13/01/2015
USB Flash Drive
If you frequently use Flash / Pen / Jet drives to transfer data from one PC to another, it might happen to you that one of the computers is not protected against virus attacks. Sometimes it might happen that all folders on your pen drive are gone! There are some shortcuts with same name present there and that points to some weird files (usually .scr).
It’s the shortcut virus that has infected your data. No need to panic as you may still recover the data.
Remove the Virus:
First of all, connect your pen drive/Flash drive to a PC that is protected with most updated version of a good antivirus and then scan it. Fix all the virus threats that are detected by the antivirus. Note: If you again connect the flash drive to a computer which is not completely protected by a good antivirus, you may help the virus find its new home!
Recover the Data:
Once all the infected files are removed from the pen drive, go to command prompt or CMD on your computer and run the following DOS command. Here we assume that the Flash drive is G: drive. If its not G: then replace G with correct letter as applicable.
ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D G:\*.*
shortcut-virus-1
shortcut-virus-2
files-folders-changed-to-shortcut-virus
Bingo! You are done! Now check your flash drive. You should have your data present there.