By downloading free programs for repairing flash drives, you can restore the USB drive and restore the ability to use it for writing and reading again. In this case, you will have to sacrifice data, which then, perhaps, cannot be restored. But the alternative to using these applications is a non-working flash drive and a lack of information.
Diagnosing the problem
The main signs that the flash drive needs repair are:
- Issuance of messages about the protection of USB-media from copying or about an unidentified device;
- The impossibility of determining the drive by any computer;
- Lack of disk list;
- Inability to read (and, of course, write) information;
- Negative result when trying to recover or format.
Sometimes the problem may lie in the USB connector or the lack of drivers on a particular computer. But, when problems are noted on each device, most likely the problem is in the drive. And you can try to restore it.
Utilities for flash drives
You can try to restore the USB storage device to work using the system utilities. But, when the problem is serious, the best option is to restore through a program specifically designed for repair. Some manufacturers make their own apps that do the best job of repairing these particular brands. Although, with their help, you can recover any brand of USB drive.
Advice: Special programs are designed for refurbishment, not refurbishment. It is not recommended to extract information with their help.
JetFlash Online Recovery
To restore non-working Transcend drives, the manufacturing company has created a special utility that can be found and downloaded for free on its official website. It is called JetFlash Online Recovery and is very growing in use. There are only 2 commands here:
- Fix a USB flash drive by erasing all data;
- Recover with saving data.
First, you should use the second method. And if he doesn't help, be the first.
Silicon power
There is also a recovery program on the Silicon Power website in the support section, which you can get for free. It allows you to recover, first of all, flash drives of this brand and is called the SP Recovery Tool Utility.
Adata
The manufacturer Adata also has a freely available program for recovering a USB drive on the official website. If, using USB Flash Drive Online Recovery, it was not possible to read the information, the USB flash drive can be repaired, having lost the data.
Repair of flash drives Kingston
The owner of a Kingston drive will surely love the ability to get an entire USB flash drive back after running MediaRECOVER 4.0 Digital Image Recovery. In some cases, the application manages to save part of the data, even if the USB drive has been formatted. Recovery, unlike most of such programs, can be used not only for video, audio and photo files, but also Word documents, e-books and spreadsheets.
Universal programs
In addition to specialized software that repairs mainly drives of its own brand, there are several applications that can restore the operating state of most devices. One of them is D-Soft Flash Doctor, which provides the following benefits:
- Menu and documentation in Russian;
- Lack of localization for individual brands;
- Creating a flash disk image for further work not on the drive, but on its virtual copy.
The following programs, not so well-known, but also free and quite effective, are:
- ChipEasy, which is able not only to easily restore a USB flash drive, but also to recognize the manufacturer if its name is not written on the case or has been erased over time;
- Flash Drive Information Extractor - a utility capable of providing the maximum amount of data about a USB flash drive along with its recovery;
- CheckUDisk is a very fast and detailed application for all its ease of use.
How to find a program to repair a USB flash drive
It is possible that even after trying all of the above methods, it did not work to restore the performance of your USB flash drive. In this case, it is worth taking the following steps:
- Download the Chip Genius utility;
- Find out with its help VID and PID, as well as the name of the chipset located inside the flash drive;
- Go to the iFlash website and enter the received 2 numbers;
- Find your drive model in the list.
Now all that remains is to find the corresponding program in the Chip Model column, paying attention to the coincidence of controllers. You can find and download it for free on the Internet. The principle of operation is approximately the same for all of them - more emphasis on recovery, less on data rescue.
Thematic video:
This article is intended to help you programmatically recover USB Flash Drives based on Skymedi's SK6211 microcontroller. This controller is found in flash drives of various manufacturers, for example: Kingston, Kingmax, A-data, etc. The utility was chosen as an example. She, like many others, is designed to work in the OS environment - MS Win XP. A Kingston DT100 / 1GB flash drive was chosen as a "test subject".
