The best free programs for repairing flash drives. Recovery of Silicon Power flash drives Recovery of silicon power 16gb

24.03.2017

Almost every person carries with him a USB drive on which various documents, photos or audio recordings are stored. Sometimes it happens that the flash drive is not displayed in Windows or does not allow you to write new information. Similar errors often occur on drives with two memory chips. For the well-known company Silicon Power, flash drives of 16, 32, 64 GB sometimes become unreadable on the computer or the message appears "Disk is write protected". Such problems can be easily eliminated with special programs.

Causes and symptoms of an error

In total, there are 5 reasons that may cause the device to malfunction:

• logical errors;
• physical damage to parts;
• electrical overload and overheating of the carrier;
• Damage to the memory controller firmware;
• NAND memory wear or failure.

Logical errors appear when:

• incorrect formatting;
• sudden removal of the device during information exchange;
• Using the wrong file system.

Physical damage, overheating, or an unexpected power surge most often damages the contacts on the board. They can be restored by soldering. But if the microcontroller is damaged, it cannot be repaired.

If the controller's logic program is violated, the following problems are observed on the flash drive:

• not detected on the computer (there is a connection sound, but the disk is not displayed);
• prohibition on recording new data;
• no disk access;
• The drive size is specified incorrectly.

To restore the device's functionality, you will need to reflash the microcontroller. But after performing this operation, all data from the disk will be irretrievably lost.

Method 1: SP Toolbox

Branded programs are most effective for restoring Silicon Power drives. SP Toolbox combines various components for flash drive diagnostics.

After diagnostics are completed, you can begin to restore the media.

Method 2: D-soft Flash Doctor

As a rule, flash drives store important information that you don’t want to delete. To avoid losing it, you can create a disk image. D-soft Flash Doctor allows you to scan drives, create and burn disk images. The software also allows you to restore a flash drive; for this, a full format is performed.

To perform a restore, follow the instructions:

1. Select the damaged disk.
2. Click "Recover media".

Method 3: SP G50 FW Update Program

To update the Silicon Power firmware, a special utility SP G50 FW Update Program has been created; it can be downloaded from the official website. Find the section on the page "USB drives" and click download.

The software is downloaded in an archive, which contains an .EXE file and English instructions for use. After launching the application, a window with a simple interface will appear.

In the main window it says that before clicking the button "Update" You need to make a backup copy of your data, since all files will disappear after flashing. It will be impossible to restore the information.

1. Launch the program.
2. Insert the Silicon Power flash drive.
3. In the window "Device" The device letter will appear.
4. If a window appears "Conductor" Windows, then be sure to close it.
5. Click "Update".

Wait for the process to complete. Typically this takes about 1 minute. After updating the firmware, you can continue to use the device for its intended purpose. If you previously made a backup, restore the data.

Method 4: Formatting and checking for errors

If third-party operating systems, such as Ubuntu, Kali Linux, etc., were previously written to the drive, then quite often after this a problem arises with recognizing the flash drive. This error is due to data formatting features in Windows and Linux.

If the drive is detected in the system, but errors like "Access denied", "USB device not recognized" etc., then check the flash drive for errors. For this:

If the errors have not been corrected, then format the drive as FAT32 or NTFS.

First, try formatting the media as FAT32; if that doesn’t help, then use NTFS.

Method 5: Diskmgmt.msc

Sometimes incorrect reading can occur due to assigning the same letters to different drives. To fix this error:

The above steps allow you to restore the Silicon Power flash drive. To avoid errors in the operation of the media in the future, try not to interrupt the operation of the USB device while recording or deleting information. To recover media, in addition to proprietary programs from Silicon Power, you can use third-party software, but it is rarely better than utilities from manufacturers.

In our world, almost everything breaks and Silicon Power flash drives are no exception. The damage is very easy to notice. In some cases, some files begin to disappear from your storage device. Sometimes the drive simply ceases to be detected by the computer or any other device (it happens that it is detected by the computer, but not detected by the phone, or vice versa). Also, the memory card can be detected, but not opened, and so on.

In any case, it is necessary to restore the flash drive so that it can be used again. Unfortunately, in most cases you will not be able to recover any information and it will be permanently deleted. But after this, the USB drive can again be fully used and information can be written to it without fear that it will be lost somewhere. It is worth noting that removable media from Silicon Power very rarely last long after restoration; they still have to be replaced.

You can restore Silicon Power removable media using the programs that the company itself released. Apart from this, there are other software that help in this matter. We will analyze proven methods that have been tested by users from all over the world.

