Member Avatar for sophiaya

Hi, guys, I deleted files in USB by mistaken. I download Power Data Recovery and ready to recover. But the USB device cannot be identified. What should I do? thx any advice.

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For : when a recovery program “can’t identify” a USB device the priority is getting the computer to see the device at the hardware/block level before attempting recovery. ’s prompt to clarify what is actually connected is important — a thumb drive, an external HDD/SSD, a phone in MTP mode, or a camera memory card all behave differently and need different approaches.

Quick, non‑destructive checklist

  • Stop using the USB device. Do not format, initialize, or run repair utilities that write to the drive.
  • Try another USB port, another cable, or another computer (Windows, macOS, or Linux). For external HDDs use a powered port or powered hub.
  • If the device is a phone or camera, switch it to USB mass storage (if available) or remove an SD card and use a card reader.
  • On Windows check Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) and Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) for the device. If Disk Management offers to initialize the disk, decline — that writes a new partition table and reduces recoverability.
  • On Linux use these commands to see whether the kernel sees the device:
dmesg | tail -n 20
lsusb
sudo fdisk -l

If the device shows up as a block device but is unmountable or RAW, make a forensic image first and work from the image. Example workflow on Linux (safe, read‑only first pass):

sudo apt-get install gddrescue
sudo ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdX usb.img usb.log
sudo ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdX usb.img usb.log

After imaging, run recovery tools (TestDisk/PhotoRec on the image, Recuva or commercial tools on Windows) so the original device is untouched.

If the device never enumerates at all (no USB entry in Device Manager or lsusb, no kernel messages), the fault is likely hardware-level. At that point avoid repeated retries (they can worsen physical damage) and consider a professional data‑recovery lab if the data is valuable. Common pitfalls to avoid: do not run chkdsk, do not initialize or format the drive, and do not rely on recovery software until the OS can see the device as a block device.

Member Avatar for BigPaw

USB is the name of and describes the physical port, or connector, on your computer. For example, in your home you have electrical sockets in your wall. You connect your TV to this socket, or a lamp, or refrigerator, etc, to these sockets.

The USB port on your computer is a data socket of sorts, and so we need to know what it is that you are connecting to your USB port that doesn't appear to be working, please.

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