[5 Solutions] How to Fix a Corrupted Flash Drive without Formatting?

User case: My flash drive is corrupted

“Hi, experts. When I plug this USB flash drive into my computer it takes a long time to show up in as a drive in My Computer. When it does show up as removable storage, I have no way of accessing it, since whatever I do, the My Computer file just freezes, it stops responding, and whatever program I try to access it with just ends up freezing as well (I use Windows 10 by the way). Sometimes, it even displays a message prompting to format this flash drive. Is it corrupted? If so, anyone can me how to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting? I don’t want to lose data on it.”

When the USB flash drive is corrupted/damaged/broken, it will be malfunction, becoming unreadable, unrecognized, or inaccessible with prompting error messages like “X:\ is not accessible the file or directory is corrupted and unreadable”, or "You need to format the disk in drive before you can use it" or “Please insert a disk into Removable Disk (X:)”, etc. To fix it, the Microsoft Windows generall ask you to format the corrupted flash drive, which means you will lose all your data.

How to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting or losing data? In this passage, we will share you how-to. Also, here is a valuable technique that can help you retrieve lost data, whether you've formatted the broken drive or need to recover data from damaged USB stick without formatting.

Why flash drive gets damaged?

In order to fix USB flash drive not working issue effectively, it is advised to have a better understanding of what causes corruption. And knowing the main causes can help prevent flash drive corruption from occurring in the future.

Virus and malware attack to the partition table.

Sudden power failure when you view or make operation on the stored data.

Abrupt removal of memory card during the data transfer or read/write process.

Bad sectors in the flash drive.

Internal file system errors.

Improper or accidental formatting of flash drive.

Drive letter conflict.

Damaged partition table.

How to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting?

Basically, users can format a corrupted or inaccessible USB flash drive to make it functional or usable again, but at the same time, the entire data located inside the drive will be erased all well.

So, if you have any important stored on the damaged flash drive, formatting is not the right option. Then, how to repair a corrupted flash drive without formatting or losing data? Well, there are several solutions that you can apply to fix corrupted flash drive in Windows 10/8/7.

Fix 1. Try other USB ports

Connect your USB flash drive to your computer, only to find it doesn't work? It is possible that the USB port has a problem. The troubleshooting method can be easy. Just switch to a different USB port. If it works, the issue was with the original port; if not, please try the below fixes.

Fix 2. Check disk and fix errors

As we mentioned above, bad sectors on the flash drive will also make the stick damaged. To check disk error and fix it, you can use CHKDSK.exe tool.

Step1. Type “cmd” in the “Search” box and hit “Enter”.Right click Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator”.

Step 2. Input “chkdsk g: /f /r /x” and press “Enter”. Replace “g” with the drive letter of your corrupted flash drive.

If your flash drive has become RAW file system, and the CHKDSK tool pops out “The type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives” message, you can use AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard (free and compatible with Windows 11/10/8/7), it can check RAW partition for bad sectors. This software is especially ideal for users who are new to command lines. Its intuitive interface can minimize the risk of errors that can lead to further data loss or damage.

If you want to know how to recover data from damaged USB stick, you can go to this part.

AOMEI Partition Assistant

The Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer

Download Freeware
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

Step 1. Download and install the freeware. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. Right-click the flash drive partition and select “Check Partition”.

Step 2. For RAW partition, here you can only choose “Check whether there is bad sector on the partition” and click “OK”.

Step 3. You can tick “Quick Check” and click “Start” to execute the bad sector checking process.

Fix 3. Reassign the flash drive with new drive letter

If your USB flash drive is not detected or accessible due to drive letter conflict, you can assign a different new drive letter to it. Steps are as follows.

Step 1. Right click on “This PC/My Computer” and click the “Manage” option to open “Computer Management” window.

Step 2. In the left pane, click the “Disk Management” under “Storage”.

Step 3. Right click on the flash drive volume and select the “Change Drive Letter and Paths”.

Step 4. Click the “Change” button. From the drop-down list, choose an available drive letter and click “OK”.

Fix 4. Enable or update USB drive

If the USB flash drive is disabled in Device Manager, then it will malfunction, you can enable it in the following steps.

Step 1. Input “Device Manager” in the Search box and hit “Enter” to enter Device Manager window.

Step 2. Expand “Disk driver” and right click the USB flash drive. Select “Enable” in the given options.

Besides, the outdated device drivers could also result in flash drive not working normally, in such case, you can choose “Update Driver Software…” in the list and follow the prompts to update the disk driver.

Fix 5. Rebuild damaged partition table/MBR

Damaged partition table MBR will also cause the flash drive corruption. You can run AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard to rebuild MBR directly, easily and quickly.

Step 1. In the main interface of AOMEI Partition Assistant, right click the USB flash drive and select “Rebuild MBR”.

Step 2. Choose an appropriate MBR type for your operating system and click “OK”.

Step 3. Click “Apply” and then “Proceed” to execute the pending operation.

How to recover data from damaged USB stick

Nothing could be worse than losing important data without any backup for recovery. If you have lost data from a corrupted flash drive or have accidentally formatted it by following Microsoft Windows's instruction, don't hesitate to seek help from AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, which offers reliable data recovery functionality.

This powerful software supports recovering deleted or lost files of different formats and 200+ types, including Word, Excel, PPT, Videos, Photos, Emails, etc. And it can recover data on various storage devices like HDD, SSD, USB flash drive, SD card, and many other storage devices. Whether data is accidentally deleted or formatted, or if it is lost due to system freezes and crashes, hard drive corruption, or virus attacks, AOMEI can help you get them back in minutes.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI software. In the Main Tab, please click "Recover" > "Recover Data".

Step 2. The Recover Windows Data tool will pop up. Select the partition location to start data recovery and click "Start Scan".

Step 3. Once the scan is completed, all deleted files, recycle bin, and other missing files will be displayed. Please select MS Project file you would like to recover and then click "Recover".

Step 4. Then, select a folder path on your PC to save the recovered files.

Step 5. Then, the recovery process will start. When it's over, go to the path you select to see your lost data.

Final Words

Above is how to fix a corrupted flash drive without formatting. If all methods do not take effects, you can use data recovery software to restore your important data, and then format it directly. If Windows cannot format corrupted USB flash drive, you can switch to AOMEI Partition Assistant as well. To enjoy more amazing functions including recovering lost/deleted partitions, enlarging system drive, etc, it is recommended to install it and directly have a try.