Method 1: Silicon Power Recover Tool

The first and most famous utility from Silicon Power. It has only one purpose - to fix damaged flash drives. Silicon Power Recover Tool works with removable media with Innostor IS903, IS902 and IS902E, IS916EN, and IS9162 series controllers. Its use is extremely simple and looks like this:

Method 2: SP ToolBox

The second proprietary program, which includes as many as 7 instruments. We only need two of them. To use Silicon Power ToolBox to recover your media, do the following:

The program can now be closed.

Method 3: SP USB Flash Drive Recovery Software

The third program from the manufacturer, which recovers flash drives from Silicon Power with great success. In fact, it performs the same process that users usually do using the iFlash service. Read about what it is and how to use it in the lesson on restoring Kingston flash drives.

The point of using this service is to find the necessary program and use it to restore the flash drive. The search is carried out using parameters such as VID and PID. So, USB Flash Drive Recovery independently determines these parameters and finds the desired program on Silicon Power servers. Its usage looks like this:

Using this tool also does not make it possible to save the data contained in the drive’s memory.

Method 4: SMI MPTool

This program works with Silicon Motion controllers, which are installed in most Silicon Power flash drives. SMI MPTool differs in that it performs low-level recovery of damaged media. You can use it as follows:

1. program and run it from the archive.
2. Click on the button Scan USB" to start scanning your computer for a suitable flash drive. After this, your media should appear on one of the ports (column " Items"on the left). Click on it in this column to highlight it. Actually, if nothing happens, it means that the program is not suitable for your carrier.
3. Next, click the “ Debug" If a window appears asking you to enter a password, enter the number 320.
4. Now click the button Start" and wait for the restoration to complete.

In some cases, it helps if you do the above steps several times. In any case, it's worth a try. But, again, don’t expect data to be saved.

Method 5: Recuva File Recovery

Finally, we have reached a method that allows us to restore at least some of the damaged information. Only then will it be possible to restore the functionality of the device itself using one of the utilities described above. Recuva File Recovery is not SP's own development, but for some reason it is owned by this company. It is worth saying that this is not the same program that is familiar to all of us. All this only means that Recuva will be the most effective in working with flash drives from Silicon Power.

To take advantage of its capabilities, read the lesson on our website.

Only when you choose where you want to scan for deleted or damaged files, select the option " On my media card"(this is step 2). If the card is not detected or no files are found on it, start the whole process again. Only now select the option “ In a specific location" and specify your removable media according to its letter. By the way, you can find it out if you go to “ My computer"(or simply " Computer», « This computer" - it all depends on the version of Windows).

Method 6: Flash Drive Recovery

This is also a universal program that is suitable for most modern models of removable storage media. Flash Drive Recovery is not developed by Silicon Power and is not listed among the recommended utilities on the manufacturer's website. But, judging by user reviews, it is extremely effective in working with flash drives from this manufacturer. Its usage looks like this:

In addition to Recuva File Recovery and Flash Drive Recovery, you can use TestDisk, R.saver and other utilities to recover data from damaged media. The most effective such programs are listed on our website.

After the recovery of lost data has been completed, use one of the above utilities to restore the functionality of the entire drive. You can also use the standard Windows tool to check disks and fix errors. How to do this is shown in the lesson on restoring Transcend flash drives (method 6).

Finally, you can format your removable media using other programs or the same standard Windows tool. As for the latter, you need to do the following:

1. In the window " Computer» (« My computer», « This computer") right-click on your flash drive. In the drop-down menu, select “ Format…».
2. When the formatting window opens, click on the " Begin" If it doesn’t help, start the process again, but uncheck the box next to “ Quick…».

Also try using other disk formatting programs. The best of them are listed on our website. And if this doesn’t help, we won’t recommend anything other than buying a new media.

It's no secret that removable USB devices in the form of regular flash drives sometimes cause their owners a lot of problems due to their inoperability. And the information on them may be lost. In particular, this applies to Silicon Power devices. Restoring 16 Gb USB drives of smaller or larger capacity has its own characteristics. The main emphasis will be placed on them. But for all other removable media that support the USB data transfer interface and connection to the corresponding ports, this technique may be equally suitable.

The first signs of media damage

Unfortunately, it is the drives of this manufacturer that often refuse to work in normal (stationary) mode, when reading, editing or moving data must be done.

And here comes the very first problem associated with Silicon Power. Restoring USB drives of 16 gigs or more is impossible only because the operating system does not recognize them.

On the other hand, it is possible that failures and more serious problems may occur, both with software, which may often be missing in Windows systems, and with damage to the media itself, when not only the USB device, but also the controller responsible for it is not detected .

Silicon Power: USB flash drive recovery. General principles

Nevertheless, we will assume that the flash drive has no physical damage, nor has it been subjected to overheating or exposure to electromagnetic or other radiation that could cause failures at both the physical and software levels.