The utility kit includes:
1) SK6211_20090828.exe - the main module itself.
2) SK6211_User_Manual.pdf - instructions for the program in English
3) SK6211BA_Skymedi Flash Support List _20090828.xls - "Flashlist" - a list of memory modules that this version of the utility supports. (Useful for determining "CodeBankVer" by date)
4) SK6211BA R-W Performance_Capacity List_20090828.xls - Summary table of speed tests of various memory modules in single-channel and dual-channel modes in Win XP sp2 & Win 2k sp4.
5) SK62XX_FAT_20090505.exe & SK62XX_FATool_UserGuideV1.pdf - auxiliary utility for testing flash.
6) ErrorCodes.txt - a list of error codes.
7) DrvSwitch.exe - factory driver.
8) Driver_Using_manual.pdf - instructions for using the driver.
1. Preparation
We connect the flash drive and find out the VID / PID, for example, using ChipGenius 3.0. Subject has VID = 0951 PID = 1607.
Run the utility "SK6211_20090828.exe" and select default in "Configuration Selection".
We see that a flash drive (SAMPLE - No Match) was detected in the first window (DUT1), but it is not yet ready for firmware! SAMPLE = example, No Mach = No Match. It means that the current settings (default) do not correspond to the insides of the flash drive. The utility has already determined that the flash drive is built on a controller that responds to its requests and has already read information from its firmware.
This information can be viewed by double-clicking on SAMPLE.
Here we see the contents of the firmware:
1) Controller SK6211
2) FID memory (AD D3 14 A5 34) and its name (HY27UT088G2A)
3) CodeBank version: C080512A_F080516A
4) Firmware version: CodeSwap-0512
5) The rest is not so important (production date / utility version / configuration name = "engraving on the USB connector" / VID & PID codes, etc.)
6) Channel: Byte Mode (Can be useful in settings!)
Everything is good here! But what to do with the code flashed the firmware so that most of this information is not there !?
Controller Version: SK6211BA
Flash Part No .: No matched Flash Part No.
Flash ID 01: 0x89 0x95 0x94 0x1E 0x74
Flash ID 02: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 03: 0x89 0x95 0x94 0x1E 0x74
Here the utility read the FID from the flash drive, but could not pick up the memory from its list by it!
Conclusion: try another utility or check contacts. Sometimes the restoration of contacts via the Data Bus between the controller and the memory changes the ID-schnick and the utility, using the correct ID-schnik, finds a match in its Database.
Controller Version: SK6211BA
Flash Part No .: I29F32G08AAMD1_S
Total Flash Size: 8192 MB
4K Page, MLC
Flash ID 01: 0x89 0xD7 0x94 0x3E 0x84
Flash ID 02: 0x89 0xD7 0x94 0x3E 0x84
Flash ID 03: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 04: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 05: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 06: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 07: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 08: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Here the utility found memory in its database. But the version of Code Bank is unknown! We find it by searching for the date by the name of the flash chip in the file SK6211BA_Skymedi Flash Support List _20090828.xls
Now we are looking for suitable Code banks.
Opening the file:
... \ SK6211_PDT_20090828 \ CodeBank \ 2806 \ CBVer-1.2.2.44.ini
Find by date 09.03.09 version: C090309A_F090309A
2. Settings
Let's go back to the subject. Go to the "Advaced" button in the advanced settings. The password is 123456.
1) register VID & PID: 0951 & 1607
2) Vendor Name: Kingston
3) Product Name: DataTraveler 2.0
4) Revision: 8.2 (leave unchanged)
5) Disk Type: Removable (leave unchanged)
6) S / N: 001478544881SK8703120829 (this is the experimental serial number)
7) S / N Gen: (3) Don "t Change SN
Below you can skip to
8) Fixed Flash Size = 1024 (set the original size of the flash drive)
9) When you set the checkbox to Erase All, the following message is displayed: Warning Message: System information will be eliminated after erase all !!!
