An ESD USB is a great way to install a fresh copy of Windows on your machine, though creating one effectively erases all the data on your flash drive (or any other USB device you are using). But what happens if you forgot to back up some important files? And what if you want to return your USB storage device back to its original state after installing the operating system?
In this guide, we’ll go through the different ways you can undo ESD USB, and we’ll discuss how to recover lost files from before it was created.
What is ESD-USB?
ESD is short for “Electronic Software Delivery,” and an ESD USB is a type of storage device format utilized when creating a bootable installation of Windows on your USB drive, which you can use to set up the operating system on your computer or as a recovery USB to facilitate OS repairs. The ESD can be created on any USB storage device using an ISO file of the OS installer or through the downloadable media creation tool for Windows 10 or Windows 11.
When making an ESD USB for modern Windows systems, a 32 GB partition is often created on the drive which is where the OS files are kept and all the contents of the device are erased in the process. So you should back up any important files if you want to format the USB without losing data.
How to Recover Files From an ESD-USB
In case you were unable to back up your important files before the ESD USB was made or were simply unaware that they were essential at the time, you’ll be glad to know that there’s still a chance that you can unformat your USB. And by “unformat”, we mean restore your lost data. The best way to go about it is through the help of powerful data recovery software, like Disk Drill.
Disk Drill is one of the best USB recovery software around, given how effective it is at retrieving files from a wide variety of data loss scenarios, including ESD USB formatting and accidentally deleted files. It also sports a catchy user interface that’s easy to use even if you’re a newbie to the process. You won’t have to immediately commit to payment either, as Disk Drill includes a free version with all of its features that you can use to recover up to 500 MB of data.
Keep in mind, however, that creating a bootable USB often means overwriting old data, so the amount of data you can recover depends primarily on what was overwritten in the process.
To recover files from ESD USB, simply follow the steps below:
- First, download Disk Drill from the Cleverfiles website.
- Run the downloaded installer and follow the instructions that appear until successfully installed.
- Ensure the ESD USB is connected to your computer and launch Disk Drill. From there, select the ESD USB from the list of available storage devices and click Search for lost data.
- After that, the program will now start scanning the drive for any lost data that can potentially be retrieved. The bigger the storage capacity of your USB, the longer this is likely to take. As you wait, you can click the Review found files button on the upper-right corner of the screen to browse any files that the scan has picked up so far. Otherwise, you can just wait until the scan is finished and then click the same button to proceed.
- In the results section, navigate through the found files until you find the ones you want to recover. You can make the search easier on yourself by using the category options on the left side of the screen, and there’s also a search bar in the top-right corner in case you’re aware of the file name or type. Finally, select the files by ticking the checkbox right beside the file name and click Recover once you’re ready to continue.
- Upon clicking, a small window will appear where you’ll need to decide on the storage location for the recovered files. Make sure that this is on a different device than the ESD USB that you’re trying to recover from. Click Next once done.
- At this point, Disk Drill will try to recover the selected files from your ESD USB. You’ll receive a completion message once this process is done. If you’d like to be taken straight to the rescued files, you can click the Show recovered data in Explorer button.
How to Get ESD-USB Drive Back to Normal
While it certainly is handy to have an ESD USB around for whenever you might need to reinstall Windows 10/11 or fix some OS-related bugs, a lot of people would rather return their ESD USB back to normal so they can use it for other things. And by “normal”, we mean reverting the device’s file system to NTFS or FAT32 and returning it to full capacity. There are multiple ways to achieve this.
Method 1. Format Your Drive Using Disk Management
The first way to change back an ESD USB to normal is to format it by using the built-in Windows Disk Management tool.
Here are the steps on how to do this:
- To get started, bring up the Windows Run command window by pressing the Windows + R keys on your keyboard. From there, type in “diskmgmt.msc,” and press Enter.
- Next, right-click your ESD USB and select the Format option. A pop-up will appear, warning you that all data will be erased in the process. Then, click Yes.