For this purpose, special utilities and software applets are used. On Windows systems, you can recover a Silicon Power 16 Gb flash drive only by specifying a disk scan through the command console. Let's move on.

Silicon Power USB drive recovery: features

The main problem is that devices from this manufacturer are not always detected by the computers to which they are connected. In other words, the installed operating system, be it Windows, Mac OS or Linux, cannot identify the file system.

Silicon Power devices, in principle, are initially supplied formatted, but only at the level of compatibility with memory cards (ext2/3/4), and Windows systems are not designed for this. Even the notorious version of the tenth modification is not always able to identify such a drive.

Formatting

The easiest way to fix the problem is considered to be formatting the media.

In this case, you cannot use only clearing the table of contents; you need to perform a complete formatting, which seems to completely destroy the data. No question - you can restore information even after this. For Silicon Power, recovery of USB drives must be done using special programs.

Recovery programs

In this case, programs for identifying deleted files and folders like Recuva (one of the most popular utilities) are not taken into account only because they are an absolute fake in the world of software and are not capable of restoring absolutely anything!!!

The R.Saver program or its analogue R-Studio looks much more acceptable. The interface, of course, is somewhat different, but both programs restore the file system regardless of what format the data was originally saved on the media.

It is also interesting that the initially launched scanning process of any removable device, be it a memory card or a regular flash drive, will scan the device so deeply that many users simply cannot believe their eyes. They see files deleted 5-10 years ago!!!

Restoring the controller

Restoring USB drives seems more difficult for Silicon Power in cases where problems arise directly with the controller (main chip). If it has no physical damage, which is usually the case, the point comes down to “reflashing” it.

To do this, you will need to download the appropriate firmware, having previously set the values ​​of the VEN and DEV identifiers, which can be seen in the driver properties section in the standard “Device Manager”, as shown in the picture above. But in this case, you will have to pay attention to the fact that the process of restoring the operation of the controller can take quite a lot of time, and the information located on the media is almost always destroyed.

If such procedures do not help, the controller will have to be replaced, although in this case it will be easier to buy a new flash drive and not do stupid things. The issue of recovery is relevant only when the media contains particularly important information. This is where USB recovery utilities like R.Saver or similar software products can help, as they can read data in such a way that they can easily identify any deleted information even after the media has been completely formatted, be it a computer hard drive, flash drive or memory card. In other cases, such methods, although applicable, are not recommended. And interfering with the operation of the controller can cause many problems that were not present before.

Conclusion

Thus, based on all of the above, the only conclusion we can draw is that problems with USB drives of this type can be eliminated quite simply, provided that the malfunctions were associated exclusively with software problems. What to use? Don't be afraid to do even full formatting. Firstly, it will save you from problems with the file system and media recognition at the system level. Secondly, after using software products like R.Saver, information can still be restored. Some "minds" claim that this is not so. Judging by the reviews of users and specialists who give recommendations on various forums on the Internet, this sequence of actions seems to be the most preferable, unless, of course, we talk about physical damage to the media. In such a situation, if the user does not have extremely important data saved on the damaged media, it is easier to buy a new one than to engage in recovery procedures.

Typical reasons why a user may turn to programs for low-level formatting of a flash drive or memory card are system messages that the disk is write-protected, the inability to format a USB drive by any means, and other similar problems.

In these cases, low-level formatting is an extreme measure that can help correct the performance of the drive; before using it, it is better to try other recovery methods described in the materials:,.

The popular low-level formatting utility Formatter Silicon Power or Low Level Formatter is specifically designed for Silicon Power flash drives, but it also works with other USB drives (the program will automatically determine if there are supported drives when launched).

Among the flash drives for which it was possible to restore functionality using Formatter Silicon Power (however, this does not guarantee that your exactly the same flash drive will be fixed; the opposite result is also possible - use the program at your own peril and risk):

• Kingston DataTraveler and HyperX USB 2.0 and USB 3.0
• Silicon Power drives, of course (but even with them there are problems)
• Some flash drives from SmartBuy, Kingston, Apacer and others.

If Formatter Silicon Power does not detect drives with a supported controller, then after starting the program you will see the message “Device Not Found” and other actions in the program will not correct the situation.

If the flash drive is supposedly supported, you will be notified that all data from it will be deleted and after clicking the “Format” button, you will only have to wait for the formatting process to complete and follow the instructions in the program (in English). You can download the program from here flashboot.ru/files/file/383/(it is not on the official Silicon Power website).

Additional Information

Not all utilities for low-level formatting of USB flash drives are described above: there are separate utilities from different manufacturers for specific devices that allow you to perform such formatting. You can find these utilities, if available, for your specific device by using the last part of the mentioned review about.