Instructions for recovering flash drives. Flash drive recovery via controller firmware Flash drive recovery vid 8087 pid 8000

10.02.2022

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Greetings to all blog readers!

Probably the majority of those who more or less often work with a computer have a flash drive (or even more than one). Sometimes it happens that the flash drive stops working normally, for example, when formatting is unsuccessful or as a result of any errors.

Quite often, the file system can be recognized in such cases as RAW, the flash drive cannot be formatted, go to it too ... What to do in this case? Check out this little guide!

This instruction for restoring the performance of a flash drive is designed for a variety of problems with USB media, except for mechanical damage (the manufacturer of a flash drive can, in principle, be any: kingston, silicon-power, transced, Data traveler, A-Data, etc.).

And so ... let's get started. All actions will be listed in steps.

1. Determining the parameters of the flash drive (manufacturer, controller brand, amount of memory).

It would seem that it is difficult to determine the parameters of a flash drive, especially since the manufacturer and the amount of memory are almost always indicated on the body of the flash drive. The point here is that USB drives of even the same model range and the same manufacturer can be with different controllers. A simple conclusion follows from this - in order to restore the performance of a flash drive, you must first accurately determine the brand of the controller in order to choose the right utility for treatment.

A typical type of flash drive (from the inside) is a board with a microcircuit.

To determine the brand of the controller, there are special alphanumeric values specified by the VID and PID parameters.

VID - vendor ID
PID - Product ID

For different controllers, they will be different!

If you don't want to kill the flash drive, then by no means use utilities that are not designed for your VID / PID. Very often, due to an incorrectly selected utility, the flash drive becomes unusable.

How to determine VID and PID?

The easiest option is to run a small free utility CheckUDisk and select your flash drive in the list of devices. Next, you will see all the necessary parameters for flash drive recovery. See screenshot below.

VID / PID can be found out without using the utility.

To do this, you need to go to Device Manager. In Windows 7/8, it is convenient to do this through the search in the control panel (see screenshot below).

In the device manager, the flash drive is usually marked as "USB mass storage device", you need to right-click on this device and go to its properties (as in the picture below).

On the Details tab, select the Hardware ID option - VID / PID will appear in front of you. In my case (in the screenshot below), these parameters are equal:

2. Search for the necessary utility for treatment (low-level formatting)

Knowing the VID and PID, we need to find a special utility suitable for restoring our flash drive. It is very convenient to do this, for example, on the site: flashboot.ru/iflash/

If suddenly nothing is found on the site for your model, it is best to use a search engine: Google or Yandex (request, type: silicon power VID 13FE PID 3600).

In my case, the Formatter SiliconPower utility was recommended for a flash drive on the flashboot.ru website.

Actually, that's all. Of course, this recovery instruction is not the easiest (not 1-2 buttons to press), but it can be used in many cases, for almost all manufacturers and types of flash drives ...

All the best!

Many users neglect the safe removal of flash drives, as a result of which the drives stop working correctly: they are not recognized by the system, they require formatting, they do not read / write data, they show the wrong volume (for example, 14 Gb instead of 16 Gb). If you are faced with a similar problem, then the question of how to restore a flash drive will surely become relevant for you.

Can a flash drive be restored?

It may seem to someone that restoring a flash drive is a pointless exercise. Drives from Transcend, Kingston, A-Data and other manufacturers have flooded the market by making flash memory cheap. Memory cards and flash drives from 8 Gb to 32 Gb are not so expensive that you can’t safely throw them away and buy new media. However, old flash drives and Micro SD memory cards are usually not thrown away at all: they lie on the table and are waiting to be restored.

Recovery is possible if the flash drive or memory card has not “died” completely (usually death occurs when the controller burns out).

But if the drive is simply not detected or shows the wrong volume, then the reason for this behavior is most often a controller firmware failure. How to recover a flash drive after such a failure, we will analyze in detail below.

Saving information and searching for the right software

If important information is stored on a flash drive or SD card, then before flashing and restoring the controller (and with it the drive’s performance), you need to extract the data. This can be done using the Photorec utility, which can work with media that do not have a file system detected.

After extracting the necessary information from the SD card or flash drive, you can start searching for a utility for flashing the controller. But in order to flash the controller, you first need to determine its model. To do this, we use the CheckUDisk utility (distributed for free) and the flashboot.ru website:

After completing the check and obtaining the necessary information (VID PID of the drive), you need to download the utility to restore the performance of the flash drive or SD drive. Go to the flashboot.ru website and open the "iFlash" tab. Here you need to enter the VID PID values and find the correct manufacturer of the memory card or flash drive (HP, Generic Flash Disk, Protex, Oltramax, Smartbuy, etc.).

