It can be a horrifying thing to lose all important data on a flash drive. Hopefully you have your files backed up, but if you don’t, this article will help you recover lost data on a flash drive. 

If you accidentally deleted your lost files off of your flash drive:

1. Open the trash (Mac) or recycling bin (Windows).
2. If the file(s) is in there you can right click it to restore it to your flashdrive.
3. If it’s not, you can try purchasing a file recovery software to search for any recoverable data. Do not save anything else to the flash drive until after you attempt to recover the data. This will prevent you from writing over any leftover parts of your lost data that has not been deleted.

Another possibility is that your lost data is hidden:

1. In order to unhide your files:
2. Click on Tools at the top of your screen.
3. Click Folder Options.
4. Select Show Hidden Files

If neither of these two options worked to recover your lost data and you are using a windows computer you can try this method:

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type cmd then press enter
4. Change the directory.
5. Go to the directory of your flash drive
6. Type ATTRIB -S -H *.* /S /D then press enter

If none of these methods have worked for you, it still may be possible for you to recover your lost data. If you contact a computer professional they may be able to recover the data on your flash drive. You can use TalkLocal to request a computer professional in your area and receive a call within minutes.

This entry was originally posted on Monday, January 14th, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Computer Repair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.