USB flash drives can become corrupt or damaged for a variety of reasons. Luckily, you can fix your USB for free. Windows chkdsk and Windows disk error checking methods are able to repair errors on your disk from the command line. Afterward, with EaseUS data recovery software, you can get your data back from a failed pen drive without losing files.
USB flash drives, pen drives, and thumb drives can easily get corrupted or result in device failure due to a virus attack, file system corruption, hardware malfunction, improper shutdown, and more.
Fortunately, with a built-in Windows disk/USB repair tool and a third-party USB flash/pen drive data recovery software, you can repair a failed pen drive for free and recover all lost data.
| 🧰USB repair & recovery software | You can use it to fix damaged or corrupted USB drives. The software scans the drive for errors and attempts to repair them. This method depends on the severity of the damage to the USB drive. |
| 🎚️Run CHKDSK USB repair tool | This built-in Windows tool checks for errors and repairs file systems on a USB drive. The tool checks the file system and tries to repair any errors found. It depends on the severity of the errors on the drive. |
| 📡Windows Error-Checking | This utility tool scans the file system and corrects any errors found on a USB drive. It is less potent than CHKDSK and is suitable for less severe errors. |
Most software can only scan or find some existing data on the corrupted device. You'll need more than third-party repair software to resolve the USB corrupt error fully.
Corrupted USB Repair Tools: No matter how your USB flash drive or pen drive becomes corrupted or failed, USB repair software combined with data recovery software can help.
🏆1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
First, use the Windows disk check tool to repair the device. When you don't have any backups and USB data not showing, you should try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.
Download the powerful EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to regain your data.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can restore all lost files from a corrupted USB or pen drive in 3 steps.
Step 1. Choose the USB drive to scan
Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and choose your USB drive where you lost important files. Click "Scan for lost data" to start.
Step 2. Check and preview USB drive data
When the scanning is finished, you can quickly locate a specific type of file by using the Filter feature as well as the Search option.
Step 3. Restore flash drive data
After checking and finding lost USB drive files, click "Recover" to restore them. You shall save the found files to a safe location on your PC rather than to your USB drive.
💡Tip: You can restore data on the local disks, external hard drives, and also the cloud storage.
2. Check Disk Utility (chkdsk)
A Windows Built-In Tool. It runs via Command Prompt to scan and repair file system errors, bad sectors, or corruption on USB drives.
Command: chkdsk X: /f /r (replace X with your USB drive letter).
3. Disk Management
Accessible via diskmgmt.msc. Used to reformat, change drive letters, or check partition status for USB drives.
4. DiskPart
Advanced command-line tool to clean, format, or repair partitions. Use commands like clean, create partition, or format.
5. USB Troubleshooter
Built-in Windows tool (Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot) to detect and fix USB driver/hardware issues.
6. Format Tool
Right-click the USB drive in "File Explorer" > "Format" to erase and rebuild the file system (e.g., FAT32, NTFS).
7. TestDisk
Powerful open-source tool for partition recovery, fixing boot sectors, and repairing corrupted file systems.
It supports FAT, NTFS, and exFAT.
8. GParted
Linux-based open-source partition editor (via live USB/CD). Resizes, repairs, or formats drives, including USB.
Also, you can turn to manual data recovery services if you cannot repair a USB with software.
Consult with EaseUS data recovery experts for one-on-one manual recovery service. We could offer the following services after a FREE diagnosis.
Before you start, check if your corrupted USB or pen drive can be detected by Windows PC:
Here's a video tutorial that can help you learn how to repair USB drives and recover data from USB drives.
The first step is to check the disk and repair its errors. Afterward, use data recovery software to recover any missing or inaccessible data.
We will use the CHKDSK utility within the Command Prompt to repair the USB drive. There is also an alternative that does not use the command line that is shown below.
Step 1. Insert the corrupted USB or pen drive into the USB port on your PC.
Step 2. Go to the search bar and type cmd, and hit Enter.
Step 3. Click cmd.exe and open Command Prompt as Administrator. (Sign in as Administrator with your account if the program asks for permission).
Step 4. Enter: chkdsk j: /f /x in the Command Prompt window and hit Enter.
You can do this same task using the Error Checking option in the device Properties menu. It can be more intuitive if you are uncomfortable with the command-line method.
On Windows 10:
Step 1. Insert the corrupted USB into your PC via the USB port.
Step 2. Right-click on the USB device and select "Properties".
Step 3. Go to Tools and click the "Check" button under Error checking.
Step 4. Select "Scan and repair drive".
Step 5. Continue to follow the wizard interface. It will prompt you to automatically fix disk errors if any error is detected.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, a world-famous data recovery professional, is 100% secure. With this best data recovery software, you can get everything back with no limitations.
It supports USB pen drives, flash drives, and other removable storage devices from all major brands including Sony, Transcend, SanDisk, Kingston, Apacer, Panasonic, PQI, Toshiba, Super Flash, and Ridata.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is incredibly easy to use. The steps to recover data from a USB drive are as follows:
Step 1. Choose the USB drive to scan
Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and choose your USB drive where you lost important files. Click "Scan for lost data" to start.
Step 2. Check and preview USB drive data
When the scanning is finished, you can quickly locate a specific type of file by using the Filter feature as well as the Search option.
Step 3. Restore flash drive data
After checking and finding lost USB drive files, click "Recover" to restore them. You shall save the found files to a safe location on your PC rather than to your USB drive.
💡Tip: You can restore data on the local disks, external hard drives, and also the cloud storage.
To thoroughly repair your USB and ensure it is in perfect working condition after fixing it, you can back up the data to your computer, reformat the device, and restore it.
Using your computer's built-in repair utility, you can scan and repair a flash drive for software or driver issues. If you lost data after USB corruption, you can use EaseUS data recovery software. This data recovery software can easily retrieve lost files from corrupted flash drives, SD cards, hard drives, and external hard drives. Download EaseUS USB data recovery software and get back data with ease.
You have learned about the best USB repair tool to fix a corrupted or damaged USB drive. Make sure you always keep your data safe before repairing the USB drive. Not all USB repair tools and solutions are reliable. If you still have problems, check out the following questions and answers.
Yes. You can fix a corrupted USB using CHKDSK. Here are the steps to do so:
Step 1. Plug in your USB flash drive or pen drive to your computer.
Step 2. Go to the Start menu, type "cmd" in the search bar, and hit Enter. You’ll see something named "cmd. exe" in the list of programs.
Step 3. Right-click "cmd. exe", select Run as administrator, type "chkdsk /X /f G:" or "chkdsk G: /f" (replace G: with the drive letter corresponding to your USB drive), and press Enter. The chkdsk command will then start repairing the damaged USB drive.
There are several ways to fix an unrecognized USB drive. Here are a few of those methods:
The USB storage media is prone to corruption/damage. Here's what causes a USB drive to go corrupt:
If something is wrong with your USB drive, the USB flash drive will not appear in Windows 10 File Explorer and may appear as unallocated space in Disk Management.
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