to the root of the flash drive and launch it there. Many people think that this is very difficult, but it is not. "Batnik" is bat file- the simplest type of executable file containing a sequence of commands, now you will see everything for yourself.
Open notepad

And copy the following information into it attrib -s -h -r -a /s /d then save the file with the extension .bat.

We ended up with a file like this. Now we copy it to the root of our flash drive and double-click the left mouse to launch it. After a few seconds, we go into our flash drive again and see that all our files are in place and without the unnecessary “Hidden” attribute.

It’s another matter if, after all the above manipulations, your files were not found on the flash drive, then the files were really deleted and need to be restored. How to do this?

What to do if the files from the flash drive were actually deleted?

Note: please do not restore deleted files to the same flash drive where they were located, the deleted files will be overwritten and if the result of the recovery does not suit you, then restoring the deleted files on the flash drive again will be much worse than the first. Recover files to a free partition on your hard drive or a portable USB hard drive.

Friends, there are a great many programs for recovering deleted files from a flash drive, but only a few of them can actually help you, here are some of them.
For example, I will delete all the files on my flash drive and then format it. That's it, there are no files.

The flash drive contained media files, photos, text files, program installers and ISO image with the operating system. After this, I will try to recover deleted files using programs: DMDE, R.saver, Recuva, Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional, R-Studio.

How to recover deleted files from a flash drive using DMDE

The very first program that we will use to recover deleted files from a flash drive is DMDE.
A fairly serious and reliable program from a domestic developer called DMDE is capable of recovering deleted information from various storage devices, including flash drives. In addition, the program can !
Go to the official DMDE website http://dmde.ru/download.html

And download the program in the archive and unzip it. DMDE works without installation. Let's launch it. In the initial Select device/disk (physical devices) window, select our Corsair flash drive and click OK.

There is a quick search for deleted files on a flash drive, often using it you can find files on a flash drive and restore them. Select the space of our flash drive with the left mouse and click on the Open volume button.

In this window, click (All found + reconstruction).

We agree to virtual reconstruction of the file system.

The right side of the program window displays the files found by the program. If nothing is displayed, expand the $Root folder located on the left side of the window. If you have found the file you want to restore, right-click on it and select Restore Object from the menu. Then select in the Explorer window where exactly you want to save the recoverable file, for example on your desktop. That's it, your file has been restored. Unfortunately, the free version of the program will not allow you to recover an entire folder of files; you will receive the following error. So that life does not seem like honey, you will have to restore files one by one or buy a program. But we can restore one at a time, as long as the program finds the deleted files.
In our case, a quick search did not bring any results, so we use a detailed search. Click on the "Disk Partitions" button

Select our flash drive with the left mouse and click the “Search NTFS” button.

Search.

A detailed search will begin, which may take a little longer than a quick search, but the result will naturally be much better. The search reached 100 percent and lasted 20 minutes on a 16 GB flash drive. We look at the “Matches” column, it is used to assess the quality of file recovery on the found volume. Double-click with the left mouse on the first section.

Let's save the search log just in case.

Click again (All files + reconstruction).

Virtual file system reconstruction. OK.

Friends, DMDE found all the deleted files on the flash drive. As you can see, all found folders are marked with different icons: red dots, crosses, and so on. What does this all mean?

For example, a red dot on a yellow folder tells us that the folder contains deleted files that can be recovered. A more complete description is given in this diagram or the developer’s website http://dmde.ru/manual/filepanel.html

But finding deleted files is not enough; the program still needs to restore them, so that they are in working order. Let's try to restore them, as I already noticed, it will not be possible to restore the entire folder at once, we will get the following error:

So we go to the desired folder and restore all the files one by one. Right-click on the desired file and select "Restore object".

We choose where exactly we want to restore the files, for example, directly to the desktop.

The result is that 90 percent of the files on the flash drive have been recovered, and almost all of them are in working order. I'm happy. But one thing is inconvenient, free version You cannot restore files in groups. How to recover deleted files from a flash drive using R.saver

Also a good free program from a serious developer of similar programs, UFS Explorer, is capable of recovering deleted files from various media and flash drives, among others. Go to the official website of the R.saver program and download the program in the archive.

http://rlab.ru/files/Download/logicheskoe_vosstanovlenie_dannyh/R.saver/

R.saver, like the previously discussed DMDE program, works without installation, unzip the archive and run the program.
Happening quick scan all drives. We see that the program has found one partition on our Corsair flash drive (volume 14.93 GB), right-click on it and select “Search for lost data” or “Recover after formatting”.

We answer “Yes”, since we want to perform a full scan of our flash drive for the presence of deleted files.

The file system is being reconstructed.

Then the file system is reconstructed based on signatures using the IntelliRAW algorithm.

If you selected "Recover after formatting", then this window will appear in which you must select a partition that is suitable for your flash drive, usually this is the very first partition.

And here is the result, in the left window of the program you can see all the folders found by the program, and in the right their contents. I can say that the program worked just as well as DMDE. Almost all the information of interest was found.

Unlike DMDE, the R.saver program saves files much more conveniently, select the desired folder, right-click on it and select "Copy to..."

Explorer opens, select where to copy, for example directly to the desktop, click Select.

The recovered files are copied to the desktop.

All files that were restored to working order. Draw your own conclusions, friends. How to recover deleted files from a flash drive with Recuva Not our program, the bourgeoisie came up with it, but it was translated into Russian. Recuva pretty simple program With minimum quantities settings, a novice user can easily cope. Go to the program website http://www.piriform.com/recuva/download/standard
Download and install.

If you want to recover different files, select "All files".

Check the box "In the specified location" and click Browse, select our flash drive.

Check the box "Enable in-depth analysis" and the program will work much better. Begin.

The scan lasted 20 minutes,

The result is this: the Recuva program found almost all deleted photos and media files: video, audio, everything was perfectly restored. But there’s a problem with restoring other files: the program found the necessary text files, but when restoring them they turned out to be non-working, and it couldn’t find the program installers at all. Conclusion, if you need to find deleted media files and photos on your flash drive, the program can certainly handle it.
In the main window of the program there is a button “Go to advanced mode”, in it you can view the contents of the file using the “View” tab,

There are also “Summary” and “Title” tabs. If you want to recover found deleted files, check the box next to them, then right-click and select "Recover Selected"

How to recover deleted files from a flash drive with Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional

The undisputed leader in recovering deleted files on various media, the foreign program Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional is paid, however, let's look at it in our article.

