Question Restore a USB drive with non-Windows partition..

Jul 11, 2019
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Hi,
I have a 64G USB that was used in Nvidia Shield as internal storage. It is now not recognized neither by the Shield (so, I cannot return it to the original state using the Shield) no by Windows 10. The disk manager (in Win 10) sees the partition but cannot format it - says the drive is write protected. Rufus 3.5 returns the same error. Is there a way to forcibly reformat the USB drive to NTFS or exFAT deleting everything on it?
Thank you
 
D

Deleted member 14196

Guest
oh, can windows read files from it at least? if so, you could get them off of there until you get this fixed.
 

popatim

Titan
Moderator
You can try clearing the Read only Flag using Windows Diskpart utility.

Run Command Prompt (aka - CMD) as Admin
Type in DISKPART & enter
Type in LIST DISK & enter

All your disks will be displayed, note the number associated with the flash drive

Type in SELECT DISK X & enter (where X is the number for the flash drive)
Type in ATTRIBUTES DISK CLEAR READONLY & enter

If you wist to continue on and format it then read on, otherwise close the command window.
Type CLEAN & enter
Type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY & enter
Type SELECT PARTITION 1 & enter
Type ACTIVE & enter
Type FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL=some_name QUICK & enter
{replace some name with any name you like & feel free to use FAT32 or EXFAT instead of NTFS}

The PC should now be formatting the drive. To run a full format on the drive instead simply remove the QUICK modifier from the FORMAT command.

Hopefully this restores your Flashdrive. I recently had to run it 3 times on one of my SD cards to revive it. It works but I don't trust it to stick in my camera again. LOL
 
Jul 11, 2019
5
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10
Thank you. I tried it several times but keep getting the same "The request cannot be performed because of an I/O device error".
What else can I try?