I recently encountered a serious issue with my SanDisk Extreme 2TB USB 3.2 Type-C Solid State Drive (Portable, SDSSDE61-2T00-G25, Dark Blue). The drive suddenly became inaccessible, and all the data appears to have disappeared. Here are the details of the problem:
Issue Summary:
The SSD is almost empty, and the stored data seems to have vanished.
The file explorer shows hidden files with only 4KB file sizes that do not work or open.
Troubleshooting Attempts:
Tried enabling hidden files to check if data was hidden, but the files are still inaccessible.
Checked the SSD properties, and it shows an unexpectedly large amount of free space, indicating possible data loss.
Concerns:
How can I recover the lost data?
What steps should I take to make the SSD reliable for future use and avoid similar issues?
Is this a known issue with this model, and are there any firmware updates or fixes available?
It looks like your SSD might be corrupted or accidentally erased, causing your files to disappear. Try using windows data recovery software to scan the SSD and recover your lost files. You can also connect the SSD to another computer to see if the problem is still there.
Running a disk check on (CHKDSK) might help fix errors. Sometimes, viruses can hide files, so it’s worth checking for malware. To prevent this from happening again, keep a backup of important files, check the SSD’s health, and look for any updates from SanDisk. Hope this helps!
Has the issue been solved? If not, stop using the SSD and take the steps mentioned below to try recovering the lost files:
1. Check the health of your SSD
Download CrystalDiskInfo (it is an open-source, free tool) to check the health of your SSD, then you will know whether the drive is experiencing hardware issues (e.g., bad sectors or failure).
2. Check the SSD status in Disk Management
Press Windows Key + X → select Disk Management.
Look for your SSD in the list of drives. Check if the SSD shows up as unallocated or if it’s properly partitioned. If it shows as unallocated or has no partition, you may need to use a data recovery tool first to deep scan the SSD for lost files and recover them to another place (do not save recoverable data on the SanDisk SSD).
3. Check the File System and Format the Sandisk SSD
Right-click on the drive in This PC → Properties → Tools.
Click on Check under ‘Error Checking’.
If it detects issues, wait for the tool to fix them.
You may need to reformat the SSD.
4. (Optional) Update Firmware
Go to the SanDisk Support Page and check for any available firmware updates for your external SSD. If necessary, you can use the SanDisk SSD Dashboard (Windows software) to perform firmware updates.
