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Kingston flash drive cannot be formatted. Methods for restoring a Kingston flash drive: from simple to complex. Kingston flash drive recovery

Many users face problems when the USB drive(flash drive), and even such a reliable company as Kingston is no exception. Symptoms that the drive has failed, but it can still be saved are the following:

Problems when writing or reading data from a flash drive to a computer, freezing, crashes;

The flash drive appeared in Explorer, or any file manager, but it is impossible to open it, it produces various error messages;

When you connect a drive, the operating system always prompts you to format it (even after the formatting procedure has been completed);

When connected to a PC, the system displays a message about finding a new device, but it does not go further;

To restore the flash drive, you need special utilities for Kingston. To make the right choice, you need to know the controller model; we need information about the VID and PID of the flash drive (unique identifiers). You can find them out using the operating system, or by downloading and installing the Flash Drive Information Extractor program.

First way. We connect the USB drive, call context menu my computer and go to “Management” and select “Device Manager” in the “ USB controllers» find “USB storage device”, in which we also open the context menu and select “Properties”. In the properties you need to select the “Details” tab and select “Equipment ID” from the drop-down list. This way we will get the information we need.

Another way is to get the data using Flash programs Drive Information Extractor, after installing it, connect the USB drive and click on the “Get data” button in the program.

Next, you need to use specialized sites to search for the necessary recovery programs (flashboot.ru is popular among them). In one of the sections, namely iFlash, by entering previously obtained data about the VID and PID of the drive, we will receive information that the utility should search for and download.

If you have a Kingston flash drive with a size of 8, 16 or 32 gigabytes, then the list of programs for their resuscitation will include the following utilities:
Phison Preformat;
AlcorMP AU698x RT;

After downloading the desired program, install it on your Personal Computer and launch. We connect the failed USB drive; if it appears in the program window, then it is selected correctly. All you have to do is select it and click on the “Start” button. The utility will correct all errors automatically. Disconnect the flash drive and check the result.

Good day!

If your flash drive begins to constantly fail: it cannot be formatted, when connected to a computer it often freezes, when copying files to it errors occur, but it has not been subjected to mechanical stress - there is a CHANCE for restoring its functionality!

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

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

Restoring a flash drive // step by step

Controller Model Definition

By the will of fate, it turned out that I had one flash drive, which Windows refused to format - an error occurred "Windows can't complete formatting". The flash drive, according to the owner, did not fall, no water got on it, and in general, it was handled quite carefully...

All that was clear after examining 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 did not work properly.

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

To restore normal work flash drives, you need to reflash the controller chip. This is done with special utilities, and for each type of controller there is its own utility! If the utility is chosen incorrectly, then with a high degree of probability you will completely ruin the flash drive... I’ll say even more, for one model range flash drives - there may be different controllers!

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

One of the most simple ways Find out the VID, PID, and model of the flash drive controller - use special utilities. One of the best of its kind is .

Flash Drive Information Extractor

A small free utility for getting maximum information about a flash drive. No need to install it!

The program will determine the model of the USB flash drive, 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, or when the computer freezes when connecting the media.

Information received:

controller model;

possible options for memory chips installed in the flash drive;

type of installed memory;

maximum current consumption declared by the manufacturer;

USB version;

the full physical volume of the disk;

disk volume reported 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 flash drive connected to the USB ports, from which you want to get maximum information.

Working with Flash Drive Information Extractor

We disconnect everything that is connected from the USB ports (at least all drives: players, external hard disks etc.).
Insert the flash drive to be repaired into the USB port;
We launch the program;
Press the button "Get information about the flash drive" ;
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. After a couple of minutes, remove the flash drive from the USB port, the program should “hang” 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.

Information about the flash drive:

VID: 13FE; PID: 4200;

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

SmartBuy 16 GB.

Addition

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

Usually, to open the casing 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 of a controller is shown in the screenshot below.