- Click the dropdown next to File System and select the option you’d like for your USB drives. The selection includes NTFS, FAT32, FAT, and exFAT. You can also decide on the label for your device, allocation unit size, and whether or not you want to perform a “Quick” format or a full one. It’s worth noting that files erased by a “Full” format can no longer be recovered. Click OK to finalize the formatting process, and your USB should then be back to normal.
Method 2. Format Your Device Using CMD (Diskpart)
The second method utilizes another Windows tool called Command Prompt or CMD. It includes a feature called Diskpart that can be used to format your ESD USB and change its file system to one of your choosing.
To format your device using CMD (Diskpart), simply follow the steps below:
- First, bring up the Windows Run command window by pressing the Windows + R keys on your keyboard. From there, type in “diskpart” and press Ctrl + Enter to run the tool with administrator privileges.
- Next, type “list disk” and press Enter.
- Upon clicking, you will now see a list of all the storage disks currently connected to your machine. Locate your ESB USB among the list. You should be able to tell by the storage capacity. Now type “select disk,” followed by the number assigned to your ESB USB drive. For example, select disk 3. Hit Enter to proceed.
- Next, type “clean,” then press the Enter key.
- Then, type “create partition primary” and hit Enter.
- Type “Format fs=” followed by the type of file format you want your USB to have. For example, format fs=NTFS. Then, press Enter to continue.
- Finally, type “assign=” then the drive letter you want your USB to have. For example, assign=h. With this, your USB will appear as drive H: on your computer. Press Enter to execute this last command and finalize the process.
Method 3. Create a New Volume/Partition
Since ESD USB creation only takes up 32 GB or less of the flash drive’s storage capacity, meaning the rest of the space is left unallocated, you can create another volume on the device that you can set to the file system of your choosing.
To create a new partition on a storage device, simply follow the steps below:
- To get started, bring up the Windows Run command window by pressing the Windows + R keys on your keyboard. From there, type in “diskmgmt.msc” and press Enter.
- Next, find your ESD drive among the devices listed and click on it. On the bottom portion of the window, right-click the part of the USB that’s labeled “Unallocated” and select New Simple Volume.
- Upon clicking, a wizard will appear that will guide you through the process. On the 4th screen, you’ll have the opportunity to select the file system that you’d like for the new volume. Also, make sure to have the “Perform a quick format” option ticked. Continue until the volume creation is complete.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Data recovery from a bootable USB is certainly possible, but there are a couple of factors to consider. First off, the data that existed on the device before it was turned into a bootable USB must not have been already overwritten. Second, the USB should not have incurred a “Full” format before it was turned into a bootable drive.
The optimal method for retrieving data from an ESD USB is by using a data recovery program, like Disk Drill. Here’s what you can do:
- Download and install Disk Drill.
- Launch the app and scan your ESD USB.
- Select the files to retrieve.
- Choose a recovery destination and click OK.
It’s possible to change an ESD USB to a normal USB, and there are various ways to do so. You can either format your drive or create a new volume within it using the Windows Disk Management tool, or you can format the device using Command Prompt’s Diskpart feature.
Creating an ESD USB entails formatting your USB device, so if you want to recover data from a formatted USB drive, you need to utilize a data recovery program as soon as possible. If you’re going to convert the ESD USB back to normal and restore the full USB, you can do that by formatting the drive through Disk Management or Diskpart, as outlined above. You can also use Disk Management to create a new volume in the USB.
Conclusion
ESD USBs may be incredibly useful tools, but accidentally creating one or doing so without knowing that the device would be formatted can lead to some alarming data loss. On the plus side, it’s possible to get the files backed up using the right data recovery software. And if you’re looking to return the ESD USB back to normal, there are many ways to go about that as well.
This article was written by Emma Collins, a Staff Writer at Handy Recovery. It was also verified for technical accuracy by Andrey Vasilyev, our editorial advisor.
Curious about our content creation process? Take a look at our Editor Guidelines.