If your model of a flash drive or SD memory card is not in the database of the online service, then it's okay: the main thing is that the VID PID and the manufacturer match. If the required data matched, then you need to get information about the exact controller model for flashing and restoring it, as well as the name of the appropriate utility.

The table has columns "Controller" and "Utility". You need to pay attention to the volume - the controllers of flash drives and SD cards for 16 Gb and 32 Gb may differ. You need to copy the full name of the utility and download it through the "Files" section on the flashboot.ru website or from another source. Often, along with the recovery program, instructions for its use are downloaded, which it is advisable to carefully read.

Controller Firmware

Let's say you have a 16 Gb Protec flash drive. You find it by VID PID through the iFlash online service and download the controller firmware utility for free. What to do next? Carry out measures to restore the flash drive (SD memory card).

Universal instructions for restoring all flash drives:

If the firmware is successful, then you should see the positive status of the flash drive - “OK” or “Good”. If problems occur during the operation, an error code will appear: its decryption can be found in the utility help found by VID PID, or on other online services.

Recovery of any flash drives (SD cards) is performed approximately according to the same scheme, however, the instructions may differ slightly for different utilities: you need to find the program for flashing the controller by VID PID and start restoring the USB drive.

To recover a flash drive, you must additionally format it. It can be done using standard Windows tools or using special programs. It is recommended to run a full format rather than a quick format. It will take a little longer (especially if the drive is larger than 16 Gb), but you will be sure that the flash drive is now completely clean and functional.

Step by step instructions for USB flash drive recovery in which I will try to answer the question in an accessible language How to recover a flash drive independently and without much effort.

It happens that you help a person, and then he will tell everyone that you are so good and there are already crowds of people who are thirsty for help. Something like this happened when I restored several flash drives colleagues.

Now the people carry not only their flash drives, but also flash drives their friends, acquaintances and relatives. Well, at least someone else dragged a bottle of beer or a cookie - figurines.

It's not difficult for me to help, but when I suggest that you learn how to do all this yourself, you refuse. I'll just make those next time. If you don't want to learn, move on.

With the lyrics, I end here and go directly to the topic of the post ..

If your flash drive stopped determined like a drive, doesn't want to be formatted, does not allow you to write down information or something else happened to it, BUT it does not have mechanical damage, then you know - not everything is lost. Most likely glitched controller and it will take a little fiddling with it. In time, this procedure takes approximately 5 minutes.

I must say right away that there is no universal programs for recovery all varieties flash drives. You will need to find exactly the one that can work with the controller of your flash drives.

First, we need to define VID and PID non-working flash drives.

Determine VID and PID for flash drive recovery

Plug in flash drive to the computer and run Device Manager. Start – Run - mmc devmgmt.msc.

Then go to section USB Universal Serial Bus Controllers.

Find yours in the list flash drive. Usually, everything flash drives have a name USB mass storage device.

Press the right key on the device and open Properties.

Go to tab Intelligence.

In the drop-down list, select the item Instance code device or Equipment codes (ID).

In this window we see PID and VID.

Finding a flash drive recovery program

We go to the FlashBoot.ru website and enter the received VID and PID.

Click on the button Search.

In the results, we are looking for our manufacturer and model of the flash drive. I have this Kingston DataTraveler 2.0.

In the right column there will be the name of the program we need or a link to it.

Everything. Now search Google for the program by name or download from the link provided. Launch and follow the instructions. Usually, in such programs for recovery there is only one button, so you should not have any questions.

That's all!

Any questions - ask in the comments.

Good day!

If your flash drive began to constantly fail: it is not formatted, when connected to a computer - it often freezes, when copying files to it - errors fly out, but it has not been subjected to mechanical stress - there are CHANCES to restore its performance!

It would be nice if, when connecting a flash drive, it was at least somehow determined, for example: a connection sound is emitted, the flash drive is displayed in "my computer", an LED blinks on it, etc. If the computer does not see the USB flash drive at all, then first I recommend that you read this article:

In general, it is impossible to give universal instructions on how and with what program what to do in order to restore a USB flash drive! But in this short article I will try to give an algorithm that will help, even for novice users, to deal with the problem and solve it.

Recovery flash drive // step by step

Determining the controller model

It turned out, by the will of fate, I have one flash drive that Windows refused to format - an error took off "Windows cannot complete formatting". The flash drive, according to the owner, did not fall, water did not fall on it, and in general, it was handled quite carefully ...

