Pendrive Data Recovery Services
Your USB pendrive snapped in half, went through the washing machine, or simply stopped showing up? We have recovered data from over 5,000 damaged USB flash drives since 2007, including Tally backups, CCTV footage, wedding albums, and college thesis files. Our New Delhi lab performs connector micro-soldering, NAND chip-off extraction, and controller bypass on every brand from SanDisk to Strontium. Free diagnosis, No Data No Fee.
- 99%* success rate
- Free check-up included
- No data, no fee
- All brands supported
Free Pendrive Check-Up
Fill out the form and we'll reach out within 1 hour.
Success Rate
We almost always get your files back
Devices Recovered
From drives, cards, phones & more
Years Helping People
Trusted since 2007
Recovery Experts
Ready to help day or night
Signs Your Pendrive Is Failing
A USB flash drive has three weak points: the connector that takes physical stress, the controller chip that manages data, and the NAND memory that stores it. Any one of these can fail while the other two work fine. Here is what we see most often from customers across Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
Not Detected by Any Computer
You plug the pendrive in and nothing happens, no drive letter, no sound, no light. The controller chip (Phison 2251, Alcor AU6989, or Silicon Motion SM3267 in most budget drives sold in India) has died. We desolder the NAND flash chip and read it with a dedicated programmer, bypassing the dead controller entirely.
Bent or Snapped Connector
The most common failure we handle. The USB plug gets bent sideways while plugged into a laptop on a bed or sofa, or the connector snaps clean off after the drive was stepped on. We desolder the damaged connector under a microscope, repair broken copper traces on the PCB, and solder a replacement connector. If the PCB itself cracked, we transfer the NAND chip to a donor board.
Accidentally Formatted
Formatted the wrong pendrive by mistake? Stop writing new data immediately. On most USB controllers, formatted data remains on the NAND cells until overwritten. We image the raw NAND and reconstruct the FAT32 or exFAT file system to recover your files.
Went Through the Wash
Left in a jeans pocket, found in the washing machine after a full cycle. This happens at least twice a week in our lab. Do not plug it in. Do not use a hair dryer or bury it in rice. The moisture creates micro-short circuits on the PCB. Place it in a ziplock bag and bring it to us. We clean the board in an ultrasonic bath, dry it under controlled heat, and image the NAND. Recovery rate for same-day cases: over 95%.
Shows 0 Bytes or RAW
Disk Management shows the pendrive as RAW filesystem or 0 bytes capacity. The controller's page-to-block translator has crashed. On budget pendrives sold in Nehru Place or Lamington Road, cheap NAND with high bad-block rates causes this within 1 to 2 years of use. We read the raw NAND dumps and manually rebuild the logical block addresses.
"Please Format Disk" Error
Windows says "You need to format the disk before you can use it." This means the FAT32 or exFAT file system is corrupted, usually from removing the drive during a write operation. Do not click Format. Formatting rebuilds the file allocation table and overwrites the pointers to your actual data. We image the raw NAND sectors and reconstruct the file system from the backup FAT copy.
Files Disappeared Overnight
You copied files to the pendrive yesterday, today the folder is empty. This happens with counterfeit drives (very common in Indian street markets) that report a fake capacity. A 64GB pendrive actually has 8GB of NAND and silently overwrites older data. We image the actual physical NAND and recover whatever the controller did not overwrite.
Burns Hot When Plugged In
The pendrive heats up within seconds and smells burnt. A voltage regulator or the controller IC itself has shorted. Unplug it immediately. Continued current flow can destroy the NAND chip's die, making recovery impossible. We inspect the PCB under a microscope, replace the shorted component, and attempt imaging.
How We Recover Pendrives
A USB pendrive is a NAND flash chip, a controller IC, and a USB connector soldered onto a single PCB the size of a thumbnail. Unlike SSDs or HDDs, there is no enclosure to absorb shock. The connector takes all the mechanical stress, and in most budget drives sold across India, the solder joints are the weakest point. We have built specific tooling for these tiny boards.
NAND Chip-Off Recovery
When the controller IC is dead or the PCB is cracked beyond repair, we desolder the NAND flash chip using hot-air reflow at precisely 260 degrees Celsius and read it with a dedicated NAND programmer. The challenge is that each controller brand (Phison, Alcor, Silicon Motion, Innostor) scrambles the data differently. We maintain a database of XOR patterns and page layouts for over 200 controller models, built from 17 years of hands-on chip-off work.
Connector Micro-Soldering
Most broken pendrives we receive have a snapped or bent USB connector. Under a stereo microscope, we desolder the damaged connector, repair lifted copper traces with 0.1mm enameled wire, and solder a new connector. For cracked PCBs, we bypass the broken section with direct wire connections from the connector pins to the NAND chip pads.