Despite the fact that Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional is paid, you don’t need to buy it right away; in test mode, the program will search for deleted files on your flash drive and show that it can recover, if the result suits you, then act at your own discretion.

Official website of the program http://www.ontrack.ru/ontrack-easyrecovery/

Download and install and run the program in DEMO mode.

Continue.

In this window, select “Memory cards (flash)”.

If you want to recover deleted files on a flash drive, select the letter of your flash drive.

You can select "Recover deleted files" and a quick scan will take place; if it does not help you, then select "Recovery from formatted media" and Continue.

Continue again.

The scan took 20 minutes.

The result didn't surprise me. The left window of the program displays all folders found by the program, and the right window displays their contents. Found files (if they are images) can be viewed using a special viewer; select the desired file and click “Preview”.

Then we choose where exactly we want to restore the found files.

A separate article has been written about this, follow the link and read. If the information from my articles is useful to anyone, I will be very glad.

Greetings everyone Khabrovchan!

Imagine a situation where one day your hard drive/flash drive/memory card stops working normally, and you can no longer access data in the usual way. For those who do not make backups, this is a difficult, nervous time. In a panic, people begin to look for data recovery programs and find them. Most of them are free, which cannot but please people in our difficult times. But do all free programs recover data so effectively? We ran a couple of tests on several popular programs, and this is what we came up with.

Attention! Lots of screenshots.

Briefly about the tests

To conduct tests, we took five absolutely identical Transcend JetFlash 370 flash drives with a capacity of 8 GB. They were all purchased on the same day in the same place, the file system is the same, the main components (controller, memory chip) are also the same. Five absolutely identical flash drives. We recorded data on each of the flash drives. The choice fell on photographs/pictures in .jpg format. The choice of photography was not accidental: the descriptions of some tested programs indicate that “special” algorithms will work when restoring photographs. Also, in most cases, photos are stored on memory cards, and our tests will be useful for beginners and professional photographers.

The directory structure was as follows:

Total number of files - 1671

All data takes up a little less than a quarter of the free disk space

All programs were installed on one computer. OS Windows 7 Professional x64. The programs were tested one by one in turn. For each program there was a separate drive with a simulated problem.

First test. File system crash.

The first, quite common situation is a file system failure. With such a failure, as a rule, the drive asks for formatting. We simulated this situation as follows: on each drive we erased everything up to the beginning of the FAT tables

We deliberately left the FAT tables untouched because some of the programs indicate the ability to analyze the found FAT tables. It is clear that when connecting to a computer, a window immediately appeared asking you to format the disk.

1.Recuva

IN Recuva program a built-in wizard helps the user correctly start the data recovery process

Choosing our drive

Turn on “In-Depth Analysis”. It’s not entirely clear what this is, but we are doing our best to get our data back.

And then we get this message:

Advanced mode didn't help. The program didn't even start searching for our files.
Test failed. Restoration result - 0.

This program also has a wizard, but of a slightly different type

By selecting the second item, we get the following window:

This is obvious. After all, we were grinding real data with zeros.
The following window shows which damaged partitions are available for scanning

Select it and the following window appears

The default parameters are those that provide a search across the entire drive: from the minimum to the maximum value.
Applying these parameters in the window with logical drives, we get several new lines in the program

By selecting each of the last three and clicking the “Preview” button, we find the section we need:

Open it and see the entire directory structure

All data opens correctly, all files and directories are in place.
Test passed. Result 99%. (I don't like absolute values)

3. Pandora Recovery

The only program that requires an Internet connection during installation.
There is also a master

But everything quickly ends when we try to select the device we need.

Test failed. The recovery result is 0.

4. RS FAT Recovery

This program, like others, has a wizard that will definitely help you get started.

Select the maximum allowable search

After starting the search, a window appears with a progress bar, which helps guide the user through the recovery process

As a result, we get a complete directory structure, if not for one BUT

To save the data in its original form, registration of the program is required. Otherwise, each photo will have a background with a message about the unregistered version of the program.

However, the test passed successfully. The recovery result is 99%.

Perhaps the only program that does not have a wizard. The minus is small, because... by simply searching in a few clicks the user will find the desired button

By pressing the “Open” key, we automatically get a full result, if not for one thing BUT

The free version of the program has a limit on saving recovered data. It is 1024 MB. There is no preview, which is not very convenient. But the test is passed. The recovery result is 99%.

Subtotals

Only three out of five programs coped with the task. This:

2. PC INSPECTOR File Recovery
4. RS FAT Recovery
5. MiniTool Power Data Recovery

At the same time, the program won an absolute victory 2. PC INSPECTOR File Recovery, because in the free version it allows you to get good results without restrictions and unnecessary actions.

Test two. Quick formatting

Now let’s try to put ourselves in the shoes of a person who doesn’t know what formatting is or simply presses the Enter key in any incomprehensible situation until the incomprehensible windows disappear. The windows disappeared, as did the data itself. By default, Windows uses Quick Format.

We also formatted the drives and ran each program again. Let me remind you that 1671 jpeg photographs and pictures were previously recorded on the drives.

1.Recuva

This time, using the wizard, we launched the program without any problems, and the scanning process began

After some time, the result was obtained - 1390 whole files.

2. PC INSPECTOR File Recovery

The search was started with default parameters

The result was obtained, but detailed analysis it was clear that most of the files were damaged, only a few files with a minimum size were intact.

3. Pandora Recovery

Like Recuva, Pandora Recovery launched without problems. The search for lost data has begun

But at some point an error occurs. We tried various launch options (both as an administrator, and in compatibility mode, etc.), but the error does not disappear. From the preview you can see that real files were found, but there is no way to save them.

The test is considered failed. The recovery result is 0%.

4. RS FAT Recovery

In this program, using a wizard, we started searching for our files.

We got the result: 1575 whole.jpg photos and 92 .bmp. In total there are 1667 files.

5. MiniTool Power Data Recovery

In this program, as in others, the scanning process was started.