All that was clear after looking at it was that it was 16 GB and its brand was SmartBuy. When connected to a PC, the LED lit up, the flash drive was detected and visible in the explorer, but it malfunctioned.

SmartBuy 16 GB - "experimental" non-working flash drive

To restore the normal operation of the flash drive, you need to reflash the controller chip. This is done with special utilities, and each type of controller has its own utility! If the utility is chosen incorrectly, then with a high degree of probability, you will spoil the flash drive completely ... I will say even more, one model range of flash drives can have different controllers!

Each device have their own unique identification numbers - VID and PID , and the flash drive is no exception. To choose the correct flashing utility, you need to determine these identification numbers (and the controller model by them).

One of the easiest ways to find out the VID, PID, and controller model of a flash drive is to use special utilities. One of the best of its kind is .

Flash Drive Information Extractor

A small free utility to get the most information about a flash drive. You don't need to install it!

The program will determine the USB flash drive model, model and type of memory (all modern flash drives are supported, at least from normal manufacturers)...

The program will work even in cases where the file system of the flash drive is not detected, when the computer freezes when the media is connected.

Information received:

controller model;

possible options for memory chips installed in a flash drive;

type of installed memory;

maximum current consumption declared by the manufacturer;

USB version;

the total physical volume of the disk;

disk size reported by the operating system;

VID and PID;

Query Vendor ID;

Query Product ID;

Query Product Revision;

controller revision;

Flash ID (not for all configurations);

Chip F/W (for some controllers), etc.

Important! The program only works with USB flash drives. MP3 players, phones and other devices - it does not recognize. It is advisable, before starting the program, to leave only one single USB flash drive connected to the USB ports, from which you want to get the most information.

Working with Flash Drive Information Extractor

We disconnect everything that is connected from the USB ports (at least all drives: players, external hard drives, etc.).
We insert the repaired USB flash drive into the USB port;
We start the program;
Click the button "Get flash drive information" ;
After some time, we get maximum information about the drive (see screenshot below).
If the program freezes- don't do anything and don't close it. Remove the flash drive after a couple of minutes from the USB port, the program should "hang down", and you will see all the information that it managed to pull out from the flash drive...

Now we know the information about the flash drive and we can start searching for the utility.

Flash drive info:

VID: 13FE; PID: 4200;

Controller model (Controller): Phison 2251-68 (second line in the screenshot above);

SmartBuy 16 GB.

Addition

You can reliably determine the controller model if you disassemble the USB flash drive. True, not every body of a flash drive is collapsible, and not every one can be put back together later.

Usually, to open the case of a flash drive, you need a knife and a screwdriver. When opening the case, be careful not to damage the inside of the flash drive. An example controller is shown in the screenshot below.

Broken flash drive. Controller model: VLI VL751-Q8

Supplement 2

You can find out the VID and PID of the flash drive using the device manager (in this case, you don’t need to install anything). True, in this case we will not recognize the controller model, and there is some risk that VID and PID it will not be possible to accurately identify the controller. And yet, all of a sudden the above utility will hang and give no information at all...

How to find a utility for flashing a flash drive

Important! After flashing the flash drive, all information on it will be deleted!

1) Knowing the controller model, you can simply use search engines (Google, Yandex for example) and find what you need.

The algorithm of work is as follows:

We go to the site:
We enter our VID and PID in the search bar and look for;
In the list of results, most likely you will find dozens of lines. Among them, you need to find a line that matches: controller model, your manufacturer, VID and PID, flash drive size .
Further in the last column - you will see the recommended utility. By the way, note that the version of the utility also matters! It remains to download the desired utility and apply it.

After you find and download the desired utility, run it and format the media - in my case, you had to press just one button - Restore (restore) .

Formatter SiliconPower v3.13.0.0 // Format and Restore. An end-user utility designed for both low-level and high-level (FAT32) formatting of flash drives on Phison PS2251-XX controllers.

After a couple of minutes of blinking the LED on the flash drive, it began to work normally, messages from Windows about the impossibility of formatting no longer appeared. Bottom line: the flash drive was restored (became 100% working), and given to the owner.

That, in fact, is all. For additions on the topic - I would be grateful. good luck!

Hello everyone! It was not for nothing that I undertook to write an article on how to flash a flash drive - I have experience. Yesterday I restored my flash drive Kingston DT Elite 3.0 16GB. Everything worked out, and I thought, why not write a similar instruction, and tell what and how to do in order to give the flash drive a new life :).