Secure Chain of Custody
We log every pendrive with a unique case ID, photograph the physical condition on arrival, and store it in a locked vault. All imaging happens on air-gapped workstations. We comply with DPDP Act requirements and CERT-In guidelines. For corporate clients, we sign NDAs and provide a certificate of data destruction after delivery.
No Data, No Fee
We inspect your pendrive at no charge and send a written quote within 24 hours. The quote includes the exact cost in INR, the estimated timeline, and what data we expect to recover. You approve before we start. If we cannot recover your files, you owe us nothing.
Our Recovery Process
Here's what happens after you reach out to us, step by step.
Send or Drop Off
Call, WhatsApp, or fill the form. We courier a padded anti-static pouch to your address anywhere in India. Delhi NCR customers can walk in to our Okhla lab.
FreeFree Inspection
A technician examines the PCB under a microscope, tests the connector continuity, and tries a controller-level read. You get a diagnosis report and a fixed-price INR quote within 24 hours.
≈ 24 hrsRecovery Work
Once you approve the quote, we begin. Depending on the failure type: connector re-soldering, chip-off NAND extraction, or firmware translator rebuild. We update you at every stage.
≈ 1–2 daysVerify and Deliver
We send you a file listing for verification. After confirmation, we copy everything to a new drive or upload it to your cloud. We wipe all temporary images from our servers.
Done!All USB Brands & Capacities
We work on every USB pendrive sold in India, from the ₹200 SanDisk Cruzer Blade bought at Croma to the ₹3,000 Kingston DataTraveler Max. We also handle promotional corporate drives, bootable Linux USBs, and drives used for Tally .900 data exports or Busy Accounting backups. Below are the controller chips we encounter most.
Recovery Technology
PC-3000 Flash
Specialized USB/flash recovery tools
NAND Reader
Direct memory chip reading hardware
SMD Rework Station
Precision connector repair and soldering
What our customers say
Real people, real recovery stories.
Overall Rating
Google Reviews
2,450+ reviews
Trustpilot
1,820+ reviews
BBB
A+ Rated
Sitejabber
4.8 ★
"Mera USB drive college thesis ke saath aadha toot gaya tha. DRC ne har ek file recover kar li. Yakeen nahi hua, unhone literally meri degree bacha li!"
Sneha Patel
College Student, Delhi
"Pendrive jeans ke saath washing machine mein chala gaya. DRC ne sukha ke saare client files recover kar diye. Fast service aur sahi price. Highly recommend!"
Vikram Singh
Freelancer, Mumbai
"Galti se pendrive format ho gaya jisme shaadi ki saari photos thi. DRC ne har ek photo recover kar di, 3000 se zyada. Best paisa jo kabhi kharcha!"
Meera Reddy
Homemaker, Hyderabad
Common questions
These are the questions we hear every week from students, chartered accountants, and small business owners across India.
Yes. A snapped connector is actually one of the easier repairs. Under a stereo microscope, we desolder the broken connector, check for lifted copper traces, and solder a replacement. If the PCB cracked along with the connector, we bypass the cracked section with 0.1mm wire running from the USB pins directly to the NAND chip pads. We fix 3 to 4 snapped pendrives every week.
Connector repairs and logical recoveries (formatted drive, deleted files) take 1 to 2 days. Chip-off recovery, where we desolder the NAND and reconstruct the data, takes 3 to 5 days because we must reverse-engineer the controller's XOR pattern and page layout. We give you a firm timeline with the quote. If you need Tally data for a GST filing deadline, tell us and we will prioritize your case.
Yes. The "0 bytes" or "RAW partition" error means the FAT32/exFAT file allocation table is gone. The controller cannot find the root directory. But your actual data still sits in the NAND pages. We dump the raw NAND, scan for file headers (JPEG starts with FF D8, PDF starts with 25 50 44 46, Tally .tsf has a specific header), and rebuild the directory tree. We have recovered Tally data from RAW pendrives for CA firms in Pune and Mumbai.
Yes, this is one of our most common cases. The key is time. Fresh water is less damaging than soap water because detergent accelerates corrosion. Here is what to do: (1) Do not plug it in. (2) Do not use a hair dryer or rice, both are myths. (3) Rinse with distilled water if it was in saltwater or soap. (4) Place it in a ziplock bag. (5) Bring it to our lab within 24 hours. We ultrasonic-clean the PCB, dry it in a controlled environment, and image the NAND. For same-day drop-offs, our recovery rate exceeds 95%.
Explore Our Other Services
We recover data from every type of storage device used in India.
Lost data on a pendrive? We can help.
Whether it is a Tally backup stuck on a dead USB, a wedding album on a formatted drive, or a thesis on a snapped pendrive, our engineers have seen it and recovered it. Walk in to our New Delhi lab or ship your drive from anywhere in India.
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