Micro flash drive is not formatted. The system asks to format the flash drive: what should I do so that the data on the media is not lost? Format media via command line in safe mode

An ordinary flash drive, as a device for online storage of information, is sometimes simply irreplaceable in its traditional purpose. At the same time, despite its operational pickiness and undeniable practicality, a USB drive or another type of Flash device can still let its owner down. The fairly common problem "Windows cannot complete formatting" is a prime example of this. As a result, a similar error occurs and how to fix it - read this article.

General introduction

We will not list the reasons that push the user to such drastic measures as the complete cleaning of any Flash drive from the data placed on it. In our case, the affected problem (“Windows cannot complete formatting”) will be considered as the result of a failed attempt to erase everything on a flash drive, that is, any type of removable media. Secondly, within the framework of the presented article, the reader will be given a practical answer to the question of how to restore a damaged file system. By the way, most often the refusal of the OS to carry out a second or next partition of the disk space of an information drive of one type or another is caused precisely because of a malfunction of the latter.

Write protection

In this case, the voiced problem with the flash drive (“cannot complete formatting”) can be resolved quite simply:

Press the keyboard shortcut Win + R.
Next, in the "Run" field, write: cmd.
In the Shell, type DISCPART.
In the next line, after the ">" symbol, you must specify a specific command: list disks.

After the list of active drives is displayed on the screen, you need to determine which digital item corresponds to your removable (problematic) drive.
We enter the command select disk X, where x is the serial number of your flash drive.
In conclusion, we write: attributes disk clear readonly.

If after applying all of the above, the result remains unchanged, and Windows cannot complete the formatting, then resort to the next recovery option.

What to do if the file system is damaged?

If the removable drive connected to the PC is recognized by the system, but its contents remain a “digital secret” for you, and the formatting situation covered ends up with the same annoying error, try a few simple steps:

In the search bar of the start menu, enter the command: diskmgmt.msc.
After you press the Enter key, the Disk Management window will appear on the screen.
As a rule, a "capricious" flash drive is displayed at the very bottom of the service console. Right-click on it and select "Delete volume" from the drop-down list.

Agree that the information from the Flash drive will be erased: click the "Yes" button in the service window that appears.
After the disk area of the “resuscitated” flash drive is designated by the system as “Not allocated”, call the context menu again, in which the “Create a simple volume” item should be activated.

We are sure that the problem situation when Windows fails to complete the formatting of a flash drive or memory card will be resolved after you make a new partition of the disk space.

About system "RAW troubles"

It often happens that as a result of a software failure of the OS, a removable drive partially fails. That is, the flash drive, still visible by operational means, completely refuses to obey the user's commands. This kind of "non-perception" of the OS can be explained by the fact that the file system of the Flash device is incompatible with Windows. In other words, the problem disk has a layout that is incomprehensible to the operating environment. Error: “Windows cannot complete formatting” is inevitable if you want to carry out the operation agreed upon by us with a flash drive or memory card that was used on a computer running Mac OS or Linux. However, everything is fixable if you implement the above recovery algorithm. However, in some cases, you need to perform a number of additional steps.

Log in to the workspace of the Disk Management console.
By hovering the marker over the flash drive, right-click to open the context menu and select "Change drive letter or ...".
Next, click on the "Delete" button and confirm your actions by activating the corresponding key.

After you start the process of creating a simple volume that you know, in the "File system" checkbox, specify the value FAT32 - this is the most acceptable option for almost all flash drives. Otherwise, everything is simple: click the "Next" button and "system misunderstandings" like "Windows cannot complete formatting" will be eliminated. Otherwise, you will not be able to do without the use of specialized software.

When all the described methods do not help, but the flash drive is so needed!

In addition to the standard flash drive recovery tools, there are many other software tools. But there is one nuance here. As you know, there are a huge number of different modifications of portable storage devices on the market, and each manufacturer strives to endow its products with predominant uniqueness.

It is easy to guess that the most correctly working recovery software is exclusively branded software, "sharpened" for certain branded models. This should be remembered, since the careless and thoughtless use of, so to speak, non-original utilities can have a deplorable effect on the further performance of a removable memory device.

Final part

So, now you know the answer to the question that seemed difficult to solve earlier: “Windows cannot complete formatting” - what should I do? As practice shows, a standard OS tool quite competently copes with tasks of this kind. Perhaps this will disappoint you, but the answer to the question of how to choose the most suitable flash drive recovery software will not be considered within the framework of this article. However, you can easily find full-fledged information related specifically to this problem on your own, since there are plenty of resources on the relevant topics. All the best to you and readability to your removable memory device!

Are you getting a message that Windows can't format? As a rule, the problem is in most cases solvable and, most likely, in this article you will be able to find an answer that allows you to fix it.

