Rufus program: instructions for creating a bootable USB flash drive. Recovering data from a flash drive Choosing a partition scheme

Rufus is a great utility for creating a bootable flash drive. Free, easy to use and versatile. With its help, you can burn an image of Windows XP, 7, 8 or 10. And most importantly: recording is about 2 times faster than, for example, . Therefore, in this article we will look at how to use the Rufus program.

To begin with, it is worth noting some of the features of Rufus:

1. Works on all OS versions: from Windows XP SP2 to the new "tens".
2. Writes USB flash drives for PC/Laptops with both old BIOS and new UEFI BIOS.
3. Creates USB drives for Windows or password recovery.
4. Works on PCs and laptops without an installed OS.
5. Installation of the program is not required.

The main advantages of Rufus:

• contains only one menu screen (thanks to this, the probability of clicking something wrong is reduced to zero);
• can find problem sectors on USB drives, as well as format and restore flash drives.

The only negative is that due to its simplicity, Rufus cannot create multi-boot flash drives. Although the program is simply not designed for this.

How to make a bootable Windows 7 flash drive?

Everything is done very simply, so there will be no problems. Even if you decide to create a bootable USB flash drive for the first time.

Many users neglect the safe removal of flash drives, as a result of which the drives stop working correctly: they are not recognized by the system, they require formatting, they do not read / write data, they show the wrong volume (for example, 14 Gb instead of 16 Gb). If you are faced with a similar problem, then the question of how to restore a flash drive will surely become relevant for you.

Can a flash drive be restored?

It may seem to someone that restoring a flash drive is a pointless exercise. Drives from Transcend, Kingston, A-Data and other manufacturers have flooded the market by making flash memory cheap. Memory cards and flash drives from 8 Gb to 32 Gb are not so expensive that you can’t safely throw them away and buy new media. However, old flash drives and Micro SD memory cards are usually not thrown away at all: they lie on the table and are waiting to be restored.

Recovery is possible if the flash drive or memory card has not “died” completely (usually death occurs when the controller burns out).

But if the drive is simply not detected or shows the wrong volume, then the reason for this behavior is most often a controller firmware failure. How to recover a flash drive after such a failure, we will analyze in detail below.

Saving information and searching for the right software

If important information is stored on a flash drive or SD card, then before flashing and restoring the controller (and with it the drive’s performance), you need to extract the data. This can be done using the Photorec utility, which can work with media that do not have a file system detected.

After extracting the necessary information from the SD card or flash drive, you can start searching for a utility for flashing the controller. But in order to flash the controller, you first need to determine its model. To do this, we use the CheckUDisk utility (distributed for free) and the flashboot.ru website:

After completing the check and obtaining the necessary information (VID PID of the drive), you need to download the utility to restore the performance of the flash drive or SD drive. Go to the flashboot.ru website and open the "iFlash" tab. Here you need to enter the VID PID values ​​and find the correct manufacturer of the memory card or flash drive (HP, Generic Flash Disk, Protex, Oltramax, Smartbuy, etc.).

If your model of a flash drive or SD memory card is not in the database of the online service, then it's okay: the main thing is that the VID PID and the manufacturer match. If the required data matched, then you need to get information about the exact controller model for flashing and restoring it, as well as the name of the appropriate utility.

The table has columns "Controller" and "Utility". You need to pay attention to the volume - the controllers of flash drives and SD cards for 16 Gb and 32 Gb may differ. You need to copy the full name of the utility and download it through the "Files" section on the flashboot.ru website or from another source. Often, along with the recovery program, instructions for its use are downloaded, which it is advisable to carefully read.

Controller Firmware

Let's say you have a 16 Gb Protec flash drive. You find it by VID PID through the iFlash online service and download the controller firmware utility for free. What to do next? Carry out measures to restore the flash drive (SD memory card).

Universal instructions for restoring all flash drives:

If the firmware is successful, then you should see the positive status of the flash drive - “OK” or “Good”. If problems occur during the operation, an error code will appear: its decryption can be found in the utility help found by VID PID, or on other online services.

