"Failed to Scan Drive" Error

[cscguy]

I'm trying to recover text files from a USB stick.

 

When I select the drive letter from the dropdown and click 'Scan', Recuva returns with an error: "Failed to scan the following drives: H: Unable to determine file system type"

 

Is there any way to get Recuva to recognize this flash drive being that Windows 7 says it's not formatted?

 

When I double-click on the drive letter from within My Computer, I get "You need to format the disk in drive H: before you can use it..."

[DennisD]

Hi cscguy, and welcome to the forum.

 

If windows is telling you to format the disk, then the file system has been damaged/compromised in some way, and the data is now recognized as "Raw", although your files will probably still be there.

 

Recuva won't scan Raw data, but there are some applications which will.

 

Two choices.

 

1:

Have a look at a freeware alternative which downloads as a pair of sister utilities. (Both in the same download)

 

PhotoRec:

 

TestDisk: (Same link as above)

 

I've mentioned PhotoRec first as it's probably the best one to start with, and although these utilities look like command line, they're not. They have a structured dialogue to follow, which may look daunting at first, but it's worth the effort to get to grips with them, and if you need help there are detailed help files available, and of course I will try to assist with any problems you may encounter.

 

I'm no expert but I have used these utilities a number of times.

 

or ...

 

2:

Do a "Quick Format" on the drive, which will initialise the file system without wiping the drive, and you may then be able to scan it with Recuva.

 

Depending upon the size of the drive in question you could back up that drive first as an "Image" using another freeware called "USB Image Tool".

 

USB Image Tool:

 

Then if the quick format doesn't work you can restore the drive from the image and we can try something else.

 

Hope that helps.