Storage Media

Overview of HDDs, SSDs, USB sticks, and memory cards: typical failure modes, diagnostics, and when specialized recovery is needed. Understand medium-specific behavior and appropriate first steps.

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Frequently asked questions about Storage Media

• HDD not detected — what to do?
• SSD not detected — what can I do?
• External HDD not detected — causes and fixes
• USB stick says “needs to be formatted” — still recoverable?
• USB stick suddenly undetected — what now?
• Recover a accidentally formatted SD card?