Its not uncommon to encounter situations where a USB drive connects but files cannot be opened, or where files with strange names appear on the USB drive. This is because the USB drive is faulty and unable to open files due to viruses. These viruses infiltrate the drive, hide your files, or may even delete them.
Although USB drives are small, they can cause many problems if not used carefully. For example, a faulty USB drive might not open files , and you might not know the cause. Furthermore, it could leave your USB drive with many strange and incomprehensible files.
If you're experiencing a problem where your USB drive won't open files, it's likely that your USB drive has been infected and corrupted by a virus. The data inside may or may not be salvageable, depending on the specific virus and circumstances. To help you resolve this USB error , this article from TipsMake will show you how to fix a USB drive that won't open files, and also provide methods to recover your data.
Guide to fixing USB drives that won't open files.
There are many ways to fix a corrupted USB drive that won't open files, and to restore the files and folders to their original state. However, remember that after fixing the corrupted USB drive, you should scan it for viruses using professional software and also format the USB drive.
Let's say we have a USB drive with many hidden folders, and you can follow these steps.
1. The USB drive is faulty and cannot open files using Folder Options.
Folder Options , or more fully known as File Explorer Options, is a tool for managing and configuring folders on your computer. You can use Folder Options to open hidden files.
Step 1: Open the Start Menu and type Folder > Then access File Explorer Options .
Note: In Windows 7, you can go to the Control Panel and select small view to see Folder Options.
Step 2: Here, simply click on View and select Show hidden files, folders, and drivers, then Apply > OK .
Step 3: Immediately after, go back to the USB drive and you will see these items appear. Proceed to copy them to another drive.
After copying the files, remember to scan the USB drive for viruses and format it.
2. Fix USB drives that won't open files using decompression software.
You might not know that using decompression software to open hidden files is one of the incredibly interesting yet little-known features. Here, TipsMake uses WinRAR decompression software to open them; if your computer doesn't have WinRAR, download it here.
Step 1: Install the software as usual if you don't already have it, and open it by searching for it in the Start Menu .
Step 2: Here you will see the WinRAR interface; click on the address bar to navigate to the USB folder.
In the WinRAR interface, whether hidden or not, all folders will appear as normal.
Step 3: Now simply drag and drop those files to your designated location to back them up before formatting the USB drive.
The process will be similar to regular copying, depending on how large or small your file is.
3. Fix USB drives that won't open files using FixAttrb Bkav.
FixAttrb Bkav is software from Bkav that allows you to display all files hidden by viruses or Trojans. This is completely free software that you can use to combat the problem of faulty USB drives that cannot open files.
Step 1: Download FixAttrb Bkav to your computer here.
Step 2: Launch the FixAttrb Bkav software. Here, click to select the folder .
Step 3: Locate your USB drive to begin scanning.
Step 4: Then, click on " Show hidden files" to have FixAttrb Bkav execute the command.
When FixAttrb Bkav asks if you want to show hidden files, please click yes.
Step 5: After receiving a notification that the hidden files have been successfully displayed, your task is to copy these files to another drive, then scan for viruses and format the USB drive.
Above are three ways to fix USB drives that are unable to open files, folders, or are hidden. All three methods are easy to perform, and if these fail, you can try the remaining methods.
But that's assuming your USB drive hasn't lost data or been corrupted by a virus. In worse cases, you'll need USB data recovery software, as these programs have powerful features to help you solve this problem.
You've just finished reading the article "Fix a USB drive that is malfunctioning and won't open files." edited by the TipsMake team. We hope this article has provided you with many useful tech tips and tricks. You can search for similar articles on tips and guides. Thank you for reading and for following us regularly.