(Warning: system information will be erased after setting the "delete everything" mode !!!)
Go to the right window Flash Options
10) Choose a controller: SK6211BA
11) Select Code Bank Ver: C080512A_F080516A (the one that the utility issued by double-clicking on SAMPLE) Now I'm waiting for the Flash Selection section to be able to select the desired memory - HY27UT088G2A, but this does not happen. What is the reason? Possibly in the utility version! After all, the firmware contains the version: PDT Version: SK6211_PDT_20080616_BA, and I'm using SK6211_20090828! We go along the path of choosing a b / w flashlist. We find the date - 04/02/2008, but I don’t find names with such a date in the list, and Code Bank versions with the nearest date do not fit either! The assumption with the correspondence of the date from the flashlist is not suitable for this flash drive. Only brute force helped! When C090828A_F090828A was selected, the utility made it possible to select the desired memory!
12) Next, select Channel Mode: Single
We don't change anything else.
We get the READY status
Now the utility is "ready" to flash the flash drive.
Click Auto-LLF
3. Work on bugs
44 -
2 -
when changing read \ wright test error 37 -
Daw helped on ERASE ALL
45 -
(READY status, error in LLF process)
It helped: transfer to test mode by closing 31-32 feet to m / s memory
and re-flashing
_______________________________
101 -
Need a more recent version of the utility with support for new memory
ps: in the previous version 20090709_BA (34 -)
_______________________________
94 -
1 -
When trying to flash - (Access error)
Removed the USB extension cable, due to which there were losses.
_______________________________
In the work on the bugs, the experience of the forum users was used: Vitorrio, SeeJay, E1haZ and others.
Discussion of the article and problems during recovery are discussed in this thread on the forum.
First of all, you need to mention in what cases it is required flash controller firmware... The list of such malfunctions is not very large, just below I made a list of the most common situations when such a technique can help in repairing a flash drive. But, do not take the technique described here as a panacea for all "diseases". Each case is individual, but the general methodology is similar, with the exception of some points that are associated with different controllers, memory chips and a different combination of faults. You can also read others in the blog.
When to apply the flash drive controller firmware technique:
- Zero flash drive volume, not the correct size (2 \ 4 \ 8 \ 16 Kb \ Mb) instead of the normal size;
- The drive is not detected on different PCs;
- When connecting a disk, an error “insert disk” appears;
- "Disk not found in device" error;
- "The disk is write-protected" error;
- Read / write errors occur, and there is no way to copy or write data to a USB flash drive. It may be that data is being written, but not opened from a USB flash drive;
- When connected to a PC, a flash drive is detected for a long time with errors Error "Code 10", Error "Code 43" and the like.
I may not have mentioned everything here. If someone has additions - write your case in the comments, and I will try to promptly make adjustments to the materials.
We proceed to the preparatory work on the USB flash drive for its further flashing (the controller itself is flashed). We will assume that we have decided on the fact that other options, except for flash controller firmware we have no more and this is the last chance to repair a precious flash drive (expensive as a memory, large volume, beautiful case, etc.)
Flash controller firmware (stages of work):
1) Defining the controller of the flash drive
Here we have only 2 options for determining the manufacturer and model of the controller. The first option is the most commonplace - to open the case (if it is constructively possible). To do this, you need to open the case of the flash drive and take out the drive board from there. For the most part, all USB flash drives are the same inside, with the exception of monolithic flash drives. As an example, I took a photo of a general view of the USB stick and controller board (for example, a photo of a USB flash drive from free sources).
The visual method is very simple and the most accurate, since the programs for determining pid & vid devices are not always accurate. If it is not possible to look visually at the controller or there are difficulties in disassembling the case, then we have a direct path to programs for determining pid and vid flash drives.
Important: in cases where the flash drive is not detected on the PC, the controller can only be recognized by visual inspection.