The program reported that it found 1668 files.

We were unable to verify this. Let me remind you that in the free version you can only save 1024 MB of recovered data. Having saved ten photographs, we discovered that they were all intact. We will conditionally consider the test passed, and recovery result - 99%.

Bottom line

In the second test, the leadership, in my opinion, belongs to 1.Recuva. The overall picture looks like this:

Based on the results of two tests, it is impossible to clearly determine the best free data recovery program. For each type of problem you need to use one or another program. However, data in case of “logical” problems can be recovered using such free programs. By the way, after formatting, we recorded another 2 GB of new data on these flash drives, and

Friends, hello everyone! Now we will talk about how to recover data from a flash drive if it does not open at all or has been formatted. This topic is in great demand among the population, so let’s figure it out together.

And the first rule that you should know in such moments is that after data loss, you should under no circumstances do any operations with files on the storage medium. This will lead to the complete destruction of lost files and folders, since they will be overwritten in the structure.

But right now we will have a more complicated situation than the usual erroneous disk formatting. The fact is that when a USB storage device is connected, it seems to be detected by the Windows 10 system. This can be understood by the typical sound signal when connected to a USB connector:

But the flash drive itself does not open, that is, it:

Well, let's take some action. And the first thing that comes to the author of the article is to use a free program called R-Undelete Home.

We can say that this application is a home version of the very powerful and paid R-Studio utility, which can recover data even on completely deleted or reformatted data:

So let's download it from the official website and get down to business. Let us immediately note that the Home version can only fully work with the FAT file system. For NTFS there are some restrictions related to payment:

But since flash drives are usually marked in FAT, in our case this is an ideal free option. Before copying program files to the system, an important message will appear, the meaning of which must be clearly understood:

Here it is worth saying again that it is strictly forbidden to copy any new files to the partition on which you want to find previously deleted files. Otherwise, the file table will be overwritten and the chances of a successful outcome of the entire rescue operation will decrease significantly.

So, we run the R-Undelete Home program for the first time to recover data from a USB drive that does not even open in Windows 10. And lo and behold, it is present in the list of drives:

The file scanning process will begin, upon completion of which you should select the “Next” option again:

At the next stage, check the required recognized partition (flash drive):

Then again check the box next to the entire disk to select all found directories:

And indicate the location to save the recovered files:

Again, under no circumstances should this be the flash drive itself, otherwise the files will simply overwrite each other when copied. After this, the scanning process will start again, which in our case ended with good news:

So, let's now go to the directory indicated earlier and see what is actually there. By the way, all mp3 files were restored without problems:

But graphic (pictures, photographs) are present in the lists, but for some reason they flatly refused to open:

So the question of how you can recover data from a flash drive if it does not open still remains, since it was still not possible to recover the data in full.

If any of you know any other effective ways, please tell us about them in the comments. And this article is coming to an end, all that remains is to watch a very interesting video.

USB flash drives have become part of everyday life and are used everywhere to store various data and transfer it to another computer. You can use a flash drive to bring a movie to a friend or take documents home from work. They have an advantage over external hard drives due to their compactness and affordable price. But with all the advantages, there is also a weak side of such drives, namely frequent breakdowns and problems with computer recognition.

You can extract files from a damaged flash drive using special applications.

Before we talk about whether and how to remove files from a damaged flash drive, let’s look at the reasons why the computer gives this error:

There are several tips to extend the life of your device and avoid losing important data:

Data recovery using special programs

If the computer sees the flash drive, but cannot read it, or displays some kind of error and requires formatting, then it is quite possible to restore the files and the flash drive itself. If the problem is in the mechanics or microcircuits, and when connected, the lights do not light up and the computer does not perform any actions, then, most likely, using any applications will not produce results. Try taking the device to a workshop so that specialists can disassemble it and, perhaps, be able to somehow restore its functionality. After this we can already talk about data extraction.

Algorithm for removing files from a damaged flash drive:

1. If your computer gives you an error and asks you to format the media, don't do it.
2. Download a special data recovery program.
3. Install and run the downloaded software.
4. Follow the program's instructions.
5. If you were able to extract the data, save it on your hard drive.
6. Perform low-level formatting of the flash drive, preferably also using a special program.

The following programs can be used for recovery:

• R-Studio;
• Recuva;
• RS FAT Recovery;
• RS Partition Recovery.

It is recommended to download several utilities because they work differently. In some situations, one is stronger, and the other will be useless under the same conditions, and vice versa. Therefore, do not be discouraged if some popular application does not help you. Just download another one and try again.

R-Studio - the most complete software solution, includes the following recovery functions:

• Recycle Bin and deleted files outside of it;
• files that were deleted by viruses or due to a power failure;
• after formatting, including in another file system;
• if the partition structure is damaged or changed;
• HDD with a large number of bad sectors.

Instructions on how to extract any information from a damaged, non-working flash drive using R-Studio:

Recuva is one of the most popular programs for recovering damaged data. But it does not always work effectively. The application is free, works with any external media, even iPod, and has an interface that is understandable for inexperienced users. To restore, do the following:

RS FAT Recovery - wonderful effective program for universal use. Has proven itself well in different types damage. The application is paid, but you can download a demo version and perform a scan. It will be done fully, and you will see whether this software product is capable of coping with your task. In the window after the search process is completed, the result will be displayed, but in order to completely save the files, you will be offered to purchase full version. The application only works with the FAT file system and does not support NTFS. In the second case, you will need a similar program RS NTFS Recovery.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a shareware utility that also copes well with the task of treating flash drives when various errors. The downside is the lack of a Wizard and you have to figure out the settings manually. Scanning and recovery can be performed in the free version. And you can even save what you managed to extract. However, there is a limit on the amount of stored information of 1 GB, which is quite a lot if the data is text or, for example, spreadsheets, and not multimedia.

To summarize, we can say that it is almost always possible to retrieve files from damaged media if the computer can see it. If there is no reaction from the machine when you connect the media, then prepare for the worst result. Handle your device with care, following all recommendations and advice. Leave comments if you encountered the problem of extracting data from broken media, what programs you used and what solution was the best.