Below we will look at several methods to resolve formatting problems. Start with the very first method and move on. As a result, you will be able to solve the problem.

Method 1: using standard OS tools

1. Call up the window "Run" using a combination Win+R . In the window that opens, enter the command "diskmgmt.msc" (without quotes).

2. A window will appear in which disk management is performed. In the list of disks, find the problematic flash drive and click on it once with the left mouse button. A graphical display of the flash drive will unfold just below. Right click on it and go to "Format" (if the status of the flash drive is “Healthy”) or item "Create Partition" (if the status of the flash drive is "Unallocated").

Method 2: Formatting Using the Command Line

1. Start the PC in safe mode (to do this, send it to reboot and at the time the download starts, press the key several times F8). In the window that appears, go to the "Safe Mode" menu.

2. Open "Start" (for Windows 7) or press the key combination Win + Q (for Windows 8) and in the search box type cmd (without quotes). Right-click on the found result and go to the item "Run as Administrator" .

3. In the window that appears, you will need to enter a command of the following type:

format x

Where x is your schema drive letter.

Method 3: Using a Third Party Utility

Almost every manufacturer of flash drives that respects itself and users has a special utility in its arsenal that will help restore its full performance to a branded flash drive. Below is a list of major manufacturers with links to utilities.

If the manufacturer of your flash drive is not in the list, then you can try the D-Soft Flash Doctor utility, which is not linked to the manufacturer. Unfortunately, today the official website of the developer does not work, so we do not provide download links in the article.

When working with flash drives, certain difficulties sometimes arise. For example, often the system, when trying to copy any information to the media or format it, suddenly displays a message that the disc is write-protected. As a result, you can neither transfer files to a removable drive, nor delete or modify them. What to do in such a situation? And most importantly, how to format a write-protected flash drive and return it to its usual working state?

To begin with, we recommend that you carefully look at the carrier itself. Some USB flash drives and memory cards have a dedicated switch. It has two positions: one activates the write lock, and the other removes it.

So, it is enough to move the lever to remove the protection. At the same time, any information can be written to the USB flash drive again. True, first you still need to format the drive using standard Windows tools.

If there is no switch on the flash drive, then just check it with antivirus software. The removable drive may be infected with malware that forcibly protects it from writing and prevents it from being formatted.

For reference! If you use a card reader, then you should check it too. Sometimes, due to a malfunction of this device, the system writes that "the disk is write-protected."

Removing disk protection using the Diskpart utility

On operating systems (OS), starting with Windows XP, there is a console utility. It's called diskpart. So, using this tool you can manage various disks. Including, get access to the "problem" media. Working with the utility is easy:

After all the manipulations, the write-protected flash drive should change the file system. In addition, it will again be possible to drop any information on it.

However, please note that there are various write protection systems. Not everything can be removed using the diskpart utility. Therefore, if the procedure did not give the desired result, then try another method. We will tell about it further.

We remove the write protection of the flash drive through the group policy editor

Another method that allows you to format a flash drive even if it is write-protected. It is based on using the capabilities of the local group policy editor:

How to remove protection from a memory card using the diskmgmt.msc utility?

There is another regular Windows component for disk management. It is called the diskmgmt.msc utility. To use this OS tool to remove write protection, you must:

Press the combination Win + R. Enter "diskmgmt.msc" and click the "Enter" button.
Next, you need to wait a bit while the system displays the disk configuration.
Then we find the flash drive and right-click on it.
Select the "Delete volume" operation. The section will be defined as "not allocated".
Next, right-click on it. Click on "Create Volume".
The system will launch the New Volume Wizard application. Click "Next" several times, leaving all the default settings.
At the end, click "Finish". We are waiting for the end of the formatting process of the flash drive.

Is it possible to format a write-protected flash drive using third-party programs?

Sometimes standard Windows tools do not help solve the problem associated with the operation of removable media. Therefore, do not neglect special utilities. They are just designed to restore and format USB flash drives, SD cards, etc. So you can use:

Special branded software, which is released directly by the manufacturer. For example, for Transcend products, this is the JetFlash Recovery program.
If for some reason it is impossible to use proprietary utilities, then download and try other formatting programs in practice. There are a lot of them. Some of the most popular and convenient are Hp disk format tool, HDD low level format, Recuva, SDFormatter, etc.

What else can help to remove file write protection?

