cgsecurity.org

Hello!
I'm having trouble opening files on a USB stick that seems to have been damaged in some way. The error occurred after I had failed to safely remove the affected device from my laptop. The following message comes up on the screen when I try to open the USB stick in Explorer:
"G:\ is not available.
The file or directory is corrupted and cannot be read"

I'm wondering if I should use TestDisk or PhotoRec to recover the lost files?
I have read some parts of the manual: https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
In chapter eleven it sais that PhotoRec doesn't recover the original file names or the file structure. Maybe TestDisk is better to solve my problem?

The USB stick that I have problem with is of the type: ZAP SLIDER, Mini-drive 8 GB.
It contains files in Excel, Word, images (mostly jpg) and some pdf-documents.

Try chkdsk as explained in the manual and if it doesn't work, use PhotoRec instead. Choose '[Whole]" instead of "[Free]" as you aren't trying to recover deleted files but all the files.

Ok thanks for reply. I will try this advice. Hopefully it will work!
Where in the manual can I read about chkdsk? I can't find that part in the manual.

cgrenier wrote: 22 Jun 2024, 08:52 Try chkdsk as explained in the manual and if it doesn't work, use PhotoRec instead. Choose '[Whole]" instead of "[Free]" as you aren't trying to recover deleted files but all the files.

Use the search function of your pdf reader software. in Adobe Reader use the keyboard command <CTRL F>. At a command line prompt run chkdsk /? for a command description.