Deleted data recovery is the process of retrieving information from storage media that cannot be accessed using standard methods. If operating system Windows is not able to read any files due to damage to the file system, the presence of logical or physical errors on the media (hard, solid-state, removable disk), then you will have to resort to the help of utilities to restore access to the files located on it.

What does it mean that it is impossible to access information using standard methods? Probably everyone has noticed that when deleting even huge amounts of data, the process of erasing it occurs in a matter of seconds, while copying this information requires a significant amount of time. For example, copying or moving a movie takes tens of seconds or even several minutes, and its deletion is instantaneous. The whole secret lies in the fact that when copied to a medium, the file is transferred sector by sector, and when it is deleted, a completely different process takes place.

Storage of information on flash drives and hard drives is organized in the form of a book with a table of contents. The table of contents is a section file table containing file names, their attributes and paths, as well as sector addresses with all document fragments, and pages are the files themselves. The contents of the book, in this case, are the contents of the document (text, video, sound, etc.). Before accessing a file, the operating system first accesses the partition table. Having received the necessary information, the operating system or application begins reading the file, starting from the start sector, which stores the first fragment of the document. If the file is stored in defragmented form, that is, the sectors with its contents are not in a row, but scattered throughout the disk, then the file table contains the addresses of all its fragments in the order they were read. When performing operations with files within one logical drive, all actions are performed not on the document physically (not on sectors with its contents), but on the file table information that relates to this document.

When deleting documents or formatting media, the same processes occur - working with the disk partition table. When deleting a document, the corresponding areas of the drive (or the entire disk/partition during formatting) are designated as free. Physically, information does not disappear anywhere, and if there is appropriate software it is quite possible to gain access to it. The only thing worth paying attention to is overwriting sectors with deleted data. Since these sectors are designated as free in the file table, when new information is written, it is written to free cells on top of files designated as deleted. Thus, physical deletion of documents or their fragments occurs. Analogy: a book retains its contents, but its table of contents is partially cleared, telling the reader that part of the book contains blank pages. It is this algorithm for working with data that allows you to restore it - to gain access to files using non-standard methods.

Before recovering deleted files from a flash drive

Take note immediately important point! Do not write anything to the flash drive until the information you need has been extracted from it. As stated earlier: during recording, your files that are physically untouched but marked as deleted may be overwritten by new ones. In this case, the chances of restoring them will drop sharply, or even become zero. This is especially true for archives, text documents and programs. For audio, video and image files, overwriting several sectors is not critical - they will be played and/or displayed, but with minor artifacts. Before you begin restoring information, close all applications that can work with the flash drive in write mode in order to minimize the loss of information that can still be restored.

It is also important to check whether the information has actually been deleted and is not hidden on the flash drive. To do this, you need to make files with the “Hidden” attribute visible. Details this stage is described further in the paragraph “Checking for hidden files”, so there is no point in dwelling on it.

You should also know what file system you are dealing with. The procedures for recovering files from FAT and NTSF are similar for the user, but the results of recovery programs may differ significantly in the effectiveness of the data obtained.

The FAT file system and its successor FAT32 store file data in several areas of the media. The document descriptor, including its name, size and attributes, is located in the directory. The file location table also stores a list of clusters belonging to the file in the order in which they are accessed. This system of organizing data storage on a device has a significant drawback - during its partial or complete destruction, data on the clusters allocated to files also disappear. Restoring information in this case is possible, but on the condition that the utility accurately determines its contents and in the right order will collect clusters belonging to the file. And the recovery process in this case will take a lot of time.

Loss of directories makes it impossible to precise definition 1st sector where the file begins, as well as its name (path to the file) and the space it occupies. In such a situation, you can collect documents from cluster chains that are available in the file table. The names of such documents will contain a random set of characters or be generated by the recovery program, for example, based on user settings. Only by knowing what type of file we are restoring, for example, based on its size, can it be accessed by changing the extension manually or using a program to determine the contents of a document by its signature (more on this later). Reanimation large quantity In this case, searching different types of files will turn into a very labor-intensive and time-consuming process for the user.

In NTFS, all data about the file is written to the main partition table - MFT. Each of its entries contains the name of the document, its attributes, security parameters and, most importantly, the chain of clusters in which the file itself is located, in the order in which they were read. Therefore, the quality of file recovery from disks formatted in NTFS directly depends on the degree of damage to the partition table and its backup copy.

This difference should be understood and taken for granted, especially when recovering information from a formatted or damaged flash drive.

Where did the files from the flash drive go?

If you did not delete anything from the removable drive, but some file or many of them disappeared from it, it means that someone else, for example, a friend, is to blame. The flash drive was used by other people - they could destroy all the data on it, for example, by formatting it before use or deleting unnecessary information. A virus or antivirus program could also be the culprit.

Many people have come across a virus that changes the attributes of all files and folders on removable media to “Hidden” and reproduces itself under the names of your data. A not very attentive user who did not notice the substitution begins to open the document, but a virus program is launched instead. It's good when installed antivirus recognizes it in time and eliminates it without causing any harm. As it seems to many, the antivirus is the culprit of data loss, but alas: it only removes malicious programs that bear the names of your documents. Here you need to be more careful and look at the extensions of files deleted by the antivirus. Surely, in all of them it will be “exe”, and your files will continue to be stored on the flash drive, not appearing in Explorer until you follow the instructions described below.

Real files on the flash drive hidden by the virus and “fake” ones with the exe extension

To make sure that the files on the flash drive are present, but not displayed, or are missing, we check the amount of information placed on it. To perform this operation we perform the following steps. Call the context menu of the flash drive and select “Properties”, located at the end of the list.

Let's look at the volume occupied by files. It is displayed next to the “Busy” sign.

If there is no data on the flash drive, it means that the information was deleted by the user during the formatting process, damage to the file system, or the presence of logical or mechanical defects in the structure of the drive. That is, they will have to be restored using specially developed applications.

Deleting files to the Recycle Bin

How can I restore data deleted from a flash drive to the Recycle Bin? None. Such a concept does not exist and now we will figure out why. Don’t even try to find files recently deleted from a flash drive in the Recycle Bin.

Remember! Deleting files from removable USB drives occurs without going to the Recycle Bin, unlike a similar process with hard and solid-state drives.

