Hi,
I’ve had this flash drive for a couple of years. Last week when putting it into the USB port it only showed a shortcut to ‘USB drive’. I have used command (attrib -h -r -s /s /d) to show the files in the flash drive and was then able to access the executable for SanDiskSecureAccessV3.01_win.
This asked me to accept the user licence and create a new password. Before doing this I saved a copy of the files on the USB to my harddrive. After creating a new password I can open a vault, but this is empty and my files and documents are not visible.
Please could someone help with finding and accessing my files.
It sounds like the vault itself may not have been opened correctly. If SanDisk SecureAccess asked you to create a new password, it means it didn’t recognize your original vault, so creating a new one can cause an empty vault rather than restoring your existing files.
The good news is that you made a copy of the USB drive before doing anything else. I’d work with that copy and avoid making any further changes to the original USB drive.
First, check whether you can see a file called SanDiskSecureAccess Vault (or something similar with a large file size). That’s the encrypted vault that contains your documents. If it’s still there, don’t delete or overwrite it. Then, you can use a recovery tool to recover your files.
Thanks for your reply. Are there any recommended data recovery tools?
Absolutely, for Photos and videos you can use Stellar Photo Recovery tool. Also you can use Recuva and DMDE, as these are free tools.
BTW, before trying any recovery software, I’d suggest make a sector-by-sector image of the USB drive. That savers the current state and prevents accidental overwriting of recoverable data.
Out of curiosity, does the Vault folder still exist on the USB drive, or is it completely gone? That can help narrow down whether it’s a Vault issue or a problem with the drive itself.
Looks like it still exists on the USB drive, seems to be two vaults on there now.
Structure has the vault in the ‘top level’ of the USB drive (created June this year), and also within a folder called ‘USB drive’ (created 2023 - so probably the original?).
Wonder if it might work to copy the folders from the vault into the ‘top level’ of the USB drive, and see if SanDiskSecureAccessV3.01_win the opens the original vault?
