Kingston 16gb flash drive firmware. How to flash a flash drive? Restoring the USB drive. Saving information and searching for the necessary software

Hi all! It’s not for nothing that I decided to write an article on how to flash a flash drive – I have experience. Yesterday I restored my flash drive Kingston DT Elite 3.0 16GB. Everything worked out, and I thought, why not write similar instructions, and tell me what to do and how to do it, in order to give the flash drive a new life :).

Nowadays, probably every house has a flash drive and very rarely just one. It’s convenient to transfer information onto them, they’re beautiful, and besides, they’re not expensive these days. But very often USB drives fail. If we talk about why this happens, then we ourselves are in first place. Do you always do a safe removal of your flash drive? So I rarely do. There may, of course, be other reasons why flash drives simply “die”.

One point needs to be clarified here. It happens that the flash drive really “dies”. In this case, it is impossible to restore it. At least at home. But if the USB drive shows at least some signs of life when connected to the computer, then you can try to restore its operation using the controller firmware.

What signs of life might there be? USB storage?

  • When you connect the flash drive to the computer, the computer signals that the device is connected - that’s good.
  • At Windows connection ask to format the removable drive (but during the formatting process there are problems and errors such as “Windows cannot complete formatting”).
  • The flash drive is detected and visible in Explorer, but when you try to open it, the message “Insert disk...” appears.
  • Errors occur when copying information.
  • Very slow speed of writing/reading information.

If there is valuable information on the flash drive, then you can try to restore it before and after the firmware. This can be done using different programs. I advice Recuva, here is the article but there are many other good programs.

If the information is very valuable, then it is better not to do anything yourself so as not to make it worse. Contact special service centers that specialize in data recovery.

Let's now look at the entire process of flashing the controller using a real example, using my Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0 16GB flash drive as an example. My flash drive broke down. It’s interesting. I needed to upload files to it and delete those that had already been recorded. I connected it to the computer and started deleting the folder. But the folder was deleted very slowly. I unplugged and plugged this flash drive back in, a message appeared that the disk needs to be formatted “Before using the disk...”.

Since there were no Important files on the flash drive, I started formatting without hesitation.

But the process itself lasted a very long time and never ended, I forcibly stopped it. The message “Windows could not complete formatting” may also appear.

But still, I formatted it, the tenth time, and only in FAT 32. After which the USB drive was detected normally and I was even happy. But it was not there. I started copying files onto it, and the recording speed was approximately 100 kb/s. I decided to flash it, which I did.

Determining the VID and PID of the USB controller

First we need determine VID and PID. This is data about the model and manufacturer of the controller, which is located in our drive. Using this data, we will look for a utility for the firmware. There are many different programs, with which you can determine the VID and PID. I recommend the utility Flash Drive Information Extractor You can download it from the link.

Connect the USB flash drive to your computer and run the Flash Drive Information Extractor program (extract the program folder from the archive and run the GetFlashInfo.exe file).

Click the button at the top of the program “Get data about the flash drive”.

The program will give us the result. We look at the information that is located opposite VID and PID.

You can copy these numbers, or leave the utility window open, we will now need the received data.

We are looking for a utility for flashing a flash drive

Based on the VID and PID data, we need to find the utility with which we will flash the controller. There is a good website flashboot.ru, which contains a database of flash drives and utilities for their recovery.

In the search results we look for a flash drive similar to ours. The list may include devices from other manufacturers. They just have the same controller, it was identified by VID and PID. You may have noticed that I have a 16 GB flash drive, but in the list I highlighted 32 GB. I think there's nothing wrong with that (just where the name of the utility is not indicated on 16 GB). You try to choose a more similar device from the list.

We are interested in the field UTILS(utility), copy its name in full.

Unfortunately, the utility that I need was not found on this site. Perhaps you will have better luck and you will see something in the search results. Download the utility to your computer.

But I didn’t stop there and started Googling. I just asked “SK6221 MPTool 2013-04-25” and found this utility on some other site. If you have the same flash drive, then this utility is . True, the name of the archive is different, but this did not stop me from successfully curing my flash drive.

USB drive recovery process

Disconnect the flash drive. Extract the folder with the utility from the archive and run .exe file. In my case it is the MPTool.exe file. Also look at the text file readme.txt. Perhaps there are instructions there, or a link to a site with instructions. If the instructions are in English, then translate it using the same translate.google.ru.

I'll tell you how I did it (you just may have a different utility and everything may be different there, but it shouldn’t be very different).

The utility is running. We connect the flash drive. I have information about the flash drive in two lines in the program. Press the button Start. In my case, the yellow strip signaled the firmware process. We wait.

When the process ended, I saw a green color, everything seemed to be fine.

Should appear immediately Windows message prompting you to format the disk. But most likely nothing will work out the first time. Unplug the flash drive and plug it back in. The driver should be installed and the removable drive should appear in Explorer. You can format it.

I checked the recording speed, everything is as it should be for USB 3.0, everything is fine!

You need to be prepared for the fact that the actions may differ from those I described. And not everything can work out the first time. The main thing is not to give up and everything will work out!

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 operation of the flash drive, 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 this 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 it is not defined file system flash drives 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

  1. We disconnect everything that is connected from the USB ports (at least all drives: players, external hard disks etc.).
  2. Insert the flash drive to be repaired into the USB port;
  3. We launch the program;
  4. Press the button "Get information about the flash drive" ;
  5. After some time, we get maximum information about the drive (see screenshot below).
  6. 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:

  1. We go to the site:
  2. Enter yours VID and PID into the search bar and look for it;
  3. 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 .
  4. 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!

