Fix SanDisk Cruzer Not Recognized Issue

When SanDisk Cruzer flash drive or USB drive becomes unrecognized on the computer, you won't be able to access saved data on the device. To resolve this issue without losing data, you can change USB port, update USB driver to make it recognized again, and use EaseUS file recovery software to restore your lost files with ease.

What to Do When SanDisk Cruzer Is Not Recognized by PC

Here are some basic tips to protect your data when your SanDisk Cruzer can't be recognized by your PC: 

• Stop using SanDisk Cruzer, don't save or input new data.
• Clear virus and malware on computer and storage devices.
• Make sure SanDisk Cruzer is properly connected to PC.

When your SanDisk Cruzer flash drive, external hard drive, USB drive, SD card, or other storage devices cannot be recognized or deleted by the computer, just follow the solutions below to resolve this issue and recover your data. 

Part 1. Fix SanDisk Cruzer Is Not Recognized Issue

There are 3 major methods that can help you fix the SanDisk Cruzer USB not recognized or not detected issue. You should understand that the further you go, the harder but more effective the method becomes. 

Method 1. Change USB Port or Computer, Reconnect SanDisk Cruzer (1 Minute)

When SanDisk Cruzer or other brands of USB, external hard drive, or USB first becomes unrecognized, you can try the tips here for a quick fix:

Step 1. Change USB port and reconnect SanDisk Cruzer on PC. If the system still warns with unrecognized error, go to Step 2.

Step 2. Connect USB to another computer.

Step 3. Check if SanDisk Cruzer is recognized.

After this, you can open Windows Explorer and Disk Management to see if the USB shows up. If it shows up but not accessible, click the link - USB detected but not accessible to find a reliable solution. If not, move to Method 2 and Method 3 for hep.

Method 2. Run Device Troubleshooter (2-3 minutes)

When a USB device not recognized, you can run the Windows built-in troubleshooter to check and fix the error on your USB drive.

Step 1. Connect the not recognized Cruzer USB to your PC.

Step 2. Go to Settings by right-clicking the Windows icon and choosing "Settings".

Step 3. Click "Troubleshoot", scroll down to choose "Hardware and Devices".

Then the troubleshooter will run to detect and fix your USB device. After that, go to see whether the "USB device not recognized" issue has been resolved.

Method 3. Update or Reinstall Cruzer USB Driver (3-5 Minutes)

When the USB driver is outdated, Windows computer may not be able to detect or recognize the device. Follow tips here to resolve this issue immediately:

1. Update SanDisk Cruzer USB Driver

Step 1. Connect Cruzer USB to PC, right-click on This PC/My Computer, select "Manage".

Step 2. Click "Device Manager" and expand "Disk drivers".

Step 3. Right-click on the SanDisk Cruzer USB or portable device, select "Update driver".

Step 4. Click "Automatically search for driver software online" and wait for the process to complete.

Afterward, you can try to reconnect your USB drive to your PC and check whether the USB drive shows up or not.

2. Reinstall SanDisk Cruzer USB Drive 

Step 1. Connect Cruzer USB to PC, right-click on This PC/My Computer, select "Manage".

Step 2. Click "Device Manager" and expand "Disk drivers".

Step 3. Right-click on the SanDisk Cruzer USB or portable device, select "Uninstall device". Click "OK" to confirm the removal.

Step 4. Restart the computer and reconnect the USB to the PC. After Windows restarts, the USB driver will be automatically installed. 

After this, you can reconnect the USB to your PC and check the saved data. If you still can't access the saved data, a wise choice is to restore data from SanDisk Cruzer first.

You can also watch this video to check more effective methods of how to fix the SanDisk Cruzer not recognized issue.

Part 2. Restore Data from SanDisk Cruzer

Most professional SanDisk data recovery software can scan and restore data from inaccessible storage devices. We recommend you try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, which allows you to scan and find important data from a variety of storage devices, including the SanDisk Cruzer, Toshiba USB drive, Seagate external hard drive, Samsung SD card, etc.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard stunning features:

• Recover deleted files from Recycle Bin, HDD, SSD, USB, pen drive, SD card, external hard drive, and more
• Restore more than 1000 types of files, including photos, videos, documents, emails, etc.
• Repair corrupted files during data recovery on Windows 11/10/8/7
• Retrieve lost files due to deletion, device formatting/corrupting, partition loss, OS crash, etc.

Follow these steps to restore your SanDisk Cruzer data now:

Step 1. Choose the USB drive to scan

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and choose your USB drive where you lost important files. Click "Scan for lost data" to start.

Step 2. Check and preview USB drive data

When the scanning is finished, you can quickly locate a specific type of file by using the Filter feature as well as the Search option.

Step 3. Restore flash drive data

After checking and finding lost USB drive files, click "Recover" to restore them. You shall save the found files to a safe location on your PC rather than to your USB drive.

💡Tip: You can restore data on the local disks, external hard drives, and also the cloud storage.

Part 3. Format SanDisk Cruzer to FAT32

To make sure no further problem occurs to your USB device, the last operation is to format SanDisk Cruzer, changing its file system to FAT32.

Here we'd like to guide you to format it into FAT32 with Disk Management:

Step 1. Connect the USB to PC and right-click on This PC/My Computer, select "Manage".

Step 2. Click "Disk Management", locate and right-click SanDisk Cruzer, then choose "Format".

Step 3. Select FAT32 as the file system that you want to set to the USB device.

After this, you can continue using the device and saving files on the device again.

To sum up, when your external hard drive, USB, or SD card can't be recognized by PC, follow solutions on this page to repair it. If you are unable to access the saved data, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is always available to help.