In daily life and work, USB flash drive has become an important data storage tool for us. However, sometimes we may encounter a situation where the USB flash drive is plugged into the computer and found that all or part of the contents are hidden. At this point, how do we recover the hidden content? There are several practical methods to help you get back the hidden USB flash drive contents.
1. Check USB flash drive for viruses and malware.
When the contents of the USB flash drive are hidden, the first thing to consider is whether the USB flash drive is infected with viruses or malware. These malicious programs may hide or delete files from USB flash drives for their purpose of destroying or stealing data. Therefore, we need to do a comprehensive virus scan and malware detection on the USB flash drive.
Use anti-virus software: After inserting the USB flash drive into the computer, run the anti-virus software, and perform a full scan of the USB flash drive. Make sure your antivirus software is up-to-date so that you can detect the latest viruses and malware.
Manual check: If the antivirus software does not detect the virus, but you still suspect that there is a problem with the USB flash drive, you can try to check it manually. Open "My Computer", find the drive letter corresponding to the USB flash drive, right-click "Properties", and select "Check" under the "Tools" tab to let the system check the USB flash drive for errors.
2. Show hidden files.
If you confirm that the USB flash drive is free of viruses or malware, then it is possible that the file is set to hide attributes. In the Windows system, we can show hidden files by following these steps:
Open "My Computer", click "View" in the menu bar, and make sure the "Hidden Items" option is checked.
If "Hidden Items" is not checked, click "Options", select the "View" tab in the pop-up window, find the "Hide Files & Folders" option, select "Show Hidden Files, Folders & Drives", and then click "OK".
Reopen the USB flash drive and see if you can see the hidden files.
3. Use data recovery software.
If none of the above methods can get back the hidden files, then the files may have been deleted or corrupted. At this point, we can try to use data recovery software to recover those files.
Choose reliable data recovery software: There are many data recovery software available in the market, such as Easeus Data Recovery Wizard, Recuva, etc. Make sure that the software you choose is reliable and supports USB flash drive data recovery.
Connect the USB flash drive and run the software: Plug the USB flash drive into the computer and run the data recovery software. In the software interface, select USB flash drive as the scanning target.
Scan and preview the files: Click the "Scan" button to let the software perform a deep scan of the USB flash drive. Once the scan is complete, the software will list all the files found. You can filter and find the files you need to recover by file type, file name, etc. Before recovery, it is recommended to preview the files to ensure the recoverability of the files.
Recover Files: Select the files you need to recover and click the "Recover" button. Make sure to restore the files to another storage device (such as another USB flash drive, hard drive partition, or external hard drive) and not directly to the original USB flash drive. This avoids overwriting the original data and improves the recovery success rate.
Fourth, check the hardware problem of the USB flash drive.
If none of the above methods can solve the problem, then there may be a hardware problem with the USB flash drive itself. At this point, we can try the following:
Replace the USB port: Insert the USB flash drive into another USB port on your computer to see if the file can be recognized and displayed.
Use another computer: Insert the USB flash drive into another computer to see if the file can be displayed properly. If the file does not display properly on other computers, then there may be a problem with the USB flash drive itself.
Format USB flash drive: Please note that formatting USB flash drive will result in all data loss. Be sure to back up your important data before attempting to format it. If the USB flash drive does not display the files properly and the data has been backed up, you can try to format the USB flash drive. Right-click the drive letter corresponding to the USB flash drive in "My Computer", select "Format", and follow the prompts. After the formatting is complete, copy the data back to the USB flash drive.
5. Preventive measures and recommendations.
In order to avoid the recurrence of the problem of USB flash drive content being hidden or lost, we recommend that you take the following precautions:
Regularly back up data: Regularly back up important data in the USB flash drive to other storage devices or cloud storage services to ensure data security.
Use anti-virus software: Update your anti-virus software regularly and run a full scan of the USB flash drive to detect and remove potential viruses and malware.
Pay attention to safe unplugging: Before unplugging the USB flash drive, please make sure to close all programs and windows related to the USB flash drive, then click the "Safely remove hardware" icon in the lower right corner of the taskbar, select the device corresponding to the USB flash drive and click "Eject". This avoids the problem of data corruption and file loss.
In short, when the contents of the USB flash drive are hidden, we can recover the hidden contents by checking for viruses and malware, showing hidden files, using data recovery software, and checking for hardware problems with the USB flash drive. At the same time, we should also take precautions to avoid similar problems from happening again.