By changing the Windows registry settings, in some cases it turns out to remove protection. To do this, open the "Run" line. Enter "regedit". In the menu that opens on the left, go to the StorageDevicePolicies folder. You can find it in the following path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control. Here we are interested in the "WriteProtect" parameter in the right panel. We double click on it. Then we change the number 1 in the "Value" field to 0. It remains only to connect the USB flash drive and format it.
Sometimes you can remove write protection and formatting by updating the firmware of the drive. This can be done in different ways. We recommend using CheckUDisk, UsbIDCheck, USBDeview or ChipGenius. Through them you will find out the VID and PID codes, which are necessary to determine the chip model of your flash drive. After that, you can easily find and download the latest firmware for the media from the network. If suddenly at this stage there are difficulties, then use the site FlashBoot.ru.
If it is impossible to copy information to the card or save any files, then try to remove protection in this way. Go to "My Computer". Find the flash drive you need there. Click on it with the secondary mouse button. Select the "Properties" line. Then go to the "Access" tab. Next, click on "Advanced Settings". Check the box next to "Share".
It also happens that the problem associated with the inability to write or format removable media is caused by incorrect installation or incorrect configuration of programs for creating virtual drives. For example, Alcohol 120%, DAEMON Tools, Virtual CD, etc. Therefore, you should try to remove this software. Perhaps, somehow it blocks the work with the memory card.

If you have tried all the methods described above in practice, but the flash drive is still not formatted, then most likely it is out of order. This happens quite often. Sending the drive to a service center is not the most rational solution. Repairing a flash drive is usually more expensive than buying it. Therefore, it is best to purchase a new removable media.

Despite the fact that a flash drive is a fairly reliable storage medium (compared to the same CD / DVD discs that are easily scratched) and problems happen with them ...

One of these is an error that occurs when you want to format a USB flash drive. For example, during such an operation, Windows often reports that the operation cannot be performed, or the flash drive simply does not appear in "My Computer" and you cannot find and open it ...

In this article, I want to look at several reliable ways to format a flash drive that will help restore its performance.

Formatting a flash drive through computer management

Important! After formatting, all information from the flash drive will be deleted. Restoring it will be more difficult than before formatting (and sometimes not possible at all). Therefore, if you have the necessary data on the flash drive, first try to restore it.

Relatively often, many users cannot format a USB flash drive because it is not visible in "My Computer". And you can’t see it there for several reasons: if it is not formatted, if the file system is “knocked down” (for example, Raw), if the drive letter of the flash drive matches the letter of the hard drive, etc.

Then select your flash drive and right-click on it: from the context menu, I recommend doing 2 things - change the drive letter to a unique one + format the flash drive. As a rule, there are no problems with this, except for the question of choosing a file system (see Figure 3).

A few words about choosing a file system

When formatting a disk or flash drive (and any other media), you need to specify the file system. It makes no sense to paint now all the details and features of each, I will indicate only the most basic:

FAT is the old file system. It makes little sense to format a flash drive in it now, unless, of course, you work with old Windows OS and old equipment;
FAT32 is a more modern file system. Works faster than NTFS (for example). But there is a significant drawback: this system does not see files larger than 4 GB. Therefore, if you have files larger than 4 GB on your flash drive, I recommend choosing NTFS or exFAT;
NTFS is the most popular file system today. If you do not know which one to choose - stop at it;
exFAT is a new file system from Microsoft. To simplify - then consider that exFAT is an extended version of FAT32, with support for large files. Of the advantages: you can use it not only when working with Windows, but also with other systems. Among the shortcomings: some equipment (set-top boxes for a TV set, for example) cannot recognize this file system; also old operating systems, for example Windows XP - will not see this system.

Formatting via command line

To format a flash drive via the command line, you need to know the exact drive letter (this is very important, if you specify the wrong letter, you can format the wrong drive!).

Finding out the letter of the desired drive is very simple - just go to computer management (see the previous section of this article).

Command decryption:

format G: - the formatting command and the drive letter are indicated here (do not mix up the letter!);
/FS:NTFS is the file system into which you want to format the media (file systems are described at the beginning of the article);
/Q - quick format command (if you want full format, just omit this option);
/V:usbdisk - this sets the name of the disk that you will see when it is connected.

In general, nothing complicated. Sometimes, by the way, formatting through the command line cannot be performed if it is not run as an administrator. In Windows 10, to run the command prompt as an administrator, just right-click on the START menu (see Fig. 5).

flash drive cure [low-level formatting]

I recommend resorting to this method - if all else fails. I also want to note that if you perform a low-level format, then it will be almost impossible to recover data from a flash drive (which was on it) ...

To find out exactly which controller your flash drive has and choose the right formatting utility, you need to find out the VID and PID of the flash drive (these are special identifiers, each flash drive has its own).

There are many special utilities for determining VID and PID. I use one of them - ChipEasy (link to the site). The program is fast, lightweight, supports most flash drives, sees flash drives connected to USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 without problems.