Determining the controller by PID and VID
2) Choosing a utility for the controller
The next step is to search for a specialized utility for flashing the flash drive controller. We already have the VID and PID values, so we can start looking for a utility for the controller. To find the required utility, I use the service http://flashboot.ru/iflash/.
After clicking the search button, it offers us far more than one result. The thing is that such a controller, as in my case, is used in flash drives of different manufacturers and with different sizes. When searching, pay attention to the UTILS field (utilities), where you need to search for exactly the result where the name of the utility is displayed. You can ignore the size of the flash drive - this is not a critical parameter. You can also search for a utility by the name of the controller, which can speed up the search for the desired utility to a greater extent.
P.S. practice shows that sometimes it is worth trying different versions of utilities for the same controllers.
The search result gave us one more or less suitable option (highlighted in red in the screenshot) - utility SMI SM3257AA.
For a utility squeak, you can use the same site http://flashboot.ru/files/. In the search bar you need to enter the name of our utility - SMI SM3257AA... As a result, 2 results were found. You need to download both, since there is a chance that one of them will only help solve our problem.
But, there is one but. We know for sure that the exact name of our controller is slightly different from what we found. On the controller case and program USB Flash Info showed the correct controller name SM3257ENAA rather than SM3257AA. To clear our conscience, let's check the utility database for the presence of a utility for such a modification. The search was dropped by 2 utility options.
Most likely, the utilities that I found while searching for SM3257AA and for ENAA have the same core. In practice, it may turn out that they are no different, but still there is a possibility that you will need to try all 4 found specials. snails. I recommend downloading all 4 programs at once.
I downloaded all 4 pieces, but decided to start with the utility SMI SM3257ENAA MPTool V2.03.58 v8 K1129 (11/11/29 Build)... I'll run ahead - I managed to reflash the flash drive controller with this utility, and I didn't check the others.
And now I will briefly describe the procedure for how the firmware of the SM3257ENAA controller was carried out.
- Unpacked the archive and ran the shortcut sm32Xtest_V58-8
We launch the utility and see that our patient flash drive is not visible in it (see screenshot).
- To define our flash drive in the program, press the button " Scan USB (F5)", As a result of which the program" sees "the usb device.
To start the process of flashing the controller of the flash drive, you need to press the Start buttons in the utility menu (before pressing, you need to select the desired flash drive). After pressing the button, the firmware process will begin.
After completing the firmware operation, in the upper right corner we will see the word OK on a green background (see screenshot).
This completes the process of flashing the flash drive controller. Within 10-20 seconds, our flash drive will appear in My computer, clean and without any files, since a low-level formatting of the drive takes place during the firmware process.
For all questions regarding this article, write in the comments.
Good day!
If your flash drive began to fail constantly: it is not formatted, when connected to a computer - it often freezes, when copying files to it - errors fly out, but it was not subjected to mechanical stress - there is a CHANCE to restore its performance!
It would be nice if, when connecting a flash drive, it was somehow detected, for example: a connection sound is emitted, the flash drive is displayed in "my computer", an LED blinks on it, etc. If the computer does not see the USB flash drive at all, then first I recommend that you familiarize yourself with this article:
In general, it is impossible to give universal instructions on how and with what program what to do to restore a USB flash drive! But in this small article I will try to give an algorithm that will help, even novice users, to deal with the problem and solve it.
Recovery of the USB flash drive // step by step
Defining the controller model
It turned out, by the will of fate, I had one flash drive that Windows refused to format - an error took off "Windows cannot complete formatting"... The flash drive, according to the owner, did not fall, water did not get on it, and in general, it was treated rather carefully ...
All that was clear upon examining it was that it was 16 GB and its brand was SmartBuy. When connected to a PC, the LED lit up, the flash drive was detected and visible in the explorer, but it worked with malfunctions.
SmartBuy 16 GB - "experimental" non-working flash drive
To restore normal operation of the flash drive, you need to reflash the controller microcircuit. This is done with special utilities, and for each type of controller - its own utility! If the utility is chosen incorrectly, then with a high degree of probability, you will spoil the USB flash drive completely ... I will say even more, one model line of flash drives may have different controllers!