This can be understood based on the object deletion dialog. Just compare the warnings about deleting data from a flash drive with a similar dialog about moving information to the Trash.

Most users do not pay attention to the contents of the dialog during the operation, and simply agree to perform the action by clicking the “Yes” or “Enter” button.

If you delete information from a flash drive, do it carefully; there will be no chance to restore anything from the recycle bin, as is the case with a hard drive.

Lost data will have to be restored through special applications, and no one guarantees 100% reliability of the data resuscitation process. The files that were deleted from hard drive to the Recycle Bin, and it is then emptied and can be easily restored using a special program. The best free offers will be discussed a little later.

Flash drive damaged by virus

It happens huge amount various opinions, the essence of which is that any malware can cause physical harm to a removable drive - and this is not true.

The only thing a virus can do is hide files from the user’s eyes or damage the file partition table, which was discussed earlier.

Consequently, the operating system will not be able to read the data and will most likely prompt you to format the device. In this case, the information will remain physically on the media, but it will not be possible to access it using the standard method. There are viruses that assign the “Hidden” attribute to all files and folders located in the root directory of the media. After this, such information becomes invisible in the Explorer window and, as a result, the user does not see it. We'll talk more about this later.

Recovering files after accidentally formatting a flash drive

Formatting a flash drive is the process of programmatically marking the drive and forming its logical structure. Formatting comes in two varieties: quick and full (or low-level). Quick formatting is the clearing of most of the file allocation table with their addresses and attributes, that is, no data is physically destroyed, and its structure remains intact, which allows you to determine it and restore data. Full formatting consists of physically rewriting each drive cluster or partition - after deleting information about the location of files, a logical zero is written to each cluster (the minimum information storage unit) of the drive. This process turns information recovery into a labor-intensive and difficult, but still feasible, albeit partially, task.

Many programs can analyze information found on a formatted hard drive using its signatures to determine the contents of the file. Signatures are file labels that help programs identify them. As a rule, they are placed at the very beginning of the file, less often at the end, and look like a small fragment of hexadecimal code.

Search by signatures

Analysis of found files and their fragments by signatures is the most effective data recovery technology currently available. It allows you to revive virtually any files: lost due to rapid or low level formatting, partially overwritten or located in bad sectors.

In addition to the usual reading of deleted data, this method allows you to gain access to absolutely any information located on the storage medium, even partially damaged information and information to which there are no references in the file system. Programs that support signature-based file recovery read data from the media and on-the-fly compare it with an online or offline database of signatures specific to various file types for compliance. When the utility finds a match, it begins analyzing the document header in order to extract the maximum amount useful information. At the end of the procedure, the utility renames the document, indicating its extension. Thanks to this algorithm, the application is able to determine the exact size of a file, because many types of documents contain in their header not only its size, but also its name, attributes, etc.

The advantages of the method include the ability to effectively recover files from media. The disadvantage is that it only works with known document types entered into the database. Also, the duration of the process of deep scanning of the drive’s file system can last for tens of minutes or even hours, depending on the volume.

How to recover data after a damaged USB device

All modern flash drives consist of a controller, data storage cells, a quartz oscillator and several additional microcircuits. All physical damage to flash drives can be divided into several categories: mechanical - damage to soldering, connector, deformation of the substrate, etc. due to careless handling of the drive (falls, impacts); electrical and thermal - arise as a result of sudden jumps in potential on board elements, storage and use of the device during high temperatures environment, or during overheating, which happens very rarely; Damage and failure of the controller is the most common problem, due to which the data still stored on the memory chips cannot be accessed using standard methods.

Mechanical damage is the most difficult to eliminate: you will have to resolder fallen contacts, replace connectors, or completely unsolder memory chips and read information from them using special devices - readers or flash readers.

In the case of electrical damage (for example, an element has burned out), the information is read, as in the case of mechanical problems, by desoldering memory chips, creating their images on specialized equipment for subsequent data recovery using software. If the controller is inoperative, you will also have to unsolder the memory chip and restore the information using the same reader or Flash reader.

Instead of conclusion: if the elements of a flash drive are physically damaged or its controller or quartz oscillator fails, it is unlikely that you will be able to recover data from the drive yourself. This can be done at a specialized service center.

Checking the flash drive for hidden files

Many users are probably familiar with the situation when the operating system does not detect files stored on removable media, although you are sure that they exist. Before you begin to recover documents that you cannot find on the flash drive, you need to make sure that they are really missing. To do this, activate the option to display files that have the “Hidden” attribute. Performing this operation does not require the user to have any advanced knowledge in the field of IT.

Just follow the instructions below.

Launch “Explorer”, for example, go to the “My Computer” directory.

Let's focus on the main menu. In it, select “Arrange”, and in the drop-down list of options, click on the item “ Folder and search options».

In the window that appears, switch to the “View” tab. Scroll down the list of functions, where we move the switch to the position “ Show hidden files...", as shown in the screenshot.

Set "Show hidden files" to active.

This will provide the ability to see files and directories with the “Hidden” attribute. In the Explorer window they are indicated in gray. Click “Apply" and agree to display hidden files by clicking "Yes" in the warning window. After this, the changes will take effect and you will not have to restart the system or the “explorer” process. Click "Ok" to close the dialog box. The same can be done in another way - through “ Control Panel" We call " Control Panel"by a method known to you, for example, through “Start”. If the panel view is switched to “Categories”, go to “”.

Then click on the inscription: “ Show/display hidden files and folders».

When the control panel elements are visualized in the form of icons, large or small, click on the inscription “ Folder Options”. Next, we perform all the steps starting from step 3 of the previous method of displaying hidden files and directories. These actions can also be performed using the Total Commander file manager.

If your files still have not appeared, it means that you will not be able to access them in the usual way and will have to obtain it using specialized utilities.

Video instructions - how to check a flash drive for hidden files

Automatically fix system errors and recover bad sectors

File system corruption is a fairly common problem due to which Windows cannot read files located on a flash drive. Several factors can cause this scenario:

• improper disconnection of the flash drive;
• power surges during the operation of the flash drive;
• physical wear and tear of memory cells, etc.