Recovery of any flash drives (SD cards) is performed approximately according to the same scheme, however, the instructions may differ slightly for different utilities: you need to find the program for flashing the controller by VID PID and start restoring the USB drive.

To recover a flash drive, you must additionally format it. It can be done using standard Windows tools or using special programs. It is recommended to run a full format rather than a quick format. It will take a little longer (especially if the drive is larger than 16 Gb), but you will be sure that the flash drive is now completely clean and functional.

We choose the best programs for recovering flash drives. We tell you how to restore a usb flash drive, reanimate it using free utilities.

Flash drive- a small device for storing information (documents, music, videos, files), convenient for carrying and connecting to a usb port, extracting from a computer, laptop. It contains a controller and special chips that store information inside the chips.

Sometimes we copy files and forget about them, and when we remember, we find that valuable files are either erased or deleted forever. Either the device is broken, you formatted the partitions. What to do, often a digital flash drive (most often, the controller in it) breaks down, generates errors, the flash drive does not open on the PC - not even a month will pass. One day, the flash drive may need to be restored. The reason that may be:

• incorrect, inaccurate operation of the flash drive
• incorrect media formatting
• low-quality flash drive bought on the market or cheaply from a Chinese (probably by mistake)
• physical or software failure of the flash drive (most likely cause)
• also, an incorrectly removed flash drive from a computer or laptop can serve as a reason for inoperability. This happens when an impatient user literally rips the flash drive out of the usb socket in the process of copying or transferring files.

There are many reasons when it is necessary to restore a flash drive that does not open on a computer or is recognized with reading errors. Fortunately, today specialists from service centers will help you return valuable files and restore device performance without any problems or errors. Recovery programs will return files safe and sound, or at least partially reanimate data on a usb flash drive. The flash recovery procedure costs not so little money, which makes you think about self-recovery of a usb flash drive. Alas, free utilities are not always useful.

For a flash drive, sd memory cards, all the symptoms and consequences of deleting digital information are equally characteristic. This can be accidental deletion, unconscious or deliberate deletion of files from a USB drive, structural damage, physical or mechanical damage to the controller or memory chips... One way or another, but restoring a flash drive and sd card is a more than urgent task for PC owners. Therefore, first of all, read the contents of this section.

The flash drive does not open: we study the symptoms of damage

In the recovery section, we will talk about the main problems associated with recovering information on a flash and secure digital drive. As a rule, this is due to hardware or software damage to the flash drive - if it does not come off or is not recognized correctly. Sometimes the memory wears out, sometimes the controller fails. And the usb controller drivers have nothing to do with it. In some cases, you can solve the problem yourself and as a result save files on a flash card or repair a chip, device, ignoring reading errors on the computer. We list only some of the symptoms that indicate a drive failure:

• The PC does not see the flash drive in the list of readable devices
• the flash drive is not displayed when connected to a laptop or computer (OS does not matter)
• flash drive is not readable: although files can be seen on the usb drive

Help with Flash Recovery content

• A small guide related to the question of how to find the reasons why the card does not work or the PC does not see the flash drive on a par with other disks (the device is not recognized, it reads with problems, it needs to be formatted, it freezes, it gives an error when copying to the card, etc.) flash -storage device. Troubleshooting is important in such situations, because without identifying the disease, it is impossible to cure the patient, or even easily ruin his life, using the wrong tools, using the wrong methods and programs that can revive the drive. In this article, we analyze the causes of damage and possible symptoms that lead to the need to restore a flash drive, secure digital, controller, memory chip and flash card.
• We try (with the help of instructions and utilities posted on the site) and at the same time qualitatively - how to solve problems with our own hands - fix the breakdown on the sd card, reanimate the controller, format it correctly, solder a loose contact or memory chip, scan information and process bad sectors on flash "Ke, sections with reading errors. True, the methods described require a certain skill and experience in using these tools.
• if it does not open on the computer or does not display correctly. What is "VID & PID", how this abbreviation stands for and what to do when the device is not recognized or opened. Explanation of terminology, without which it is difficult to imagine flash drive recovery, data and digital information on it.
• - testing of 5 high-quality programs, each of which has remarkable features when working with memory or a drive chip.

