How to Recover Data from USB That Needs to Be Formatted
Free download a professional recovery tool like MyRecover to easily recover data from USB that needs to be formatted. Also, there 3 practical fixes to fix this error
“I received a USB at my work today with a large number of very important files (as far as I know no one backed them up). The drive seems to have 2 partitions on it (one named "D:" and one named "E:") because when I plug it in, I get two error messages: "You need to format the diskbefore you can use it. Do you want to format it?".
Obviously, I can't format it as that would delete the files. CHKDSK doesn't work and tells me that the disk is 'RAW'.Is there any way to recover these files? The drive gets the same errors on both the laptop's ports and appears in fine physical condition.” – Reddit
Yeah, the formatting process will delete all of your data on this USB drive, if any, please don't format it. Regarding to the formatting method, there are two options, namely quick format and full format.
- The quick format method only deletes files on the disk and marks its used space as “free”. Your data will remain there if you don’t add new data to it.
- The full format method will overwrite data on the disk and erase it completely.
Except for this, you still can try other methods to fix the USB drive. However, some methods may result in data loss. To avoid this, you’d better recover data from USB that needs formatting before fixing it.
✦ Part 1: Recover Data from USB That Needs Formatting Step by Step 🔥
It’s a wise choice to recover files from USB drive that needs formatting before fixing since your data are still on the USB drive. MyRecover is a reliable and easy-to-use data recovery software for Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, etc and Windows Server.
Thanks to its two advanced scanning methods and high success rate, you can easily find out and recover data from unformatted flash drive in a short time. Click the download button below 👇to get started now!
- Has a high success rate and fast recovery speed.
- Recover Word documents, Excel files, PPT, pictures, videos, compressed files, etc, and more than 1000+ file types without reducing quality.
- Precisely filter and preview deleted or lost files.
- Recover specific files or folders during the scanning process. You don’t need to wait for the scanning result.
- Compatible with Windows 7, 8, 10, 11, and servers (e.g. recover deleted files in Windows Server 2016).
- 500MB cost-free data recovery volume.
100% SecureSteps to recover data from flash drive that needs to be formatted:
Step 1. Select the unformatted USB drive to scan.
Launch Windows data recovery software- MyRecover. Hover the mouse over the USB drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.
Step 2. Scan and select files.
The software will automatically scan the unformatted drive and display all the deleted or lost files. Wait until the scanning process is completed.
✨You can also filter specific files you want to recover (eg: recover deleted files from a specific folder, flash drive, etc). Here are two ways in the following:
#1: Directly type its file name in the Search for files or folders box.
#2: Use the Filter feature. You need to select file type (eg: Word documents), date modified or size.
- Type: include all file types, such as images, videos, documents, mails, webpages, compressed files, etc.
- Data Modified: support today, yesterday, last 7 days, last 30 days, and custom.
- Size: filter file size from less than 128KB to 128KB ~1MB to 1MB ~ 512MB and above, or custom.
Step 3. Recover files from an unformatted USB drive.
Once found, select the files you want to recover and click Recover xxx files. It displays the number of files to be recovered and their full size.
You will then be asked to select a new location to save the recovered files. Do as suggested and click Select Folder to confirm it and recover data from USB drive that needs to be formatted. Don’t save them to their original location as it may cause data corruption or permanent data loss.
In addition, you still can use it to recover files from formatted hard drive, fix RAW SD card without losing data, and other data loss scenarios.
✦ Part 2: Fix USB Drive That Needs to Be Formatted
After recovering files from USB that needs to be formatted, you can feel free to fix it without losing data. Here are 3 effective methods below you can try.
Way 1: Try a Different Operating System
If you are using your USB drive in the different operating system, incompatible file systems may cause this error.
- ️Windows is compatible with FAT, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, and Microsoft’s new ReFS.
- MacOS can read and write to HFS+, APFS, exFAT, and FAT32, but it can only read NTFS.
- Linux supports many different file systems, of which the Ext family, XFS, Btrfs, and the FAT family are the most commonly used ones.
So just try to plug your flash drive into another working operating system (e.g. Windows, macOS, or Linux) and see if it's an incompatible issue.
Way 2: Use the CHKDSK Command
Step 1. Press Win + R to open the Run window. Then, type cmd and click OK to access command prompt with administrator priority.
Step 2. Type chkdsk G: /f /r or chkdsk G: /f /r /x and press Enter.
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The /f and /r parameters are to find disk errors and fix them.
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The /x parameter helps mark bad sectors and recover readable information.
You may be able to access your flash drive and data in it. But if it becomes RAW, you may receive error message like “The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives.”. If you are experiencing this error, try next method.
Way 3: Directly Format Your Flash Drive
Step 1. Press Win + R and type diskpart in the Run window. Then, click OK to open it.
Step 2. Enter the following commands and press Enter after each line.
- list disk
- select X (X is the disk number of the RAW drive.)
- clean (The clean command will delete all the data on the RAW drive.)
- create partition primary
- format fs=ntfs quick (or format fs=fat32 quick)
- exit
Why Does Your USB Drive Ask You to Format It? ⚠️
You must be curious about why your flash drive needs to be formatted. It may provide you with some clues to take care of your data. Here are some possible reasons in the following:
- Improper device removal.
- File system corruption.
- Sudden power off or shutdown during the file transfer process.
- Bad sectors.
- Aging flash drive or hardware components.
- ...
- Eject safely. Simply disconnecting a flash drive may cause corruption that what you don’t want.
- Keep at least 3 copies of your files. Except for the original copy, it’s suggested to create two more copies and save them on different devices, one of which is offsite. To make it, get free backup software for Windows- AOMEI Backupper Standard.
- Always keep antivirus software on. It is capable of scanning viruses or malware downloading from non-official websites.
FAQs
✍ How to fix a corrupted USB without formatting
✍ How to fix external hard drive not formatted error
✍ How do I recover files from a formatted USB drive?
By default, Windows uses the quick format option, which will not erase data on the USB drive completely. You are still able to access it from professional data recovery software like MyRecover.
- Free download MyRecover and open it
- Select the formatted USB drive and click Scan
- Wait until the scanning process is completed. Select the desired files and click Recover x files.