How to Fix Corrupted and Unreadable USB Flash Drive in 2025

If you need to fix a corrupted and unreadable USB flash drive, it's better to try some basic troubleshooting, such as using a different port or computer. If this does not work, your USB flash drive may have file system errors, and you can repair it with the CHKDSK tool. For data recovery, apply professional USB flash drive data recovery software before formatting.

Unreadable and Corrupted USB Flash Drive Common Symptoms

You can try to determine how seriously your storage device has been corrupted by observing symptoms and using disk check tools to run for errors. Usually, it's about the Master Boot Record (MBR), the Partition Boot Record (PBR), or directory structure corruption that comes with error messages. In this case:

• Windows reports that the disk is not formatted continuously.
• Your drive shows up as RAW, with an invalid RAW file system.
• Your flash drive partition has been lost, showing as unallocated space.
• Windows reports the drive is not accessible, and the disk structure is corrupted or unreadable.

While some common physical corruption issues are from broken stems and connectors, dead drives, broken circuits or NAND gates, etc. In this case:

• The flash drive's light starts blinking and makes noise or unpleasant whirling sounds.

How to Fix Corrupted and Unreadable USB Flash Drives | 6 Ways

One of the most common causes of USB corruption is not properly disconnecting the device from the computer. When your device is removed from your computer or laptop, there is no safe eject of the device first. So, you should plug and unplug your device correctly every time. In addition, there are many useful measures in the table below.

You can check the following solutions and apply a suitable solution to fix your unreadable pen drive:

• Method 1. Recover Data from Corrupted or Unreadable USB
• Method 2. Check USB Errors to Fix Corrupted USB or Pen Drive
• Method 3. Fix Unreadable USB Flash Drive with Data Recovery Services
• Method 4. Format Unreadable USB Drive in Disk Management
• Method 5.  Re-partition on the Corrupted USB Drive
• Method 6. Fix a USB Drive That Is Unreadable with Malware

Method 1. Recover Data from Corrupted or Unreadable USB

Before you start to repair the corrupted, unreadable, or unresponsive USB flash drive, it's highly recommended that you back up all your present data on the USB drive first. However, most people did not create a regular backup until it was too late.

Since you're not allowed to open a corrupted flash drive, the only way to retrieve data is to use professional USB file recovery software. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard supports data recovery in most commonplace scenarios. You can download this software and scan your USB flash drive for free.

This reliable USB flash drive recovery software supports reading and recovering data from your RAW USB, and it can help you recover missing family photos, wedding recordings, movies, office files, and other personal files from your corrupted USB flash drive. Most importantly, this software supports lost partition recovery, enabling you to recover your entire missing partition on your USB drive.

Download it for free, install and run it like a breeze, and follow the guide below to recover a USB drive when your Windows cannot read it.

Step 1. Run USB Data Recovery Software

Connect the USB drive or pen drive to your computer and launch EaseUS USB data recovery software on your PC. Select the drive which is labeled as a External drives, and click "Scan for lost data" to start looking for lost files.

Step 2. Scan and Search Lost Files on a USB Drive

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard will thoroughly scan your USB flash drive/pen drive and find all your lost data on it. When the scan process completes, use the Filter feature to find wanted files.

Step 3. Restore All Lost Files from USB

A double-click will allow you to preview the files. Select the target files to restore and click "Recover" to save them to a secure location on your PC or other external storage devices.

Here's a video tutorial that can help you learn how to repair USB drives and recover data from them.

• 00:48 Method 1. Repair the USB wit the h Error Check Tool
• 01:15 Method 2. Fix Corrupted USB with CMD
• 02:09 Method 3. Uninstall USB Driver to Fix USB Drive
• 02:40 Recover USB with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard

 

Here are some customer reviews about EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard; check their corrupted USB recovery experience now:

Be a part of the tutorial! Share this useful file recovery software on your social media and let others know your thoughts.

Method 2. Check USB Errors to Fix Corrupted USB or Pen Drive

Windows has an in-built repair tool, and it's able to scan common error issues on a disk drive and hopefully repair the found errors.

Step 1. Connect the flash drive to your computer system. Open My Computer/This PC.

Step 2. Right-click the Removable Disk representing your flash drive, then choose "Properties".

Step 3. Navigate to the "Tools" tab, and click "Check". Select the "Scan drive" option.

Step 4. Wait for the Error Checking tool to scan and repair your USB drive. If any error is found, you can proceed with the wizard to fix it. 

Step 5. Safely eject the flash drive. Re-connect it again. See if it's now readable.

It's also possible to run the CHKDSK command to repair a corrupted USB flash drive if you are familiar with command-line tools. Run Command Prompt as administrator and type in chkdsk drive letter: /f /r /x to repair your USB flash drive.

Method 3. Fix Unreadable USB Flash Drive with Data Recovery Services

Sometimes, you will encounter situations where you cannot recover data with software. Don't worry. You can still ask the experts for help. EaseUS data recovery services help you quickly recover data from inaccessible USB drives and fix the RAW drive. 

