Windows is unable to format USB Drive, need help.

wdadws

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Feb 27, 2014
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So basically, i was copying a movie to my usb drive from my buddy and then, when i copied it to my Laptop, it stucked at 80% completion. I left it to go breakfast, i went back to my laptop and it's still stuck at 80%. Then i forced to turn off my laptop by pressing and holding the power button. At the night of that day, i tried to re-copy the file, but when i was trying to copy it, It says "Windows is unable to format D:\". It seems that i broke my usb by forcing my laptop to turn it off.

Later, i tried to fix it by searching on google. I tried to list my disk on diskpart, and it says it only has 7mb size, while its size is 4gb. Idk what to do. I tried to fix it via disk management, but it fails too.

I have 2 usb drives, the other one is 8gb. I plugged the 8gb one to my laptop, and it became like my 4gb toshiba too. I can't access my 8gb usb drive too now.

Any suggestion? please, i have 2 important presentation on that usb drive.
 
Solution
I have a solution to format the drive that is easier to follow, but you will not be able to recover your presentations on it. When you format a drive, the information is gone. There are tools that are free to download and use that cybersecurity people use to recover data in situations like this, and I think they come preinstalled on Kali Linux and Parrot Linux. I do not know how to use those tools, or what they are called.

But if you want to format the USB drive, then I only know how to do this using linux.

If you download Parrot Linux (many other distributions can be used like this too, but I'm just explaining it with Parrot), then you will get an ISO file.

-Burn the ISO to a DVD, or use a program to restore it to a different USB...
You can do it manually

Click on windows button
type cmd and do right click and select run as administrator
type diskpart
type list disk
select the disk which is your USB. For example if your USB is no 2 then type select disk 2
type clean
type create partition primary
type format fs=fat32 quick
type exit
Now see if it finally formatted your USB Flash Drive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzJKnxcAyj8
 


So, when i typed "format fs=fat32 quick", it says "Virtual Disk Service error. The volume size is too small."
Help
 



Did you follow the steps to the video, I believe he says how to bypass that.
 
I have a solution to format the drive that is easier to follow, but you will not be able to recover your presentations on it. When you format a drive, the information is gone. There are tools that are free to download and use that cybersecurity people use to recover data in situations like this, and I think they come preinstalled on Kali Linux and Parrot Linux. I do not know how to use those tools, or what they are called.

But if you want to format the USB drive, then I only know how to do this using linux.

If you download Parrot Linux (many other distributions can be used like this too, but I'm just explaining it with Parrot), then you will get an ISO file.

-Burn the ISO to a DVD, or use a program to restore it to a different USB drive, (I read that "Rufus" works).

-Once it is on DVD or USB, restart your computer to boot into it.
If you were able to boot into it, skip this section of my instructions on how to get into your system BIOS, and the next section will have a minus symbol (-), like what I have infront of this group of instructions.

-If your laptop does not boot into the drive, then you need to change a couple of options in your BIOS.

You may need to get into the BIOS on your laptop. When you power your laptop on, hold the esc key, if that did not take you to it, then repeat the process with one of these keys (F2, F8, F9, F10, F12). It has only been one of these keys in the computers that I have needed to get into the BIOS of.

You should then be prompted with a menu, choose the option that says BIOS.

Explore the various options, BIOS menus vary in their appearance and arrangement.

Find the options that display the boot order of the drives, move the USB and DVD options above the other drives.

Find the Secure Boot option in the Bios Menu, and Disable it.

Save your settings and exit.

You will then Boot into Linux.



-Once Parrot Linux is booted up, you will have a task bar on the top of the screen, and on the bottom.

On the top task bar, to the left of the 3 black boxes showing your systems performance, there is a black icon. That icon is the MATE terminal emulator. Click on this icon.

once it is open type in these two letters with no capitalization and no spaces: su

You will be prompted for the root password. You will not be able to see on the screen what you type here. Enter the following word: toor

Plug your USB drive that you wish to format, if you have not done so already.

Without closing this command prompt after doing the following action, type in the following word: gparted

A program called gparted will open. On the right side, above the Horizontal bar filled in with a color that displays the size of a drive, there is a drop down menu that has a number that is the same as the number within that horizontal bar that I told you this is above.

Click that menu.

This lists multiple drives.

Find the one that does not have Windows on it, and that is not the drive that you put Parrot on. You should be able to tell by the size of the drives.

Every one of these have either sda, sdb, sdd, it will always say sd for the first two letters, that last letter is what is important. If you choose the wrong one in this next step, YOU WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON THE WRONG DRIVE.



Go back to the MATE terminal emulator that should still be open.

Type in the following command (the x at the end of sdx here should be replaced with that letter that I said is VERY important not to get wrong):

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx

This will take a while.

Now that hopefully the drive is fixed (if it is not, then your drive is actually broke), go back to gparted.

Select that drive that you should have fixed.

Right click on that horizontal bar filled in with a color.

Click on the following option in the list that appeared: New

On the screen that pops up, look at the two lists of options that are present under this other horizontal bar in this new window.

Direct your attention to the options on the right side.

Look at the third option down.

click the option that is the third down in this section of lists in this window, (it will probably say ext4).

Now choose if you want to format it as fat32, or ntfs. Your choice.

Click the following option: Add


Now, you should be back in the original screen you were presented with after opening gparted.

The row of options above that horizontal bar that I told you about, the one furthest to the right BEFORE that list of drives that you clicked earlier, there should be an arrow that turns from pointing down and points left instead. It is a picture that does not actually turn, I just do not know of a better description for its appearance.

Click it.

Click what ever prompt you are presented with as long as you are not cancelling this action.

This will be quick.

Now your drive is formatted.

I hope that may have helped.






 
Solution