Disassembled flash drive. Controller model: VLI VL751-Q8

Addendum 2

You can find out the VID and PID of a 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, suddenly the above utility freezes and does not provide any 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 operating algorithm is as follows:

We go to the site:
Enter yours VID and PID into the search bar and search;
You'll likely find dozens of lines in the results list. 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, please note that the version of the utility also matters! All that remains is to download the necessary utility and apply it.

After you find and download the required utility, run it and format the media - in my case, you only had to press one button - 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 controllers of the PS2251-XX line.

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. Result: the flash drive was restored (became 100% working) and given to the owner.

That's all, actually. I would be grateful for any additions on the topic. Good Luck!

This article is intended to help with software recovery USB Flash Drive, based on the SK6211 microcontroller manufactured by Skymedi. This controller is found in flash drives from various manufacturers, for example: Kingston, Kingmax, A-data, etc. The utility was chosen as an example. It, like many others, is designed to work in the OS environment - MS Win XP. The Kingston DT100/1GB flash drive was chosen as the “experimental” one.

The utility kit includes:
1) SK6211_20090828.exe – the actual main module.
2) SK6211_User_Manual.pdf – instructions for the program in English
3) SK6211BA_Skymedi Flash Support List _20090828.xls – “Flashlist” - a list of memory modules that are supported this version utilities. (Useful for determining “CodeBankVer” by date)
4) SK6211BA R-W Performance_Capacity List_20090828.xls – Summary table of speed tests of various memory modules in single-channel and dual-channel modes in Win XP sp2 & Win 2k sp4 OS.
5) SK62XX_FAT_20090505.exe & SK62XX_FATool_UserGuideV1.pdf – auxiliary utility for flash testing.
6) ErrorCodes.txt – list of error codes.
7) DrvSwitch.exe – factory driver.
8) Driver_Using_manual.pdf – instructions for using the driver.

1. Preparation

We connect the flash drive and find out the VID/PID, for example using ChipGenius 3.0. The test subject has VID = 0951 PID = 1607.
Run the utility “SK6211_20090828.exe” and select default in “Configuration Selection”.

We see that in the first window (DUT1) the flash drive has been identified (SAMPLE – No Match), but it is not ready for firmware yet! SAMPLE = example, No Mach = No Match. This means that the current settings (default) do not correspond to the internals of the flash drive. The utility has already determined that the flash drive is built on a controller that responds to its requests and has already read information from its firmware.
This information can be viewed by double-clicking on SAMPLE.

Here we see the contents of the firmware:
1) SK6211 controller
2) Memory FID (AD D3 14 A5 34) and its name (HY27UT088G2A)
3) CodeBank version: C080512A_F080516A
4) Firmware version: CodeSwap-0512
5) The rest is not so important (date of manufacture / utility version / configuration name = “engraving on the USB connector” / VID&PID codes, etc.)
6) Channel: Byte Mode (Single channel mode. May be useful in settings!)

Everything is fine here! But what to do when the firmware crashes so that most of this information is missing!?

Controller Version: SK6211BA
Flash Part No.: No matched Flash Part No.
Flash ID 01: 0x89 0x95 0x94 0x1E 0x74
Flash ID 02: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 03: 0x89 0x95 0x94 0x1E 0x74

Here the utility read the FID from the flash drive, but could not use it to select the memory from its list!
Conclusion: try another utility or check your contacts. Sometimes restoring contacts on the Data Bus between the controller and the memory changes the ID number and the utility, using the correct ID number, finds a match in its Database.

Controller Version: SK6211BA
Flash Part No.: I29F32G08AAMD1_S
Total Flash Size: 8192 MB
4K Page, MLC
Flash ID 01: 0x89 0xD7 0x94 0x3E 0x84
Flash ID 02: 0x89 0xD7 0x94 0x3E 0x84
Flash ID 03: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 04: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 05: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 06: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 07: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Flash ID 08: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00

Here the utility found memory in its database. But the Code Bank version is unknown! We find it by searching for the date by the name of the flash chip in the file SK6211BA_Skymedi Flash Support List _20090828.xls

