Launch the tool. You will see a list of all connected storage devices. Look for the drive with the red "RAW" icon or the missing capacity indicator. Select it carefully (double-check the drive letter so you don't scan the wrong disk).

Your heart sinks. You have family photos, work documents, or game saves on that drive.

Urescue reads the drive as is without destroying the data structure. Step 1: Download and Install Download Urescue from a trusted source (avoid third-party bundlers). Install it on your local C: drive , not the broken USB you are trying to save.

Disclaimer: Always back up critical data to cloud storage or a second physical drive. No recovery tool is 100% guaranteed.

Now that your data is safe, you can use Urescue’s built-in "Fix Drive" button (or Disk Management) to perform a clean, standard format. Your USB drive is now empty, healthy, and ready to use again. Pros and Cons (Honest Review) | Pros | Cons | | :--- | :--- | | Handles RAW drives that Windows can't read | Free version often has a file size limit (e.g., 2GB) | | Read-only mode prevents data loss | Interface looks dated (Windows XP style) | | Works with USB, SD, MicroSD, HDD, SSD | Slower than commercial tools like Recuva | | Great for fixing "0 bytes" errors | No technical support for free users | The Bottom Line: Should you use it? Use Urescue if: You have a cheap USB stick or SD card that suddenly shows as RAW, and you want a free/cheap DIY fix.

Here is everything you need to know about fixing corrupted drives without losing your mind—or your files. Despite its name, Urescue is not just another formatter. It is a data recovery utility that specializes in read-only formatting .