Recovery of usb flash drive and memory card. Formatting utilities

One of the best ways to revive a Jetflash flash drive is to reformat it again, at a low level. As a rule, such measures are taken when the flash drive is not readable. If possible, you should ask the memory manufacturer (say A Data, Seagate, Transcend SD, Datatraveler, etc.) if they have proprietary utilities or fresh drivers for reconstruction. Scroll through the contents of this section for help and you will see several articles on the topic of low-level formatting a drive. Fortunately, Windows 7 and higher operating systems have tools to format a flash device without using third-party computer applications. One such flash drive program is HP USB Disk Storege Format Tool.

Diagnostic formatting of a flash card in the HP USB Disk Storege Format recovery program

Utility for recovering a flash drive HDD Low Level Format Tool

Many people know that the HDD Regenerator program is used to help revive hard drives (HDDs), but not many people know that it is also suitable for a device such as a flash drive. The essence of the program is the detection of broken bad sectors on the device with subsequent processing of the information received, depending on the controller and memory model, at a low usb access level. As a result, you get a working device that can copy files without read and write errors. This greatly contributes to the recovery of flash drives if the computer does not see them. The HDD Regenerator program is provided with recovery instructions, in addition, on the recovery website you can find a guide on using the utility and correct formatting (see through the search). You can download the flash drive recovery program directly from the link posted on the HDD Regenerator overview page.

By the way, in other sections on the Softdroid website you will find other programs for recovering flash drives (for example, Flash Recovery or JetFlash Recovery Tool), but we advise you to first study all the information collected in this section. We hope that after the measures taken, the computer will see the flash drive.

Why don't you indicate the cost of the product before downloading the flash drive recovery program and installing it?

Answer. You can download all the mentioned programs for flash drive recovery on the official website. Only reviews are published on Softdroid - we do not have the physical ability to update information about the cost of the products presented. When you download the trial version of the program, it is free. Next, see the information about the cost from the developer or at the end of the trial period you will receive a notification.

Ask us a question about flash drive recovery

Site site specialists will help you recover data. You ask a question - we answer it for free (you will receive an answer by mail).

The question may not be related to file recovery. The main requirement is to describe the problem in detail, formulate it in such a way that you do not have to decipher your message.

How to recover deleted files from usb flash drive: step by step guide

One of the burning problems associated with deleting files relates to the flash drive. Let's talk about how to recover deleted files from a flash drive using Unformat. What free software to install on a computer, what program, in addition to Unformat, is effective when working with a flash drive. The methods described below will be relevant for usb drives, memory cards, sd cards of digital cameras in the Windows OS environment. We will try to help you, even if the situation is difficult.

What to do if the computer does not see the USB flash drive? We solve problems and fix errors

If the file system of the memory card / usb flash drive is incompatible with the computer OS, the contents of this memory card will not be displayed when connected to a PC. Accordingly, you will not be able to work with the device until you correct the format. In addition, there are a number of other reasons why the computer does not display the usb flash drive (sd card) as a separate drive in Explorer.

How to restore a flash drive with your own hands: instructions for owners of flash drives

In this article, I want to tell you how to restore a flash drive: about all the available methods for recovering damaged, non-working, failed, faulty usb drives. I offer the most complete instruction, which includes all available methods, as well as programs that optimize flash drive recovery.

Do-it-yourself usb flash drive repair: fix hardware and software problems

What to do if the computer does not see the flash drive? Let's agree: the question is painful and often asked. Another of the popular questions that flash drive owners face is repair as a result of a breakdown. The USB drive has its own characteristics of repairing the controller, memory, failed: in some cases, the storage device is not detected by the PC. What to do if the flash drive is not detected on any computer? This guide describes the operation to resuscitate an "invisible" flash drive for correct recognition on a computer.

