Using third-party data recovery applications to recover files from a corrupted IronKey

AA-03222


When file or drive corruption occurs, you might lose data or access to data. Different levels of severity exist:

  • The drive functions, but certain files have scrambled file names.
  • The drive functions, but certain files give an "insert disk" error.
  • The drive is no longer formatted or recognized by Windows.

If you do not have the data backed up, you might need help to recover these files. Although not supported by IronKey nor guaranteed to recover all data, these file recovery applications can help restore your data. You can search the Web for such applications.

After your data has been recovered, run the check disk and format utilities to get the IronKey Secure Volume back to a fully functional state. It is very rare when file and drive corruption cannot be repaired.

To resolve corruption issues:

  1. Insert the device, unlock it, and decline formatting the drive.
  2. Use PC Inspector to scan the Secure Volume drive and manually save each file to recover to your local computer.
  3. Right-click a file that you want to recover, select "Save to", and select a destination location on the computer.
  4. Open the file to verify if it is readable.
  5. Repeat Step 3 for each file to be recovered.
  6. Run the "chkdsk" utility in the command prompt with the "/F /R" parameters.
  7. Format the Secure Volume (via the IronKey Control Panel, Windows, or the command prompt).
  8. Lock, remove, reinsert, and unlock the device.
  9. Manually copy the files back to the Secure Volume.

**Although many other third-party file recovery utilities exist, PC Inspector is freeware and has proven to work in several cases.**