USB Pen Drive Data Recovery

Got a call from the customer he told me that he is having one USB pen drive of 2GB which is stopped working & he want to recover his data from the damaged pen drive. I asked him to send the pen drive to me I will try to recover your data if possible.

He sent the pen drive to me …. On visual inspection from outside seems Ok no physical damage.

I connected the drive on my setup for further diagnosis. I found Drive is not detecting. I again phoned him & confirmed the same symptom.

Opened the Pen drive for inspecting inside.

Initial visual inspection I found Grounding pin of the connector is dry soldered.

After inspecting the full PCB under the magnifier glass rest of the things seems Ok

Checked components with Multimeter showing the reading of the components as marked on above photos.

Checked SMD capacitors for shorting…. everything looks good. So re soldered all the pins ….

Connected back to my setup for testing….

Now time to check whether is detecting or not….

Drive is detected and showing the size of the Data contain.

After exploring the data; Shared File/Directory structure to the customer for confirmation & he confirmed the data & after finishing the job I handed over the pen drive to him.

Note: in case of these type of the data recovery if you want to courier the device to the customer. in safe side do not courier Original device to the customer. because if in transit original device is lost /Damaged then ……? always ask to the customer to arrange another working device for copy the data to send him or ask customer to pick up the device after testing it at your place so that your responsibility is over.

This article was prepared for you by Yogesh Panchal who works as a Computer Hardware Engineer in Mumbai India.

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Note: You can check his previous repair articles on Multimeter LCD Screen Black Oval Patch Repaired

19 Comments

1. 

   Parasuraman S

   November 25, 2022 at 8:03 am

   Excellent insight into a USB drive! I learnt another today! Many thanks for the tips too, it is very good!

   Likes(5)Dislikes(0)

   Reply
   • 

     Yogesh Panchal

     November 26, 2022 at 2:35 pm

     Thank you! Sir

     Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

     Reply
2. 

   Anwar Shiekh

   November 25, 2022 at 8:14 am

   Another fine repair

   Likes(3)Dislikes(0)

   Reply
   • 

     Yogesh Panchal

     November 26, 2022 at 2:36 pm

     Thanks! Anwar Shiekh

     Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

     Reply
3. 

   Steve smith

   November 25, 2022 at 12:28 pm

   I suspect this is quite a common fault with pen drives!
   Thank you for sharing

   Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

   Reply
   • 

     Yogesh Panchal

     November 26, 2022 at 2:38 pm

     You are right Steve,you can say normal wear & tear.
     Thanks! for the comment.

     Likes(2)Dislikes(0)

     Reply
4. 

   Patson B Gamundani

   November 25, 2022 at 1:38 pm

   Great article, many thanks

   Likes(2)Dislikes(0)

   Reply
   • 

     Yogesh Panchal

     November 26, 2022 at 2:38 pm

     Thanks! Patson

     Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

     Reply
5. 

   Albert van Bemmelen

   November 25, 2022 at 1:39 pm

   Good repair! These USB memory sticks are a great invention of our time. Just the many different Nand memory chips with matching controller chips and different pinconfigurations that already exist makes any repair uncertain.

   Likes(2)Dislikes(0)

   Reply
   • 

     Yogesh Panchal

     November 26, 2022 at 2:44 pm

     Albert,
     Recovery form bad,corrupted NAND chip / SSD drives is also a headache....

     Likes(3)Dislikes(0)

     Reply
6. 

   Raj

   November 25, 2022 at 4:01 pm

   Cool..thanks

   Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

   Reply
   • 

     Yogesh Panchal

     November 26, 2022 at 2:44 pm

     Thanks!Raj

     Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

     Reply
7. 

   Imoudu.O

   November 25, 2022 at 7:36 pm

   Thanks for your last article on oval patch on dmm, it has helped me to repair my bp monitor with same oval patch on LCD screen.
   Have a nice day.

   Likes(2)Dislikes(0)

   Reply
   • 

     Yogesh Panchal

     November 30, 2022 at 10:45 pm

     Imoudu.O,
     Congratulations!some time we have to think out of the box.....

     Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

     Reply
8. 

   Yogesh Panchal

   November 26, 2022 at 2:45 pm

   Thanks! Imoudu.O
   & congratulations! for BP Monitor screen Fix.

   Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

   Reply
9. 

   Waleed Rishmawi

   November 28, 2022 at 8:45 pm

   good job on the repair. when I get these memory sticks in the shop they are either bad usb port or bad soldering joints and most of the time they are repairable. if the repair is deeper than than that i just sent it back to the customer and not worry about it. thanks for sharing and have a blessed day

   Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

   Reply
10. 

    Yogesh Panchal

    November 30, 2022 at 10:46 pm

    Thanks!Waleed,
    I also don't spend more time if customer is not willing to pay for.

    Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

    Reply
11. 

    Lynn Blakely

    December 2, 2022 at 9:22 am

    Yogesh: Thanks for the thorough explanation on the repair of this usb device. Very good advice on how to avoid problems with customers.

    Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

    Reply
12. 

    Yogesh Panchal

    December 3, 2022 at 9:25 pm

    Your welcome! Lynn Blakely.
    thanks for your comment.

    Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

    Reply

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