EaseUS Corrupted USB Recovery Services

Click here to contact our experts for a free evaluation

Consult with EaseUS data recovery experts for one-on-one manual recovery service. We could offer the following services after a FREE diagnosis.

• Fix USB flash drive, HDD, SSD, and external hard drive errors, and restore data from all RAID levels
• Recover lost partitions that cannot be restored by USB data recovery software
• Fix USB that cannot be read or accessed because of bad sectors
• Fix USB that become GPT-protected partitions
• Wipe data, unformat hard drive, install/uninstall software or drivers, etc.

Method 4. Format Unreadable USB Drive in Disk Management

Another way to make a corrupted or unreadable USB drive work again is to format it:

Step 1. Press the Windows + R keys to bring up the Run box. Type: diskmgmt.msc and hit Enter.

Step 2. In Disk Management, locate the unreadable flash drive, and check its disk information. If it's shown as a RAW file system, right-click on it and choose "Format".

Step 3. Choose a file system like NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT and perform a quick format checkbox. 

Method 5.  Re-partition on the Corrupted USB Drive

No luck with the former methods? Take it easy. Proceed with this method. The Disk Management tool will help you delete and create a new partition on the corrupted USB drive and restore it to normal.

Step 1. In Disk Management, locate the corrupted USB drive, and right-click on it, select "Delete Volume".

Step 2. Confirm to delete the volume on the USB drive by following the onscreen guide.

Step 3. After the USB drive has become unallocated space, right-click the unallocated space and select "New Simple Volume".

Step 4. Then, rename the drive, set the file system to NTFS or FAT32 on the USB drive, and follow the onscreen guidelines to create a new partition on the USB drive. After this, you will be able to use the USB drive normally again.

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Method 6. Fix a USB Drive That Is Unreadable with Malware

When a USB flash drive is infected with a virus, its file system will become corrupted, making it unreadable. What's worse, if you link a virus-infected USB stick to your computer, it will also be infected, causing more serious data security problems.

Therefore, be sure to install genuine anti-virus software for your external disk and the computer's daily anti-virus. You can also run Windows Security to scan your device:

Step 1. Open Windows Security by typing "Windows Security" in the Start menu search bar and selecting it.

Step 2. In the Protection areas section, click "Virus & threat protection."

Step 3. Under the "Current threats" section, choose "Scan options."

Step 4. Select "Custom scan" and then click "Scan now."

Step 5. A file browser window will open - select your USB drive and click "Select Folder." Windows Defender will begin scanning the USB for malware or infected files.

Step 6. Once the scan is complete, review the results and choose "Remove" or "Quarantine" for detected threats.

How to Avoid USB Becoming Unreadable and Corrupted

If you don't want to encounter this USB error again, here are some useful tips you can follow:

• 1️⃣Use the safe eject to remove your USB flash drive. You can use the "Safely Remove Hardware" option to prevent data from being written incompletely.
• 2️⃣Format your USB drive into the proper file system. Use compatible file systems (like FAT32 or exFAT) and avoid excessive formatting that can wear out flash memory.
• 3️⃣Avoid sudden power loss. Don't remove the drive while files are transferring or when the computer is shutting down.
• 4️⃣Scan your USB flash drive frequently with an antivirus. Regularly scan the USB with Windows Defender or trusted antivirus software to block malware threats.
• 5️⃣Create USB backup weekly or monthly. Regularly copy your essential data to another device or cloud storage in case the USB fails unexpectedly.
• 6️⃣Avoid using a USB on various operating systems. Frequent switching between Windows, macOS, and Linux may cause file system conflicts and corruption.

You can share these tips on social media to help more USB users avoid file system corruption.

USB Corrupted and Unreadable FAQs

Why is your USB suddenly unreadable and corrupted? Get additional help here.

1. How do I fix an unreadable USB flash drive on a Mac?

To fix an unreadable USB flash drive on a Mac, you'd better run First Aid in Disk Utility. It's a useful built-in disk repair tool that can help you fix a corrupted USB drive. If your USB becomes RAW, you can download a professional Mac USB recovery tool like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to recover data.

2. What causes a USB to be corrupted?

• USB Flash Drives can be corrupted because of the causes below:
• Unsafe ejection
• Physical damage
• Virus attacks

3. Can a corrupt USB Be Fixed?

Yes, you can repair a USB drive with simple solutions:

• Repair USB errors with a manual repair service
• Run CHKDSK to repair corrupt USB flash drives
• Use a third-party fixing tool to fix USB errors
• Reinstall USB drivers

4. How do I recover a corrupted USB?

You can recover corrupted files from USB with these steps:

• Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
• Choose your USB drive where you lost important files
• Click Scan to start
• Locate a specific type of file by using the Filter feature
• Find lost USB drive files, and click Recover to restore them

5. How do I uncorrupt my USB?

• Connect the USB to your PC
• Go to My Computer/This PC and then the USB Drive
• Right-click the USB drive and select Properties
• Click on the Tools tab
• Click the Check button
• Let the scan process complete, then close the window