On this page, you can learn how to find missing files on my USB drive. Here are helpful tips and other tips to help prevent further data loss.

USB flash drives, flash drives, and flash drives are large amounts of data storage. Plug-and-play, lightweight and easy to transport. Many users expect to store important information such as photos, videos, documents, etc.

However, sometimes serious errors can lead to data loss from USB. When you encounter this problem, you may have many questions, like how to recover lost data from a USB flash drive. Where do deleted files from USB go? How do I recover lost or deleted data  from a USB flash drive? This step-by-step guide will take the mystery out of it and show you great ideas.

Reasons Behind USB Data Loss

There is more than one reason why files get lost on a flash drive. Before trying to find lost files on a flash drive, it is important to understand why the files were lost to prevent the loss of other files as well.

• Accidental Deletion: There has been an accident. A simple, accidental click could cause some or all of your data to be deleted. There may even be formatting errors. In this case, it is better to restore the data immediately.
• Viral infection: Malicious programs, such as viruses, can infect your USB drive and hide or delete your files. First remove all viruses and then show hidden files. If deleted, perform data recovery.
• File System Corruption: A damaged file system prevents your operating system from finding your data. This may occur due to physical or logical damage (such as improper ejection). You can first recover the data and then try to recover the flash drive.
• Physical Damage: Physical damage is the most serious type. This can happen if the USB drive is dropped, crushed, or thrown. You can try to recover the data yourself, but if the USB drive is not detected or the correct size is not being read, your best bet is to use a data recovery service.
• Wrong Pop-Up Window: Removing the USB drive before it is safe to do so may disrupt the process and damage data and system files. Instantly recover data and perform a quick format for USB recovery.
• Accident Insurance: Overwritten data files cannot be recovered with the Data Recovery Tool. Instead, you will need to restore your files from a backup or use File History to restore them to a previous version.
• Fake USB: Scammers often sell USB flash drives and claim they have more capacity than they actually do. These USB drives are modified to appear legitimate when connected, but if you write more data than they actually contain, the files will be lost or corrupted. You can use a fake Test to check this.

How to Find Missing Files on USB using CMD? Manually 

If the file is hidden, try recovering the hidden file from the USB drive using the "attrib" command in the command line. However, if you suspect that the flash drive is damaged, check the USB drive for logical or physical errors before using the attrib command and resolve any problems found.

Solution 1: Using Command Prompt

Step 1: Connect or attach the USB drive to your computer.

Make sure there are no connection problems.

Step 2: Next, open the Command Prompt menu.

Step 3: Press the Windows + R button  to start  Run,  type CMD and click the Enter tab.

Step 4: Scan the target USB drive and fix any errors.

Type chkdsk “dripromptter: /f” and press Enter. The "/f" command eliminates the cause of the absence on the USB drive.

Step 4: Run the prompt attribute and wait for the process to complete.

Type or write  attrib -h -r -s /s /d “drive letter”:*.* and hit Enter.

Solution 2: Restore your Data from a Previous Version

1. Connect your USB drive to your computer.
2. Select the “This PC" option in the Start menu and select Enter.
3. Right-click "USB" and select "Properties."
4. Click on the Previous Versions tab.
5. Windows folder properties, Previous Versions tab.
6. Select an available previous version, click Restore here, and choose a new location to save the file.

If you haven't set up this protection or were using an older version before you lost the file, proceed to Solution 3.

Solution 3: Recover or Find Missing Files on my USB drive with Expert Solution

The most effective and reliable way to recover or find deleted or lost data files from a USB flash drive is to use a USB Data Recovery Tool. The question is which one to choose. Many things have to be considered before making a decision.

Step-by-step Process for USB Deleted File Recovery

1. Download and install software to recover data from USB flash drive.
2. Select Scan Option: Scan or Formatted
3. The application will start scanning the USB flash drive.
4. After scanning, it will write all the files correctly.
5. Export selected or Complete recovered file data items

This program allows you to preview the files that will be recovered, so you can be sure that they are safe. with this utility, you can easily recover permanently deleted data from USB flash drive without data loss.

How Can You Prevent Data Loss?

1. Immediately stop using the USB storage device, such as formatting it, adding new files, or troubleshooting problems. Otherwise, the data may be overwritten or damaged.
2. Safely remove this USB drive and store it in a safe place until you can recover the USB data.
3. Start data recovery as soon as possible. The longer the data is deleted, the more difficult it will be to recover it.

Final Conclusion

Here, we will explain how to find and recover lost files on a USB drive. You can delete files and other lost files. Regardless of the type of files lost, data recovery software is one of the most convenient methods. Yes, if you have a backup, restoring your data will be easier.

We hope this can help you recover lost files in time and avoid data loss. Additionally, it's important to be careful about protecting the data on your USB drive, including making exact copies of your files on your flash drive. This is the fastest data recovery method.

Frequently asked questions about USB data loss

Q: How do recover lost data from a USB drive?

To easily recover deleted files from a USB drive, you can download and install USB recovery tool. Next, we scan the flash drive and wait for the scan results. Then select the target file to be deleted and restore it.

Q: What should I do if my computer does not recognize the USB drive?

If your flash drive is not recognized, you should connect it to a USB port or another computer and check if there are any problems with the device. If the problem occurs, the problem may be with the USB drive itself. In this case, you may have to contact a professional service center.

Q: How to recover a damaged USB drive?

The easiest way is to run a disk scan and fix what is not found. If this doesn't help, try completely formatting the USB drive. If there is data on it, it is better to recover the data from the damaged USB drive first.