In order to try to correct this annoying error, it is necessary to scan the storage media cells for physical and logical errors. This can be done using a large number of applications, but we will look step by step at how to scan a flash drive using the console utility built into Windows. You can launch it in several ways.

Via GUI

Go to “My computer" or open the directory with the contents of the flash drive, call its context menu.

We activate the “Service” tab, which will allow you to start scanning the flash drive and click “ Run check" to launch the system program ChkDsk.

We set the scan parameters, as in the screenshot, to correct physical and logical errors of the drive, and click “Run".

If the operating system asks you to disconnect the device volume for scanning, end all applications using it and agree by clicking “Dismount".

Next, you will have to wait a few minutes, depending on the damage and size of the flash drive, while the utility checks it. Upon completion of the scan, scan statistics will be displayed on the screen. If the utility has corrected errors and reassigned sectors, you can try to open the flash drive in Explorer to gain access to the information located on it.

The same thing can be easily done using the command line

Call up the “Run” dialog by clicking on the corresponding “Start” menu item or pressing the combination Win + R. In the window we write “cmd” and click “OK” or “Enter” to launch the command line.

We start the drive verification process. To do this, look at its label in the Explorer window. IN command line write “chkdsk I: /F /R”, where: chkdsk – command to call the disk check program; I: - disc label; /F – flag that launches the program in the mode of correcting defects in the disk file system (analogous to automatic correction of system errors); /R – parameter responsible for repairing or reassigning damaged sectors.

Enter on the command line - chkdsk I: /F /R

Press “Enter" and wait for the verification procedure to complete. If the question arises about the need to disable the device for other applications, we close all programs that can access the flash drive. Then click “Y” and “Enter”.

At the end of the scan, the “Found.000” directory should appear on the flash drive with the results of the scan if the utility detected and corrected errors.

If after checking the flash drive with an antivirus the files are missing

It happens that after connecting a flash drive to a USB connector, an antivirus program starts scanning it automatically. And after completing the scan and removing viruses, it is discovered that all your files have disappeared on the drive, be they programs or text documents. The same thing can happen after manually scanning removable media. What happened, why does the antivirus delete files that are not viruses? It is not a fact that all your files were safe: the same documents in doc format may contain dangerous macros, and the antivirus could perceive executable files as malicious. As mentioned earlier, there are viruses that change file attributes to “Hidden”, read more in paragraph “Where did the files go?”. In any case, if you don’t copy anything to the flash drive, there is a huge chance of saving your data.

Free programs for recovering deleted data (files) from a flash drive

If your files are nevertheless erased due to accidental formatting or deletion, it is still possible to access them - you will have to use one of the freely distributed utilities designed to solve this problem. The market is flooded with similar solutions, but most programs for resuscitating information from flash drives are paid. Of the few free ones, a significant part does not cope with its tasks or has poor functionality, which is not enough for many users. Today we’ll look at the best free solutions for data recovery from removable drives. The list of applications reviewed contains both easy-to-learn utilities that can restore information after accidental deletion or quick formatting, as well as professional solutions that can be used to restore data from drives with a damaged file system, after full formatting or partial overwriting of files. Below are the most effective and functional data reanimators from removable USB flash drives with detailed instructions, which will help restore information to a user with any level of training.

How to recover deleted information from a flash drive using the free DMDE program

DMDE is a professional utility for searching and recovering data. Download latest version DMDE can be found on the official website using this link. Working according to a well-debugged algorithm, the program is able to restore the structure of disk folders and the files located in them. It has several built-in tools, such as a disk editor, partition manager, modules for creating images, and others. After downloading the application, you will have to unpack it to any location except the partition from which you will restore files. Any archiver or built-in software can handle this. Windows tools for working with archives. When you launch DMDE for the first time, you must specify your preferred interface language. Select Russian and click “Ok”.

In the next window, we accept the license terms by checking the “ I accept the terms..." and clicking on the " Accept " button.

To view file recovery and disk editing, you need to select the media with which we will work. If the device is connected, check the “Physical” item. devices." Next, put a tick next to “ Show sections" In the right frame, mark our flash drive and click “Ok”.

After this, the utility will scan the computer for logical devices and display them in a list. Since we are using a flash drive, there will only be one volume on it. In the window, select the flash drive and click “Search FAT" or search "NTFS", depending on the file system of the flash drive.

In the window with setting search parameters, it is better not to change anything, and immediately go to the search by clicking on the button of the same name.

The current file system is determined in the device properties.

Select a specific file system and click “Open volume”. It is not necessary to save the disk log.

On the left side of the window that opens, go to the “$Root” directory - this is the root directory of our flash drive with the scan results. All information that the utility can recover is displayed here. We tick the documents we need, call up their context menu and click on “ Recover files..." The same can be done with the key combination “Ctrl + U”.

It is also worth noting “ Files in the current panel"if you want to recover only certain information. Click "Ok".

Then we will see a dialog box with a report on the work done to restore data. Close it by clicking “Ok” and continue working in the program or exit it.

Recovering deleted files from a flash drive with the free Recuva program

Recuva is an easy-to-learn utility for resuscitating lost data from the developers of Ccleaner. You can download the latest version of Recuva on the official website using this link. File recovery is carried out the following way. We launch the program in wizard mode; if the settings have not been changed, it automatically starts in this mode. In the first window, click “Next”. Then select the type of data you want to recover to determine the flash drive scanning algorithm.

If you want to recover, for example, photographs, then there is no need to waste time searching and identifying other types of files. The same applies to other similar cases. When you want to restore various types of documents, do not change anything and click “Next”. In the window asking you to create an image, it is better not to create it if no other programs use the device in recording mode. Otherwise, you should create an exact copy of the drive to increase your chances of recovering lost data. We indicate the flash drive from which information will be restored.

Move the radio switch to the “On a memory card” position if one removable drive is connected to the computer.

We indicate "On the memory card if one removable drive is connected to the computer"

Otherwise, move the mark to the position “ At the specified location" Then click “Browse...” and select the flash drive.

Click on the button that says “Next”. We enable in-depth analysis only if the necessary files for recovery were not found during a regular scan. When scanning for the first time, it is better not to enable this option. We wait while the utility searches for information.

In the window that opens with the search results, check the required files and click on “Recover”.

Specify the path for the recovered data and click “Ok”.

