factually
Index/Topics/Recovery of Deleted Files from USB Drives

Recovery of Deleted Files from USB Drives

The recovery of deleted files from USB drives is possible due to the nature of file deletion, which removes directory pointers but leaves data blocks intact until overwritten. Modern recovery tools can restore deleted files if the drive hasn't been written to since deletion.

Fact-Checks

1 result
Jan 27, 2026

Was data deleted on USB flash drives previously thought to be unrecoverable?

are frequently recoverable — deletion typically removes directory pointers while leaving the underlying data blocks intact until they are overwritten — and modern recovery tools can often restore that...