Overview of programs for restoring the usb flash drive

Errors in the operation of USB flash drives are not common. Almost all of them boil down to the inability to read or write the necessary information to the device's memory due to software damage.

Specialized programs provided by device manufacturers will help to fix the problem and restore the memory card.

To restore the operation of noname flash drives and those that do not have their own recovery software, the Chkdsk built into Windows and the formatting system are suitable.

Choosing the best program to recover deleted files from a usb flash drive

Damaged portable USB flash drive or memory card? These best-of-breed programs will help you save and recover information, and here you will find out what data recovery from a flash drive is all about. Applications include Undelete 360, CardRecovery, PhotoRec, Recuva Professional and other candidates. You will also learn how to reanimate the flash drive of each of the programs.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free 11 - free data recovery software

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard supports many SSD data deletion scenarios. We will launch the Recovery Wizard and explain in a step-by-step manner how the recovery is performed. There are limitations in the free version of Easeus Data Recovery Wizard Free, let's talk about them in more detail. With the help of the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard program, you can recover files, deleted information from a formatted disk, laptop or removable devices like a USB flash drive or SD card for free.

Where to download PhotoRec for free (for Windows)

The free PhotoRec program is designed to recover multimedia data on HDD, USB flash drives, sd cards and other storage devices. Overview of PhotoRec recovery functions, scanning options. Where to download PhotoRec for Windows and other OS.

How to recover a flash drive with Unformat

I offer you an effective method for restoring a usb flash drive. To use it, you need a specialized utility - Unformat. The program has long established itself in the field of specialized software. In the instructions, I described in detail the entire process of returning files - from scanning a disk to saving files on a USB flash drive.

Unformat supports the recovery of flash drives from almost all manufacturers on the market today.

Flash Memory Toolkit - check flash drive for errors and speed test. Program for the treatment of a flash drive

Flash Memory Toolkit is a free program for a flash drive. It combines a wide range of functions that allow you to restore a usb flash drive or sd memory card to a working state. If you cannot determine why the computer does not see the flash drive, it is not necessary to think about repair. The Flash Memory Toolkit toolkit will help you fix a breakdown and diagnose a flash drive.

See also other programs for flash drive recovery under Windows.

Disk Drill for Mac - recovery software for recovering SSD disks and Mac OS X partitions

Disk Drill is a relatively new data recovery program designed for two platforms - Windows and Mac OS X. Like any other recovery program of this class, it affects a wide range of devices from which the user can perform recovery: computer and laptop, Windows and Mac, phone and tablet, HDD (SSD) disk or flash drive, etc.

Hello, friends! Today we will talk again about creating a bootable USB flash drive.

How to create a bootable USB device? For what purpose should it be used and with what program to write it down?

A brief overview of the five most popular and free programs for creating a bootable USB flash drive.

Modern developments do not stand still, and yesterday's technologies are slowly but surely losing their relevance. So the once popular CDs and DVDs no longer seem to be such an unambiguous solution for storing, transferring information and working with it. High data reading speed, versatility and reusability are only a small part of all the advantages of a flash drive as a bootable medium over disks. Already today, almost all personal computers and laptops, if they are not more than ten years old, support the ability to boot from USB devices. And in some cases (for example, a netbook), a flash drive may be the only boot device from an external drive.

By the way, the new Windows 10 operating system will be the first axis, the distribution of which will be officially distributed on a USB drive. And if you suddenly need to recover files from a flash drive, read about it. I also recommend paying attention to, which will help you escape from everyday work and cheer you up.

With the help of additional software, a flash drive can be used not only as a boot device for installing, reinstalling and restoring the operating system, but also for creating an emergency device (Multiboot). This is a kind of resuscitator, a tool from which you can boot at any time and cure your computer of viruses, restore system files or save important data. How to create such a flash drive, I described in the article "Creating a bootable Live CD / DVD / USB device and its use." You can familiarize yourself with this article.