But before you do anything, think about how valuable the information is stored on it? If the data is important, then it would be better to try to recover it before and after the firmware. To do this, you can use the Recuva program, or another similar one. And if extremely important data is stored there, which is very important and valuable, then in this case it is better not to do anything on your own. Take the flash drive to a specialized service center, where specialists will be able to restore it with a less high risk to your data.

Restoring a flash drive using the example of Kingston DT

In our example, we will use a Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0 16GB flash drive. It worked fine for a while, but then strange things started to happen. When trying to delete or write data, the whole process is so slow that it can be said to not move at all. After reconnecting, the system displayed a message asking you to format the disk.

Considering the low importance of the data on the device, it was decided to format it. The formatting process took a long time and was not completed. Only a message appeared indicating that the formatting attempt was unsuccessful.

We connect our faulty flash drive and run the utility. At the top of the program window there will be a button to receive data, click on it. After this we will see all the information on the device. Pay attention to the values ​​next to VID and PID.

Reflash a faulty Kingston flash drive

For now we disconnect the drive. We launch the utility for flashing (our program is called MPTool.exe). If the application comes with a file called readme.txt, then look into it. Most likely there are instructions there. Please note that there are different utilities and everything may look slightly different for you. But in general, the interface and operating principle should be similar.

After starting the flashing program, you need to connect the flash drive again. After this, the utility will detect the device. Now all that remains is to click on the start button for rewriting the firmware. Let's wait a little until the process is completed.


Upon completion, the program will let you know that everything was successful.


Then a system message will immediately appear that before working with the device it needs to be formatted. But it’s better to immediately disconnect the flash drive and then connect it again. And only after that begin the formatting process. After completing all these procedures, you can check the operation of the flash drive. Everything works as quickly as it should and files are adequately copied and read. Do not forget that some steps may be slightly different from those described in this article. But in general the whole process looks exactly like this.

That's all. Take care of your flash drives and remove the device safely.

This might come in handy.

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, among which is Kingston. The program offers users the features needed to recover damaged or deleted files from microSD, SD, CF, MC, D, etc.

Listed below 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 from using Mac you need to do the following:

  1. 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 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".
  2. In the next window you will be able to see your Kingston memory card. 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.
  3. 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, 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. The simple and intuitive interface of the Kingston flash drive recovery program offers a preview of the 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 possibility has been implemented preview data, saving you 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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. It is a very useful tool for anyone who uses external devices from this company to store important files. It can be useful for professional photographers and camera 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 flash drives are very popular due to the fact that they are quite inexpensive and reliable. This is not to say that they are cheaper than others, but their cost can still be called low. But, since absolutely everything breaks in our world, it is not at all surprising that Kingston removable media can also fail.

This happens quite simply - you insert a flash drive into the computer, but it “does not want” to read data from it. The drive can be detected, but everything will look as if there is no data on it. Or simply not all data may be determined. In general, situations can be very different. In any case, we'll look at a few effective ways restoring the functionality of a Kingston drive.

Kingston has its own flash drive recovery tools. There is also a universal method for restoring removable media, which is relevant for devices from any company. We will analyze all the most effective methods.

Method 1: MediaRECOVER

This is one of two proprietary programs from Kingston. To use it, you need to do the following:



The second option looks more " humane"for a flash drive. It just involves restoring the flash drive. In any case, if using MediaRECOVER does not help, move on to the next method.

Method 2: Kingston Format Utility

This is another Kingston proprietary program. It is suitable for all flash drives of this brand, starting with the DTX 30 series and ending with USB devices Datatraveler HyperX. This utility also formats the flash drive without a chance to save any information. To take advantage Kingston Format Utility, do the following:


Method 3: HDD Low Level Format Tool

Judging by user reviews, this program copes well with damaged Kingston flash drives. Low Level Format Tool works at a low level, so it is quite successful at what it does. And this applies not only to removable media from Kingston. But, again, the utility formats the flash drive and restores its functionality, but not the data from it. To use this program, you need to do very little, namely:


Method 4: Super Stick Recovery Tool

Another very simple program, designed for restoring Kingmax flash drives, but is also suitable for Kingston (although for many this will seem quite unexpected). So, to use Super Stick Recovery Tool, do the following:

  1. program, insert the USB flash drive and run the executable file.
  2. If everything is fine and the program can work with your flash drive, information about it will appear in the main window. Click on the button Update" to start formatting. After that, just wait until the process finishes and try to work with the flash drive again.

Method 5: Search for other recovery utilities

Not all Kingston flash drive models will be suitable for the programs listed in methods 1-4. In fact, there are a lot of similar programs. In addition, there is single base with information about programs designed for recovery. It is located on the site's iFlash service. The process for using this repository is as follows:



This method is suitable for all flash drives.

Method 6: Standard Windows Tools

If all the above methods did not help, you can always use standard means Windows formatting.



You can also use standard Windows tool to format a flash drive. Try different combinations of the order of actions - first format, then check and correct errors, and then vice versa. It is quite possible that something will help and the flash drive will become operational again. To format removable media, press again right click mouse on the selected drive in " Computer" In the drop-down menu, click " Format…" Then, in the next window, just click on the button “ Begin».


It is worth saying that all of the methods described above, except for checking the disk with a standard Windows tool, assume complete and irreversible loss of data from the media. Therefore, before performing all these methods, use one of the data recovery utilities with damaged media information.