Now, probably in every house there is a flash drive and very rarely one. It is convenient to transfer information to them, they are beautiful and, moreover, recently they are not expensive. But very often USB drives fail. If we talk about why this happens, then we ourselves are in the first place. Do you always safely eject a flash drive? So I rarely. Of course, there may be other reasons why flash drives simply “die”.

One point needs to be clarified here. It happens that the flash drive really “dies”. In this case, it cannot be restored. At least at home. But if a USB drive, when connected to a computer, shows at least some signs of life, then you can try to restore its operation with the controller firmware.

What are the signs of USB drive life?

When you connect a flash drive to a computer, the computer gives a signal about connecting the device - it's already good.
When you connect Windows, ask you to format a removable drive (but there are problems and errors during the formatting process such as “Windows cannot complete formatting”).
The flash drive is detected and visible in the explorer, but when you try to open it, the message “Insert disk ...” appears
Errors occur when copying information.
Very slow write/read speed.

If there is valuable information on the flash drive, then you can try to restore it before and after the firmware. You can do this with different programs. I advise Recuva, here is an article, but there are many other, good programs.

If the information is very valuable, then it is better not to do anything on your own so as not to make things worse. Contact special service centers that deal with data recovery.

Let's now look at the whole controller firmware process using a real example, using my Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0 16GB flash drive as an example. I have this flash drive broke generally interesting. I had to upload files to it and delete those that had already been recorded. I connected it to the computer, began to delete the folder. But the Folder was deleted very slowly. I disconnected and reconnected this flash drive, an inscription appeared that the disk must be formatted “Before using the disk ...”.

Since there were no Important files on the flash drive, I started formatting without hesitation.

But the process itself lasted a very long time and never ended, I forcibly stopped it. The message “Windows could not complete formatting” may also appear.

But still, I formatted it, since the tenth time and only in FAT 32. After that, the USB drive was normally defined and I was even delighted. But it was not there. I started copying files to it, and the recording speed was about 100 kb / s. I decided to flash it, which I did.

Determine the VID and PID of the USB controller

To start we need determine VID and PID. This is data about the model and manufacturer of the controller, which is in our drive. Based on this data, we will look for a firmware utility. There are many different programs with which you can determine the VID and PID. I recommend the utility Flash Drive Information Extractor you can download from the link.

Connect the flash drive to your computer and run the Flash Drive Information Extractor (extract the folder with the program from the archive and run the GetFlashInfo.exe file).

Click the button at the top of the program “Get flash drive data”.

The program will give us the result. We look at the information that is opposite the VID and PID.

You can copy these numbers, or leave the utility window open, we will need the data now.

We are looking for a utility for flashing a flash drive

According to the VID and PID data, we need to find a utility with which we will flash the controller. There is a good site flashboot.ru, which contains a database of flash drives and utilities for their recovery.

We press the button Search and see the result.

In the search results, we are looking for a flash drive similar to ours. The list may include devices from other manufacturers. They just have the same controller, it was determined by VID and PID. You may have noticed that I have a 16 GB flash drive, and in the list I have allocated 32 GB. I don't think there's anything wrong with that (just where the name of the utility is not indicated on 16 GB). You try to choose a more similar device from the list.

We are interested in the field UTILS(utility), copy its name, completely.

Unfortunately, the utility I needed was not found on this site. Perhaps you will be more lucky and you will see something in the search results. Download the utility to your computer.

But I did not stop there and started to google. I just asked “SK6221 MPTool 2013-04-25” and found this utility on some other site. If you have the same flash drive, then this utility is. True, the name of the archive is different, but this did not stop me from successfully curing my flash drive.

USB drive recovery process

Turn off your flash drive. Extract the utility folder from the archive and run .exe file. In my case, this is the MPTool.exe file. See also text file readme.txt. Perhaps there is an instruction, or a link to a site with instructions. If the instruction is in English, then translate it using the same translate.google.ru.

I'll tell you how I did (it’s just that you may have a different utility and everything may be different there, but it should not be very different).

The utility is running. We connect the flash drive. I have information about the flash drive in two lines in the program. We press the button Start. In my case, the yellow bar signaled the firmware process. We wait.

When the process ended, I saw a green color, everything seems to be fine.

A Windows message should immediately appear prompting you to format the drive. But the first time, it probably won't work. Unplug the flash drive and plug it back in. The driver should install and the removable drive should appear in File Explorer. You can format it.

I checked the write speed, everything is as it should be for USB 3.0, everything is fine!

You must be prepared for the fact that the actions may differ from those that I described. And not everything can work out the first time. The main thing is not to give up and everything will work out!

Best wishes!