Comments on: How to recover data from a USB key?

Question: How to recover data from a USB key?

plep — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:27:22 -0800

Can anyone recommend a company/service in the UK to recover data from a USB key?

By: bDiddy

bDiddy — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:39:35 -0800

Would you attempt to do it yourself? After some searching I found PC Inspector Smart Recovery that says it works for Flash Cards, amongst others. It's free to download, but Windows only. There are other free utils too.

I found that tool by reading this article. It covers other methods depending on if you deleted the files, formatted the drive, or if the drive was corrupted. MAybe you could give those a shot. Again, the article is Windows-centric.

By: disillusioned

disillusioned — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:57:35 -0800

Not a personal recommendation, but a quick Google search:
Data Recovery Doctor

It appears that they do, indeed, do USB keys. And they are, indeed, in London.

By: plep

plep — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 08:20:43 -0800

Thanks, we're trying PC Inspector Smart Recovery now.

We did take a look on Google - am especially interested in people with personal experience of using different tools or companies.

Cheers,

By: Wild_Eep

Wild_Eep — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:53:22 -0800

I don't know if there's a PC version, but the Mac app you'd want is Data Rescue, by ProSoft Engineering.

I'm in freakin' love with that utility.

By: coach_mcguirk

coach_mcguirk — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 12:25:34 -0800

Data Recovery (by a third party) = REALLY, REALLY EXPENSIVE.

Why do they charge so much? Well, because they can.

Definitely give Smart Recovery a try - I've rescued considerable amounts of data from a failed hard drive before using it.

By: DrtyBlvd

DrtyBlvd — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 12:33:08 -0800

Easy Recovery is excellent.

By: plep

plep — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 02:33:46 -0800

Thanks all.

Here's a follow-up question :- Is it possible to give the USB key a partition without having to format it?

Cheers, thanks for all your help so far.