Now we are looking for suitable Code banks.
Open the file:
…\SK6211_PDT_20090828\CodeBank\2806\CBVer-1.2.2.44.ini

We find version 09.03.09 by date: C090309A_F090309A

2. Settings

Let's return to the experimental subject. Click the “Advaced” button to go to advanced settings. Password – 123456.
1) register VID & PID: 0951 & 1607
2) Vendor Name: Kingston
3) Product Name: DataTraveler 2.0
4) Revision: 8.2 (leave unchanged)
5) Disk Type: Removable (leave it unchanged)
6) S/N: 001478544881SK8703120829 (this is the test subject’s own serial number)
7) S/N Gen: (3) Don't Change SN
Below you can skip to
8) Fixed Flash Size = 1024 (set the original size of the flash drive)
9) When you set the checkbox to Erase All, the message appears: Warning Message: System information will be eliminated after erase all!!!
(Warning: system information will be destroyed after setting the “remove everything” mode!!!)
Go to the right window Flash Options
10) Select a controller: SK6211BA
11) Select Code Bank Ver: C080512A_F080516A (the one that the utility gave by double clicking on SAMPLE) Now I expect that in the Flash Selection section it should be possible to select the desired memory - HY27UT088G2A, but this does not happen. What is the reason? Perhaps in the utility version! After all, the firmware version indicates: PDT Version: SK6211_PDT_20080616_BA, and I use SK6211_20090828! We follow the path of choosing a flashlist. We find the date - 04/02/2008, but I don’t find names with such a date in the list and Code Bank versions with the closest date are also not suitable! The assumption of matching the date from the flashlist is not suitable for this flash drive. Only a complete search helped! When selecting C090828A_F090828A, the utility gave the opportunity to select the desired memory!
12) Next select Channel Mode: Single
We don't change anything else.

We receive the READY status

Now the utility is “ready” to flash the flash drive.
Click Auto-LLF

3. Work on mistakes

44 -
2 -
when changing read/write test error 37 -

The jackdaw on ERASE ALL helped

45 -
(Status READY, error in LLF process)

It helped: switching to test mode by shorting 31-32 legs to the memory m/s
and re-flashing
_______________________________

101 -

We need a more recent version of the utility that supports new memory.
ps: in previous version 20090709_BA (34 - )
_______________________________

94 -
1 -
When trying to flash - (Access error)

We removed the USB extension cable that was causing the losses.
_______________________________

When working on bugs, we used the experience of forum users: Vitorrio, SeeJay, E1haZ and others.

Discussion of the article and problems with recovery are discussed in this forum thread.

Flash drive recovery Kingston Datatraveler may be needed if it fails, but some valuable information remains on it. Kingston is one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of removable storage devices. This company produces memory cards High Quality, including SD drives and compact flash drives, with which users create backup copies and store files from digital cameras, mobile phones, etc. Their volume can be 2 GB or more. But for a variety of reasons, any data storage device can fail, no matter how reliable it is. This ultimately leads to problems with files saved on the flash drive. They may be damaged or disappear without a trace.

Usually, after losing important data, the user experiences a lot of stress, but in fact, this is not yet a reason to despair. Your information is not completely erased from the memory card and there is a chance that it can be returned. In this case, you will need a memory card recovery program that will help you recover data on your Kingston device.

Recovering Files Using a Mac Computer

It is important to regularly back up your important data to ensure that you do not lose it if your external storage device fails. But if circumstances are such that you unexpectedly lost some important files that do not have backup copies, there is still a chance for data recovery.

If you are interested in how to recover a flash drive, we recommend using the iSkysoft Data Recovery for Mac application, which has an intuitive interface and ease of use. This Kingston flash drive recovery utility will help you recover data such as videos, images, text files and music with just a few clicks of the mouse button. The application supports any removable drives from various manufacturers, including Kingston. The program offers users the features needed to recover damaged or deleted files from microSD, SD, CF, MC, D, etc.

