Using file recovery software to retrieve lost documents is a relatively trivial data recovery task to complete, sometimes taking mere minutes to complete. However, there are some key points to remember when doing this that affect how many files you can potentially find. This article focuses on the most important points.
You don’t need specialist software to complete file recovery on flash memory. Flash devices use the FAT-32 file administration system, same as Windows, so any recovery tool that can retrieve files from a disk drive should work with flash devices. These tools check the file allocation table (FAT) for document references and scan the drive for data clusters (how files are stored to memory).
Freeware tools can work just as well as commercial ones in most circumstances. If you simply deleted files from the USB flash then they will not be removed from flash memory and freeware can easily find them. The file allocation table (FAT) retains an index entry for deleted documents and resets the indexes attribute for your documents file location. Moreover, the data clusters are not removed – only flagged as reusable data sectors.
Data can still be found if the flash device is formatted. In this case, the FAT will be wiped of document references but with the clusters left on the memory most file recovery software can piece together the clusters into files.
You will find more lost files if the flash drive is unused. The more files you continue to save to memory, the more data clusters marked as reusable will be overwritten and their data lost forever.
A damaged flash drive reduces the chances of software tools succeeding. If it is still possible to read healthy memory sectors then the software may find file fragments. If you use the flash drive for running applications/operating systems then the flash switches will wear out quicker, becoming unreadable. Data recovery experts may be able to do maintenance & repair work to retrieve data, but they still won’t be able to read worn out flash memory switches.