They are a very popular and convenient means for storing and transferring information between computers. They are very reliable, can be rewritten many times, and are practically unaffected by external factors such as a magnetic field, the sun, and in many cases even moisture. However, from time to time the USB flash drive may experience problems. One of the most famous is that when the computer is connected, the computer starts to write that the disk needs formatting, and the flash drive itself does not want to open. When viewing the properties of the drive, its capacity is displayed as 0 bytes, and the file system is RAW.

There are several ways to open a flash drive without formatting.

What to do in this case? Well, if important data is not stored on it, you can simply format it and safely use it further. But what if you can't delete the information? Is there a way out?

Fortunately, in most cases, the flash drive is damaged only at the software level, while physically the data continues to be recorded. A failure can occur for various reasons, most often due to the action of viruses, and also when the work was incorrectly completed during a recording or reading session, for example, you pulled the USB flash drive from the socket or the power was turned off.

There are several ways to regain access. We will discuss with you working methods and methods that will help you recover files on your portable drive. You only need to carefully follow the instructions.

The fastest, easiest and least painless way to regain access to files on a flash drive. To do this, you do not even need to download additional software, as all operations will be performed using the Windows command line. So, you are connecting the media to the USB connector, and instead of opening your files, you see a sign asking you to format the USB flash drive.

Click "No" if you really don't want to lose the recorded data.
Run command prompt as administrator. To do this, click the Start button, type cmd in the search bar, right-click on the utility in the search results and select "Run as administrator". On Windows 10, you can select the appropriate item by right-clicking on the Start button.
After the jumping cursor is displayed after the address of the system folder and username, type the command chkdsk x: / f, where instead of x, specify the letter under which your flash drive is displayed in the system. Check this information in the file explorer. Click Enter to confirm and run.
Wait a couple of minutes for the utility to do its job. The final time will depend on the size and class of the flash drive, as well as the number of files.

If everything goes well, you will soon be able to view the contents of your portable drive. Just in case, copy the data to the computer's hard drive and, by formatting the USB flash drive, get rid of the remnants of problems.

Virus check

A very common and fairly common reason that the system does not display the contents of the flash drive and asks to format it may be virus infection. For example, the so-called autorun virus turns all folders and files into shortcuts, hiding them, and some other viruses, in general, begin to require you to format the media and do not display its contents. Therefore, if checking the disk for errors did not lead to changes, perform a virus scan.

To do this, you will need a regular antivirus or a portable virus scanner. Any antivirus has the ability to scan the system down to a separate folder. In the settings, you need to specify your USB drive that needs to be formatted and wait for the procedure to complete. If you use a free antivirus and it missed the threat, download one of the free portable scanners. By the way, we already wrote a detailed review about them on our website in this article. Check out its content. Also, regularly monitor the security of your system so that you do not suffer from problems that arise.

Data recovery

Although in most cases the first two methods work without error, let's pretend that they did not help. In this case, you can try data recovery using software specially written for this purpose. There are a huge number of such utilities. Consider the two best programs: TestDisk and R-Studio. They are simple and very easy to understand. In the end, do not be too lazy to clean up, because the formatted drive no longer contains bad sectors. How to open a flash drive using each of the utilities?

Test Disk

Download the program from the official site.
Insert the flash drive into the computer, when prompted to format, reject it.
Create a folder on your hard drive where the recovered files will be copied, unpack the downloaded program into it.
Launch the recovery application by double clicking on the photorec_win.exe file.
Use the arrow to select the desired disk, press Enter.
Select the partition table type of your flash drive, again by moving through the list using the arrows. Press Enter to confirm.
Next, select the partition to restore. You will need a Whole Disk. Move the pointer using the arrows and press Enter.
Select file system type by ticking Other, which will mean FAT
Mark the folder where the recovered files will be copied. By default, the procedure you created at the very beginning is selected.
Click Y to start the process.
At the very end, go to the folder and view all the files that have been recovered.

R-studio

Download the utility from the official site, install it on your computer.
Open the main menu of the program, find your flash drive in the list of directories. It usually appears at the very bottom of the list.
Click the "Scan" button at the top of the screen, confirm the operation in the next window that opens.
Select the files you wish to restore and click the "Restore" button.
Wait until the end and go to the folder where the recovered information is stored.

Low level formatting

Quite a lengthy procedure, which can not be written in a few words. To do this, we have prepared a separate article on low-level formatting. In it, we painted the full cycle of actions, and also posted links to all the necessary utilities. You will succeed if you carefully read the material provided.

Conclusion

We hope that we have helped you solve the problem in which the contents of the flash drive do not open, and the system writes that it needs to be formatted. In the comments, we ask you to tell if the material of the article helped you.