Copying files from USB drive fails - I/O error or Invalid Argument

Question

I'm trying to copy files from an USB stick to another drive. At least the file names appear to be corrupt, ls shows them as:

'ZHECMIv'$'\027''.PDF'
'ZHEKMI>2.P─F'
 ZHENIL~1.PDF
'эeloѤyfɯrɥvdr.2uOroä䁲igez_o_聴eŢe'$'\340\240\256''Ű聤f'
'ၙan­P⁩ѥòѳen-ၐoint-M䁯rѴ&`df'

Copying fails with errors like these:

cp: error reading '/media/pg/VERBATIM/2012/03/MVANES~0.PDF': Input/output error
cp: cannot create regular file '/media/pg/Elements SE/verba/2012/03/ERANmS~3.P'$'\004''B': Invalid argument
cp: cannot stat '/media/pg/VERBATIM/2014/09/f5'$'\004''7'$'\004''0'$'\004''.': No such file or directory

On the chance that only the filenames are corrupt, I tried this:

pg@TREX:~$ cp /media/pg/VERBATIM/2012/02/'YQ83A1'$'\177''0.╨DF' ./1.pdf
cp: error reading '/media/pg/VERBATIM/2012/02/YQ83A1'$'\177''0.╨DF': Input/output error

fsck.vfat -n shows:

fsck.fat 4.2 (2021-01-31)
There are differences between boot sector and its backup.
This is mostly harmless. Differences: (offset:original/backup)
  65:01/00
  Not automatically fixing this.
FATs differ but appear to be intact.
  Using first FAT.
Cluster 113918 out of range (67222785 > 1968189). Setting to EOF.
Cluster 113928 out of range (2211211 > 1968189). Setting to EOF.
Cluster 113929 out of range (67222860 > 1968189). Setting to EOF.
Cluster 113937 out of range (2211092 > 1968189). Setting to EOF.
...
Cluster 657871 out of range (1). Setting to EOF. (Several)
...
Cluster 1940714 out of range (1342259Internal error: next_cluster on bad cluster
52 > 1968189). Setting to EOF. (once)

fdisk -l output:

pg@TREX:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sde
Disk /dev/sde: 30.05 GiB, 32262586368 bytes, 63012864 sectors
Disk model: STORE N GO      
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device     Boot Start      End  Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sde1          32 63012863 63012832  30G  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Are these files lost for good, or is there a tool I can try to recover them with?

• Debian Bullseye fully up to date
• $LANG is set to en_US.UTF.8
• USB stick 32GB, VFAT
• Data added to drive with Win10 Pro

Answer 1

cp: error reading <filename>: Input/output error indicates there is corruption in locations other than filenames too.

The fdisk output is normal for a GPT-partitioned external disk. The size does not match the 32 GB you said, but 1.82 TiB is consistent with the disk model Elements SE 25FD reported by fdisk: are you really targeting the correct disk with your fdisk command?

Based on the cp commands output, it looks like you listed the fdisk output of the disk you are recovering files to, rather than the USB stick you are recovering them from.

I would suggest using ddrescue to image the failing USB stick and working on the copy, and/or using PhotoRec to try and recover the files since it is designed for rescuing files from failing flash-type media.