Each device have their own unique identification numbers - VID and PID , and the flash drive is no exception. To choose the correct utility for flashing, you need to determine these identification numbers (and according to them the controller model).
One of the easiest ways to find out the VID, PID, and controller model of a flash drive is to use special utilities. One of the best of its kind is .
Flash Drive Information Extractor
A small free utility to get as much information about the USB flash drive as possible. You don't need to install it!
The program will determine the model of the USB stick, the model and the type of memory (all modern flash drives are supported, at least from normal manufacturers) ...
The program will work even in cases where the file system of the flash drive is not detected, when the computer freezes when the media is connected.
Received information:
- controller model;
- possible variants of memory chips installed in the flash drive;
- type of installed memory;
- manufacturer's declared maximum current consumption;
- USB version;
- full physical disk space;
- the amount of disk reported by the operating system;
- VID and PID;
- Query Vendor ID;
- Query Product ID;
- Query Product Revizion;
- Controller Revision;
- Flash ID (not for all configurations);
- Chip F / W (for some controllers), etc.
Important! The program only works with USB sticks. MP3 players, phones and other devices - it does not recognize. It is advisable, before starting the program, to leave only one single USB flash drive connected to the USB ports, from which you want to get the most information.
Working with Flash Drive Information Extractor
- Disconnect everything that is connected from the USB ports (at least all drives: players, external hard drives, etc.).
- Insert the flash drive to be repaired into the USB port;
- We launch the program;
- Press the button "Get information about a USB flash drive" ;
- After a while, we get as much information about the drive as possible (see the screenshot below).
- If the program is frozen- do nothing or close it. Remove the USB flash drive in a couple of minutes from the USB port, the program should "hang", and you will see all the information that she managed to pull out from the USB flash drive ...
Now we know the information about the flash drive and can start looking for the utility.
USB flash drive information:
- VID: 13FE; PID: 4200;
- Controller model: Phison 2251-68 (second line in the screenshot above);
- SmartBuy 16 GB.
Addition
You can reliably determine the controller model if you disassemble the USB flash drive. True, not every case of a flash drive is collapsible, and not every case can then be assembled back.
Usually, you need a knife and a screwdriver to open the case of a flash drive. When opening the case, be careful not to damage the inside of the flash drive. An example of a controller is shown in the screenshot below.
Disassembled flash drive. Controller model: VLI VL751-Q8
Appendix 2
You can find out the VID and PID of the flash drive using the device manager (in this case, nothing needs to be installed). True, in this case we will not recognize the controller model, and there is some risk that by VID and PID it will not be possible to accurately identify the controller. And nevertheless, suddenly the above utility will freeze and give no information at all ...
How to find a utility for flashing a flash drive
Important! After flashing the flash drive, all information on it will be deleted!
1) Knowing the controller model, you can simply use the search engines (Google, Yandex, for example) and find the one you need.
The work algorithm is as follows:
- We go to the site:
- We enter our VID and PID into the search bar and search;
- In the list of results, you will most likely find dozens of lines. Among them, you need to find a line that matches: controller model, your manufacturer, VID and PID, flash drive size .
- Further in the last column - you will see the recommended utility. By the way, note that the version of the utility also matters! It remains to download the required utility and apply it.
After you find and download the utility you need, run it and format the media - in my case, you only had to press one button - Restore .
Formatter SiliconPower v3.13.0.0 // Format and Restore. End-user utility designed for both low-level and high-level (FAT32) formatting of flash drives on Phison controllers of the PS2251-XX line.
After a couple of minutes of blinking the LED on the flash drive, it began to work normally, messages from Windows about the impossibility of formatting did not appear anymore. Bottom line: the flash drive was restored (it became 100% working), and given to the owner.
This, in fact, is all. For additions on the topic - I will be grateful. Good Luck!
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