Can’t Open USB Flash Drive in Windows 7/8/10/11
Today, many users prefer to use USB flash drives to store or transfer data. However, according to their feedback, they have encountered various problems like USB drive not showing files and folders and the USB flash drive not being recognized issue.
Today we are going to talk about another hot issue: USB drive detected but not accessible and introduce a piece of free data recovery software to recover files when we cannot access files on USB flash drives.
Searching on Google, you will find a large number of users talking about the question of USB drives detected but cannot be opened. A true example is shown here.
Q: Can't Open USB Flash Drive in Windows 10
I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 with no problems except I can't open my E drive which is my USB port. I inserted a USB flash drive and the computer recognizes it. When I go to Connected Devices in Settings it is there. I can't figure out how to open it. Does anyone know how to open the E drive so I can get to the content on my flash drive? I'm not a computer expert as you can tell.
answers.microsoft.com
Are you one of the users suffering from this issue? If you cannot open the USB flash drive in Windows 7/8/10/11, you cannot access the files on the USB drive. Therefore, before fixing the issue, you are strongly suggested to recover data from the USB drive by using the best data recovery software – MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
Part 1. Recover Data From USB Drive That Cannot Be Opened
MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a piece of read-only and professional data recovery software that can help you effectively recover lost data from USB drives without damaging the original data. And you don’t need to worry about how to use it, for it offers wizard-like interfaces which can help you recover files without any difficulty.
What’s more, this reliable file recovery tool can recover documents, videos, photos, emails, and more in Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11. You can click the button below to download MiniTool Power Data Recovery and try it out!
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Now, let’s see how to recover files from USB drives that cannot be opened in Windows.
Step 1. Select the target partition to scan
Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery to get its main interface.
Under the Logical Drives section, select the USB drive that cannot be opened and click Scan (If the target USB drive is not displayed, you can click the Refresh button in the upper right corner to refresh the device list).
If there is more than one partition on your USB drive, it is suggested to move on to the Devices tab and select the whole USB flash drive to scan.
Step 2. Preview/Filter/Search found files
In the scanning process, you can preview found files to check whether they are the needed ones. After scanning, you can see all found files on the selected USB drive are listed. To quickly locate the desired ones, you can click Filter to filter out unwanted files by file size, file category, file type, and date modified.
If you know the file name of the wanted file, you can type the file name in the search box and press Enter to search for it directly.
Step 3. Save all needed files
Now you can check all needed files and click the Save button to select a directory for them. It is recommended to store recovered files in another drive. Otherwise, the lost/deleted data could be overwritten.
Note: The free edition of MiniTool Power Data Recovery allows you to recover files of no more than 1 GB for free. To recover unlimited files from your USB drive, you need to choose the full edition. The MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal is recommended for it can help you recover lost data when your PC won’t boot.
After recovering data from the USB drive, let’s see how to solve the USB drive detected but not accessible issue.
Part 2. Fix Cannot Open USB Drive in Windows 7/8/10/11
When you cannot open the USB drive in Windows, before trying the advanced solutions, you can try the following things first:
- Connect the USB drive to another working computer and check whether the issue has gone.
- Uninstall the USB device under Universal Serial Bus controllers from Device Manager.
- Update the USB drivers.
If these attempts don’t work, you can try the following solutions to solve the USB drive cannot be opened issue. Here, we will show you the 3 most common situations as well as solutions.
Case 1. USB Drive Becomes RAW
If your USB drive becomes RAW, you cannot open this drive in File Explorer. You may receive the error message “You need to format the disk in drive X before you can use it. Do you want to format it?” after connecting the USB drive to your PC, as shown below.
If you click Cancel, you will receive another error:
The volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted.
In general, you had better not format your USB hard drive immediately for formatting will delete all your data on it. However, if you have recovered data on the USB drive, you can try to click Format disk and complete the format process according to the prompts on the screen to deal with the error.
But sometimes you may fail due to the “Windows was unable to complete the format” error. In this case, you can read this post to find corresponding solutions: How Do I Fix “Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format”.
For more information about the “You need to format the disk before you can use it” error, you can refer to this post: [Fix] You Need to Format the Disk before You Can Use It.
For a more intuitive guide to fix RAW partitions, you can watch this video tutorial.
Case 2. The Parameter Is Incorrect
Sometimes, you cannot open USB drive in Windows 10 because you receive the following error message: The parameter is incorrect.
Various factors including sudden power failure, virus invasion, and bad sectors, can cause this issue. Facing this error, you can try the following solutions.
Note: Before solving the USB drive detected but cannot be opened issue, you had better recover lost data first of all by following the guide in Part 1.
1. Format the USB drive
Step 1. Right-click the Windows logo key and select Disk Management.
Step 2. Right-click the corrupted USB drive and select Format.
Step 3. Set up volume label and file system, and check the option of Perform a quick format. Then click the OK button.
Step 4. Click the OK button when you see the format warning message and the formatting will be done quickly.
2. Run CHKDSK to fix can’t open USB drive in Windows 10
Step 1. Press Windows + R key combinations on your keyboard to open the Run window.
Step 2. Type cmd in the text box and press Enter or click/tap OK.
Step 3. Type the command line “chkdsk /f /r drive letter:” and hit the Enter key (Here, I type chkdsk /f /r X: because the drive letter of my USB disk is X.)
Note: If bad sectors are found on the drive during the process, CHKDSK will try to repair them. In that case, data stored in bad sectors will be lost.
Case 3. Data Error (Cyclic Redundancy Check)
You probably heard of or encountered the data error (cyclic redundancy check)! In general, “drive is not accessible, data error (cyclic redundancy check)” is an error-checking technique that is used for data verification. What should you do if you cannot open the USB drive in Windows 7/8/10/11 because of the CRC error?
Here you can follow the steps below to fix it.
Step 1. Press Windows + E key combinations to open File Explorer, and then right-click the USB drive to select Properties.
Step 2. Move on to the Tools section, and click Check to start file system error checking.
Step 3. Click “Automatically fix the file system errors” to do a basic check and automatically repair problems with files and folders, and then click Start.
Alternatively, you can try running the CHKDSK or SFC command lines to remove the CRC error to access your USB drive in Windows.
For detailed information about the CRC error, you can read this post: How to Fix Data Error (Cyclic Redundancy Check).
Bottom Line
Now, you should know how to fix the USB cannot be opened in Windows issue. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]. If you have any other good solutions to fix the USB drive detected but not accessible problem, please share your answers in the comment section below. Thanks in advance.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Shirley graduated from English major and is currently an editor of MiniTool Team. She likes browsing and writing IT-related articles, and is committed to becoming a professional IT problem solver. The topic of her articles are generally about data recovery, data backup, and computer disk management, as well as other IT issues. In spare time, she likes watching movies, hiking and fishing.