Below are the simple steps to recover files by using Mac computer OS X and utilities for restoring Kingston flash drives. These instructions are also valid for Mac OS 10.12 Sierra. You need to keep in mind that under no circumstances should you save files on a memory card where information has leaked, because new data may take up disk space, resulting in overwriting.

To recover data using a Mac, you need to follow these steps:

Download the iSkysoft Data Recovery application and install it on your computer. To plug digital camera, mobile phone or a special device for reading a memory card to your PC using a USB cable. Launch the program through the Applications folder. When the main interface of the application appears, select the file types you want to recover. Click "Next".
In the next window you can see your card Kingston memory. You need to select it and click the Start button in the lower right corner of the window to start scanning lost files on a Kingston 2GB flash drive or any other model. You can enable the Deep Scan option if you are unable to find the data you need on the first try. A deep scan will take much longer, but in this case the user will have a better chance of getting the deleted information back.
After scanning, you will be able to see several folders on the left side of the interface. Select the directory you want to restore and view the details. After checking the contents, click the Recover button at the top of the window and select a new folder to store the extracted files. After this, all you have to do is press the OK button to get back the deleted information from the Kingston memory card.

Recovering files using a Windows computer

iSkysoft also offers a solution for recovering a USB flash drive through the use of the Data Recovery application on the Windows platform. This tool can help you retrieve lost files of almost any type if they were deleted due to user error, as a result of malware, improper use of a flash drive, etc.

The iSkysoft Data Recovery application offers several recovery modes, among which every user will find something suitable for themselves. Simple and intuitive interface of the recovery program Kingston flash drives offers previews of functions, so even inexperienced users can easily understand their purpose. The application allows you to recover exactly the files you need. For this purpose, the ability to preview data has been implemented, allowing you to save your time and disk space. Data Recovery application works perfectly on all computers with Windows operating system.

To recover data from using Windows you need to follow these steps:

After successful installation of the program, launch it to begin recovery. The application offers 4 different modes that help you recover files quickly and conveniently. If you want to completely recover all data on the memory card, you can simply select Lost File Recovery mode on the main screen. Wizard Mode allows the program to return data by using default settings and minimal user intervention. You will only need to answer 2 questions, after which the program and flash drive will do the rest on their own.
If Lost File Recovery mode was selected, then on the next screen you will see a list of partitions to scan. You need to select the drive that matches the memory card and click Start to start scanning. At the bottom of the page, you can check the Enable Deep Scan option. This allows you to restore even deleted files, if the flash drive has preserved the structure of the folders in which they were contained. In this case, recovery may take more time, but the result should satisfy the user.
Once the scan is complete you will be able to see everything hidden files, which the flash drive contains. On this screen, you should select the data you want to recover and click the Recover button in the lower right corner of the interface.

Who is the Data Recovery app suitable for?

This recovery program works great with any cards microSD memory Kingston, the volume of which is 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, etc. She is very useful tool for everyone who uses external devices this company to store important files. She might come in handy professional photographers and operators who work with a variety of multimedia files every day. Even regular users who need to be restored important information from a flash drive (documents, family videos and photos), can use this effective tool to restore external drives.

Kingston Format Utility is a proprietary utility that is designed to format Kingston USB drives. In general, the program was released specifically for flash drives of the HyperX DTHX30/XXGB series, but, nevertheless, it supports any other drives from this manufacturer. Compared to standard means Windows formatting, this program demonstrates much higher operating speed. It does not have any other significant advantages.

Kingston Format Utility can convert the media file system to FAT32 and NTFS. Both of these file systems has its advantages and disadvantages. We will not go into them now, but will only note that FAT32 is better suited for storing small files, and NTFS is better suited for storing large ones. Moreover, drives in the FAT32 format have a limitation that does not allow files larger than 4 GB to be written to them, which must be taken into account when choosing a file system before starting the formatting process.

All the necessary utility controls are concentrated in one small window, where you can select the required media (if several are connected) and specify the source file system. Formatting will begin immediately after pressing the "Format" key. The program works with media of any size and does not require installation. The only thing you need to do before starting it is to unpack the downloaded archive.