Mar282012

Why has my USB flash drive stopped working?

Akinlemibola Joe asks:

I formatted my USB flash drive, but it stopped formatting half way and said: “Thumb drive could not be formatted”.

Since then, my thumb drive has remained inaccessible. Please, what could have caused this and how can I remedy the situation?


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System: Windows 7
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4 Answers -

0 votes

ha14

March 28, 2012

perhaps you have to remove write protection
1.Go to Run->regedit
2.MyComputer->HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->SYSTEM->CurrentControlSet->Control -> StorageDevicePolicies
3.Delete the StorageDevicePolicies in Your Registry.

Akinlemibola Damilola Joe

The system does not even ‘see’ the flash drive.

March 30, 2012
ha14

11) Right-click on “My Computer” then Click on “Manage”
2) Double-click “Disk Management” You will probably see USB
3) Right-click in the left portion of that drive box USB Disk
4) Click “Initialize” and “OK” in the next dialog box. Wait few seconds and it should now say “Online” in the box.
5) If there is no assigned drive letter, right click on the space of your usb drive then choose Assign drive letter or Change Driver Letter and Path

1.Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive
2.Right mouse click on My Computer
3.Left click on Manage
4.Left click on Device Manager
5.Expand the USB list
6.Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive
7.Right mouse click – Uninstall
8.reboot pc

Plug in your USB drive.
Open the command prompt (Click Start -> Run -> type cmd.exe and press Enter)

Type in the following:
1. diskpart
2. list disk
3. select disk
(enter the number that corresponds to your USB drive)
do you see your usb key?
4. clean
5. create partition primary
6. select partition 1
7. active
8. format fs=fat32 quick
9. exit

you can try Easeus partition master
http://www.techishare.com/tech/easeus-partition-master-fix-usb-flash-drive/

March 30, 2012
Akinlemibola Damilola Joe

Tried all of this, but the system does not read the drive at all. It’s as though the drive is non existent on the system.

March 30, 2012
ha14

either your usb key is fake, or got corrupted. you can try to see if it can be recognized on other pc? or mac, linux.

March 30, 2012
dinesh band

hoew i can select the disk in comand prompt

July 19, 2012
0 votes

FIDELIS

March 29, 2012

Hello, have you tried formatting the drive again?  Sometimes that does the trick.  You could also try other software like the following:

HP USB Disk Storage Tool:
 http://download.cnet.com/HP-USB-Disk-Storage-Format-Tool/3000-2094_4-10974082.html

HDD LF Low level Format Tool:
http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

Akinlemibola Damilola Joe

My system does not read the drive again. When I insert it, there is no sign of the drive on the system at all.

March 30, 2012
FIDELIS

 Hello, Have you tried checking the drive in a different computer?  or a different USB port?

April 3, 2012
0 votes

Indronil Mondal

March 30, 2012

IT IS CORRUPTED OR THERE IS SOME PROBLEM IN YOUR USB PORT ,
CHECK IT ON SOME OTHER COMPUTER IF PROBLEM STILL OCCURES RETURN IT TO THE SERVICE CENTER ..

0 votes

Akinlemibola Damilola Joe

April 12, 2012

Thanks guys, I’ve tried it on other systems, but it’s not working on them too. I guess its about time I visit the thrash can. :)