Despite all the obvious advantages and the growing popularity of a flash drive as a boot device, there are not so many programs for creating it. Nevertheless, they are, and today I will introduce you to them in more detail, but first a few words about the preparatory stage.

Preparing a flash drive

We need the flash drive itself, plus knowledge of some important aspects. First you need to make sure that the computer supports booting from USB devices. There is an erroneous opinion that if the bios (boot section) does not have the ability to select boot from usb (there are only floppi, hdd and dvd-rom options), then booting from usb is not supported. This is not true!

More precisely, it is not always so. The only correct solution is to refer to the manual (user manual) of your motherboard or use specialized software (as an option - AIDA64) to get a detailed report on the hardware used.

The second point is the size of the flash drive. Here everything will depend on what we write on it. For example, to create a Live-USB, a Linux or Windows 7 installation disk, a 4 GB flash drive is enough. To create a bootable device with the latest versions of Windows, it is advisable to have at least an 8 GB flash drive on hand.

The third point is the transfer of files from a USB flash drive. As a rule, the process of creating a bootable device involves its complete formatting. If there are important files on the flash drive, transfer them to another device in advance. To create a bootable flash drive and then work with it as a bootable device, use the USB-2.0 port (Windows 7 does not support USB 3.0).

How to create a bootable flash drive

Let's look at five different ways using five free programs for Windows as an example.

A small but quite functional utility with a telling name WinSetupFromUSB. Equally well suited for burning a bootable and / or multi-boot flash drive (up to 10 operating systems) and creating Live devices. Official site .

Of the shortcomings - the lack of support for the Russian language. Among the advantages, as I said, is its versatility. The utility can work not only with the Windows distribution, but is also suitable for burning a Linux installation disk.

The usual option for creating a bootable USB flash drive, for example, with a Windows distribution kit, provides for the selection in the appropriate columns of the flash drive itself, the option to automatically format the media and the ISO image of the operating system. The recording process starts after pressing the "Go" button. You can read more about the work of this program.

To create a multi-boot flash drive (several operating systems), you need to specify the path to the ISO images of operating systems. The Windows 10 selection item is not available by default at the time of this writing, but in reality everything is written and works, you just need to select the appropriate column with the available versions - Vista, 7, 8.

2. Rufus

Perhaps the easiest solution to create bootable USB drives. Everything is simple and intuitive. Suitable for work on systems that do not have an installed OS. Official site rufus.akeo.ie.

Of the main advantages - speed, simple interface, Russian language. An excellent solution if there is a need to create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive with UEFI support. By the way, I wrote in detail about how to do this in.

It is distributed in the format of a regular installer and a portable version. To create a bootable flash drive in the utility window, you must specify the path to the ISO image to be burned and click the "Start" button.

On new systems that use UEFI instead of BIOS, set the Partition Scheme and System Interface Type menu to GPT for UEFI Machines.
Otherwise, the default settings will suffice. The option to format the flash drive is assigned by default.

3. Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

This utility is an official application from Microsoft. The interface is minimalistic, simple and clear, it is easy to work with it. Downloading from the official site wudt.codeplex.com.

Perhaps the name of the utility (Windows 7 USB) will mislead many that it can only be used to write the Windows 7 distribution to removable media. However, this is not the case. In addition to the seventh version, Windows 8.1 and 10 distributions can be written to a USB flash drive.

Of the minuses - the utility is not Russified, however, a simple and intuitive interface is designed to level this drawback.

All that is required from the user is to insert a USB drive in advance, select the ISO image with the operating system and specify the path to the media (flash drive) to which this image should be deployed.

The principle of operation of this program is based on the standard tools of the Windows operating system - these are "diskpart", "bootsect / nt60", unpacking ISO to a USB flash drive. The program acts only as a graphical interface.

UltraISO is one of the best and most functional disc imaging programs. A universal "combine" that supports almost any known format. Able to work in tandem with Nero Burning Rom and integrates with virtual emulators. It will help if the boot disk image is not in ISO format.