The folder with the recovered data should not be on the flash drive from which we are restoring it.

Upon completion of the procedure, we get acquainted with its results and close the window by clicking on its only button.

When restoring graphic files (photos), you should switch to advanced mode by clicking on the corresponding button.

In this mode, a preview of the found graphic files is available, which will greatly facilitate the work if you need to access several images or photographs.

If some files are not detected, you will have to perform a deep scan of the file system of the flash drive. To do this, in paragraph 6, put a tick next to “ Enable in-depth analysis».

This process will take much longer, but the result of a deep scan will bring more results.

Recovering deleted files from a flash drive using the free utility R.saver

R.saver is an easy-to-use utility for recovering information from media with various file systems: FAT, NTFS and exFAT. In addition to resuscitating deleted data, the application is able to reconstruct a damaged file system of a flash drive and gain access to information that was lost by completely formatting the device (using signatures). You can download R.saver for free from the official website using this link. The program does not require installation and can be launched from any media. Below are instructions for working with R.saver, which a user who has basic computer skills will understand. Launch R.saver. During startup, the utility checks the computer for storage devices connected to it.

In the window that opens with a list of information storage devices connected to your computer, go down and fix your gaze on the device with the name “JetFlash USB...”. We select the flash drive we need, if in at the moment There are several of them connected at the time. You can navigate by their name and size.

Call the context menu of the drive and select the action we need from it: “ Search for lost data"- if you want to recover deleted information; " Recover after formatting"- when it is necessary to gain access to information that was lost due to formatting the drive.

We are waiting for the file system reconstruction procedure to complete. The process can take about ten minutes or more when scanning a flash drive of significant size (32 or 64 GB).

Once the file system scan is complete, the search window will automatically close. A list of data that can be recovered will appear on the right side of the program interface.

Select the required files (as in Windows Explorer using Ctrl and Shift). Call up their context menu and click on “Copy to...”

In the dialogue, go to the directory where the program will restore the data, and click “ Select".

Do not select the removable disk from which you are restoring information or its subdirectories as the output directory.

The utility will quickly handle the file copying process and automatically close the copy window. In the case of reconstructing the file system after formatting the drive, all actions are performed in the same way, except that the reconstruction process may take a long time and before scanning you will have to select the file system of the flash drive from the list proposed by the utility.

Recovering deleted data using PC Inspector File Recovery utility

PC Inspector File Recovery is a powerful English-language utility for recovering lost files at the sector level, which will allow you to access partially overwritten and lost information due to damage to the media file system or its formatting. You can download PC Inspector File Recovery for free from the official website using this link. The program does not have a Russian-language user interface, so you will have to deal with English-language inscriptions, and there is nothing difficult about it. In the launch window we are offered to receive some privileges by purchasing the full version of the program. Click the green button that says “Free Trial” to get started.

Click on the top left frame with the image of the recycle bin and the inscription “Lost File Recovery" - “ Recovering lost files».

Click the "Lost File Recovery" button

We select our removable USB drive, as a rule, it is located at the very bottom. We focus on the icon of USB devices, the capacity of the flash drive and its name. Click “Start” to start the scanning process.

Select our flash drive and click "Start"

If the required information could not be found using the usual method, then check the box next to “ Enable Deep Scan" to conduct an in-depth scan at the sector level and select the drive’s file system.

You can view it in the properties of the flash drive, as in the screenshot.

We wait while the utility checks the drive for traces of files that can be recovered.

Once the drive scan is complete, a window will appear divided into several frames. The left displays all detected data, grouped by data type: archives, graphic files, text documents, videos, etc. In the lower right frame you can see the names of all files of the selected type, and images and text documents can also be viewed in the preliminary window view posted above. We tick the files and/or file types that we want to recover and click on the orange “Recover" button to open the file recovery dialog.

In the dialog, specify the directory where the program should restore the selected files. If necessary, you can create a new one by clicking on the “ New Folder" button. Click on the green “Recover” button.

Specify the folder where you want to restore the files and click “Recover”

Depending on the amount of information being restored, the recovery process can take from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. Upon completion, a window will appear congratulating you on the successful recovery of your files, and the folder in which the program has created copies of the recovered data will open in Windows Explorer. We go into it and check the quality of its algorithms. If the files are inoperative, use a deep scan, as described earlier.

Recovering deleted information using the Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional utility

A freely distributed recoverer capable of recovering a huge number of file types lost either due to careless deletion or when formatting a removable flash drive. You can download it from the official website using this link. Unfortunately, when we tested the latest version of Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional, it did not recover anything for us. We found an earlier version on the Internet that successfully coped with its task. Therefore, our data recovery instructions will be from an earlier version of Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional than on the official website. But soon, we will definitely re-test the latest version and make a separate review of Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional. Although the utility has a multilingual interface, it does not have a Russian interface. Let's start recovering files that Windows Explorer cannot be detected on a removable USB flash drive. In the main application window, click on the button labeled “Data Recovery”, because we are interested in file recovery. We choose a method of data resuscitation. In our case, “Deleted recovery” is suitable, since the information was lost precisely as a result of careless deletion of data.

We select the device that will be scanned. Flash drives are usually displayed last in the list. Next, select the type of files to recover if you want to recover specific data (photos, documents). Click “Next”.

The left side of the window that appears with the scan results displays a directory tree, and the right side displays a list of found files.

We tick the data we need. And click on the “Next” button. If necessary, you can use the preview function - the “ View File" button.

Click on the “Browse” button to open a window with the selection of a directory to restore files. Specify the recovery path and confirm it with the “OK” button. You can also enter the path to the output directory manually in the line before the “ Browse” button.

Calling up a window with selecting a directory for recovering Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional files

Having specified the path, click “Next" to start the operation of restoring the marked files.

Select the path where you want to restore the files

The operation is completed, a window with its results appears in front of us. If necessary, the report can be saved by clicking on “Save” and specifying the path to the text file. Click “Done” to complete Ontrack EasyRecovery Professional.

When asked whether to save the report, click negative if it has already been saved or is not needed.