The program can convert other image formats into ISO files - NRG, MDF, MDS, IMG, CCD, etc. With UltraISO you can edit ISO files without unpacking them. The UltraISO interface has been translated into many languages, including Russian. For downloading, you are offered a choice of several editions of UltraISO, adapted for individual versions of Windows, as well as a portable version of the program. Download link www.ezbsystems.com.

By and large, the program does not care what boot devices will be created with its help, with what operating system, what software and from what manufacturer. The writable ISO image must be opened in the program window, either using the "Open" command in the "File" menu, or using the browse button on the toolbar. You can also do this with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + O.

Then, in the window that appears, if the program automatically selects the desired flash drive, you should click the "Burn" button.

Daemon Tools Ultra is a professional imaging tool. The program itself is familiar to many users from the free Lite version, which allows you to mount virtual drives to read disk images. Its more functional version - Daemon Tools Ultra - among other features offers the creation of bootable devices.

Among the shortcomings, it is worth noting that it is paid, but to create a bootable USB flash drive on the official website of the program, you can download a free trial 20-day version. Official website of the program.

We go to the official website and download the program. During installation (installation), you need to select a trial license type.

The program works with a huge number of disk image formats and can be used both to create a bootable device with subsequent installation of the operating system, and to restore it (Live-disk).

To create a bootable flash drive in the main window of Daemon Tools Ultra, select the "Tools" menu item, and among its commands - "Burn boot image to USB". Or the hotkey combination Ctrl+B.

In the recording options window, specify the path to the image, make the MBR overwrite option active and click "Start".

When the flash drive is ready, it remains only to boot from it. The easiest way is to use the boot menu keys. The table below shows an illustrative example of such keys.

Of course, this is not the whole list of programs designed to create bootable devices, however, for the vast majority of users, the capabilities and functionality of the listed software will be enough.

For example, the Rufus program can be used as the easiest and fastest tool to create a bootable USB disk with one Windows distribution or to flash the BIOS from under DOS.

Greetings dear readers. In this article, we will talk about how to recover data from a flash drive yourself and absolutely free!

As a rule, it is not uncommon for users to lose very important information that they had either on a flash drive or on a hard drive! In most cases, this can occur due to misuse or infection with a virus.

Important: always remove your USB device by safe removal - this measure is necessary for the correct operation of your media!

In addition, it is not uncommon for a flash drive to work for a long time, after which a window suddenly pops up that requires you to format it before you start using it, it is highly not recommended to do this, since there is a risk that the files cannot be restored.

If you suddenly formatted your media, it is advisable not to save files on it, this is due to the fact that you risk losing important information, because when we delete a file, we do not delete the file itself, but only delete the record about it from the file system, so if you copy a new file, it will overwrite the old one!

I think it's enough for you to write about theory, let's go directly to practice, namely to an overview of the program that recovers data from a flash drive. The program is called GetDataBack for FAT, you can download it by clicking on this link

Installing GetDataBack for FAT

After you have downloaded the installation file to your computer, run it and in the installation wizard, click " Further»

In the next window, you will be required to specify the path where the program will be installed, I recommend leaving it by default and clicking " Further»

Choose a location to save shortcuts on your computer after installation and click " Install»

After all the necessary components are installed, click " Further»

Well, at the end of the installation, click " Ready»

Recovering deleted files

After the first launch, the program will require you to make the initial settings, in the welcome window, leave everything unchanged and click " Further»

After scanning the disks, a working interface will appear in front of you, in which you will need to specify the item to be restored, as an example, I will use a simple USB flash drive on which the pictures will initially be, and, accordingly, to make sure as a result, I will first delete the photos that are on it is stored!

Now my flash drive is clean and there are no photos on it:

We return to the newly installed program and make the necessary settings for successful recovery as follows:

From the top menu select " Settings"and put a tick as shown in the figure and click" OK»

In the left menu, select the recovery sector, in my example it is better to select sector 2, since it uses more clusters, I advise you to focus on this setting.

After the sector is selected, click " Further»