Learn how to recover deleted files using Active File Recovery

Active File Recovery is a system utility for data recovery that supports a huge number of removable flash drives and their file systems. You can download Active File Recovery for free from the official website using this link. Let's consider the chain of actions that need to be performed to recover files lost in one way or another. The left side of the main program window displays a list of storage media. Select a flash drive from them by clicking on the USB device icon.

We move the cursor to the detected file system, as a rule, there is only one, call up its context menu and select “Quick Scan" to start the process of quickly checking the file system.

Mode " Deep check"or "SuperScan" we launch if the device has been formatted or the previous method did not give the desired results. To recover files deleted by mistake, in most cases a quick scan is sufficient.

Using the keys “Ctrl", “Shift" and the cursor, select the necessary files. Call up their context menu and stop at the item “Restore...”

In the window with recovery parameters, we indicate the path for resuscitation of files (enter it manually or use the “..." button to open a dialog for selecting the output folder.

Having set all the parameters, for example, opening the directory with files after their recovery is complete, click “ Restore".

Now you are aware of how to gain access to lost files in a matter of minutes, without spending a single penny on purchasing software, traveling to service center or call a specialist to your home. But the recovery procedure does not always go smoothly. Quite often, users encounter the following problems:

• The data recovery program does not detect the required file;
• the recovered document does not open;
• an error appears when you try to open a resuscitated file;
• information is partially restored, etc.

In this section of the article, we will consider these and other problems that accompany the process of retrieving lost information from removable media.

If the files are partially recovered, what to do?

It happens that applications partially restore data - the restored file is a document with a damaged internal data structure. This means that the program detected the file and determined its structure, but by the time of recovery, some of its fragments had been physically overwritten. After all, when deleting information or formatting a drive, the sectors that it occupied are designated as free; some information was written to these sectors. Also, document fragments could be located in damaged areas of the media. Therefore, it is recommended not to write anything to a flash drive before or during the process of restoring data files.

As for our further actions when working with such data, here the choice is between two options: try to restore files with another program, use an in-depth method of analyzing the drive, or resort to using utilities to restore damaged files, although their functionality is very questionable in most cases .

It is quite possible to work with some partially recovered documents. For example, an audio file or video that has been reconstructed with minor defects will play in most cases. Places with lost data are simply filled with zeros - this means that in the playback of such a video or song there will be artifacts in some places - non-natural flickering or image distortion, extraneous clicks, atypical noise and interference of audio tracks. Reproduce damaged files Recommended by the powerful and content-unpretentious multimedia player VLC. As for archived data, there is always a chance to extract part of the files from the archive, which may also have a broken structure in relation to the original version. There are many applications for restoring damaged archives. To work with damaged archives, there is an IZArc archiver with integrated algorithms for restoring such archives. You can also use utilities for Recovery Toolbox for Rar/Zip.

Damaged image files, like other multimedia data, can be opened in most image viewing applications. Naturally, some information will be lost. The missing fragments will be painted over with some color, usually black. Try opening damaged graphic files using regular Paint and resaving them.

Damaged text files, such as txt or doc, may be opened text editor. If the document is slightly damaged, there is a high probability that some of the text will be accessible to txt documents. Even slightly damaged documents in doc format usually open with errors or contain incorrect encoding. This results in a meaningless set of characters being displayed instead of text. This is where OfficeRecovery can help. It analyzes the original document, and sophisticated algorithms correct the data to extract the maximum amount of useful information. Next, a heuristic analysis of the file is launched, if possible, in order to identify lost fragments. The utility puts the user and received data into a complete file and saves it. But the effectiveness of such programs is too low, and they most likely will not help.

Nothing appeared on the flash drive after recovery

Only naive and inattentive users can claim that after restoring data from a removable USB drive, no information appeared on it. Firstly, as was said, it is not recommended to select the drive from which information is extracted as the output folder for saving them, because programs warn about this. Secondly, nothing can appear on flash drives, since the programs recommend specifying the path to the output folder or assign it automatically, for example, “My Documents” or some directory on the system drive.

Read the instructions given in this article carefully. All your data has been restored to the directory you specified.

Flash drive asking for formatting

Many people are probably familiar with the situation when, when connecting a flash drive to a computer, the operating system prompts you to format the drive. What to do in such a situation if the flash drive contains important data, which after formatting will naturally disappear, and the chances of gaining access to them will be significantly reduced.

First of all, you will have to check the drive for bad sectors, as described in the paragraph “Automatically correcting system errors.” Then we reconnect the device and in most cases the problem is solved.

The second method is to scan the flash drive using one of the free programs to gain access to data that Windows cannot read, for example, JetFlash Recovery Tool, which was discussed in the corresponding section.

Is it possible to recover files from a flash drive that were deleted a long time ago?

The time at which files are deleted does not matter. It is more important that the device is fully operational, and that the sectors occupied by deleted files are not overwritten. The more actions you took to write data to the drive after deleting the files you want to recover, the less chance you have of doing so.

If a file was deleted to the Recycle Bin and then the Recycle Bin was emptied, is it possible to recover the deleted file?

Let's start with the fact that deleting data from removable drives goes past the Recycle Bin. When you delete something from a flash drive, the file is erased from the drive without moving to the Recycle Bin, as is the case when working with a hard or solid-state drive. It is possible to recover such data, but there is a important nuance. Remember that data written to a hard drive or removable storage device, or files deleted from the Recycle Bin may be completely or partially overwritten, which reduces their likelihood of being recovered. First of all, this applies to documents erased from system disk– it is constantly accessed by the operating system and a huge number of running applications. In this case, you should turn off the computer and boot from a flash drive or other disk to increase the chances of recovering the still intact files.

The more actively the disk is used and the more time has passed since deletion, the less likely it is to get back a complete and undamaged document.

The program recovered the files, but some cannot be opened, what should I do?

If after resuscitation some files do not open, it means they were damaged or not restored at all - the program created an empty file with the name of the detected one, but could not transfer the deleted contents to it for one reason or another. Use another data recovery program or enable an in-depth scan of the drive.

The program restored the document, but it turned out to be empty. What to do?

In this case, the document turned out to be severely damaged and nothing can be done with such a file. Perhaps try to recover the empty file again, saving it under a different name or in a different location, or use another utility to recover information. Ultimately, you will have to contact a service center that specializes in data recovery.