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Can't format USB mass storage drive

Last answer on Oct 29, 2009 12:05:32 am GMT malkosas, on May 28, 2008 12:05:53 am BST 
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Hello,

I get a message telling me my USB key needs to be formatted, I click ok, try to format and I get a message saying , disk is write protected, the problem is I've been using that key for over a year with no problem, can anyone help please

Configuration: Windows XP
Internet Explorer 6.0

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1

joemar, on Jun 11, 2008 3:31:25 pm BST
  • +1

I have a memory card. and its write protected, what should i do to format it. please help.

   
Reply to joemar

28

Jeff, on Oct 9, 2008 8:26:19 am BST
  • +1

Dear Joemar,

1.
I can not format USB mass storage drive.



2.

Step 2.1
Formatting Removable Disk (F:)

Step 2.2
Unsuccess.



3.
Windows was unable to complete the format.


4.
Please help me.


Sincerely Yours,
Mr.Prachit Isarankura.

   
Reply to Jeff

52

hamada, on Dec 28, 2008 10:22:09 am GMT
  • +1

Im cant open my flash memory
if you can give me the solve to this problem im waitting you

   
Reply to hamada

62

juice, on Mar 20, 2009 4:29:09 pm GMT
  • +1

Can't format USB mass storage drive

   
Reply to juice

72

Harish, on Jun 2, 2009 3:02:29 pm BST
  • +5

Hi everyone,
I have the solution for the Usb storage device. If u receive the message Write protected or Format not complete, You right click on the task bar and go to TaskManager and close all the unwanted process, i tried it by closing the process named searchindex.exe. click on the particular process and then click end task . Close other process which starts with "t" . If still it is not working you can try by closing other process . Its working try it. If you have any queries u can mail me hariekrishnakumar@gmail.com

   
Reply to Harish

89

bash, on Sep 5, 2009 4:26:11 pm BST

Hello mr i am not going to say much.. when i fomrat my USB device at last it tells me that it is ( unable to complete the format) i hope i get an answer soon .. thank you :)

   
Reply to bash

34

Allan, on Oct 31, 2008 7:02:54 am GMT

Try to turn off your anti-virus on your pc before you format,,other anti-virus blocks what you doing .. hope it helps

   
Reply to Allan

54

Ravi Kumar, on Dec 29, 2008 8:07:41 am GMT
  • +5

My usb device is showing a message of format, when i format it it gives a message that window can not format the USB device.

   
Reply to Ravi Kumar

69

irwan, on May 28, 2009 4:54:31 pm BST

HELP ME, I CAN FORMAT MY FLASH DISK V-GEN 4 G.CAUSE PROTECTED

   
Reply to irwan

71

Harish, on Jun 2, 2009 3:00:36 pm BST
  • +2

Hi everyone,
I have the solution for the Usb storage device. If u receive the message Write protected or Format not complete, You right click on the task bar and go to TaskManager and close all the unwanted process, i tried it by closing the process named searchindex.exe. click on the particular process and then click end task . Close other process which starts with "t" . If still it is not working you can try by closing other process . Its working try it. If you have any queries u can mail me hariekrishnakumar@gmail.com
with regard
Harish

   
Reply to Harish

2

salahsaif, on Jun 21, 2008 9:46:02 am BST

I have flash disk Adata but i can't formated it and delet any file from it or copy to it
can u help me

   
Reply to salahsaif

3

jack, on Jun 27, 2008 3:08:19 pm BST
  • +9

Some usb keys or flash drives have a little switch that locks it & makes it read only. Try looking for something like this.

   
Reply to jack

13

everlast, on Jul 29, 2008 3:25:13 pm BST

Thnx that wrkf fr mee.... LOL!

   
Reply to everlast

55

Elhou80, on Jan 3, 2009 2:02:06 pm GMT

Hi,
I have a flash disk 1Gb DataTraveler.

i xant formated it, but a message error appear :

The memory card is write-protected. please release the write protect switch.

there is not a switch lock/unlock

please, help me.

   
Reply to Elhou80

57

Georgo, on Jan 7, 2009 1:48:19 pm GMT
   
Reply to Georgo

65

babba, on Apr 3, 2009 2:40:25 am BST

Excellent worked first time kingston traveler 8gb

   
Reply to babba

91

Philcan502, on Oct 14, 2009 9:44:17 am BST

Excellent the HP format utility worked perfectly on my USB Drive.

Thank-you for the tip

   
Reply to Philcan502

94

 DocM108, on Oct 29, 2009 12:05:32 am GMT

Thank You Very Much ......................
You are helping me................

   
Reply to DocM108

66

sam, on Apr 8, 2009 10:39:20 pm BST

I cannot format pendrive error occuring "cannot format drive it is write protected"

Can u help me out to resolve this problem.

Regards,
Rakesh

   
Reply to sam

73

Harish, on Jun 2, 2009 3:09:25 pm BST

Hi everyone,
I have the solution for the Usb storage device. If u receive the message Write protected or Format not complete, You right click on the task bar and go to TaskManager and close all the unwanted process, i tried it by closing the process named searchindex.exe. click on the particular process and then click end task . Close other process which starts with "t" . If still it is not working you can try by closing other process . Its working try it. If you have any queries u can mail me hariekrishnakumar@gmail.com
by Harish

   
Reply to Harish

93

Javi, on Oct 16, 2009 3:31:33 pm BST

Hi,
I have a flash disk 8 Gb DataTraveler.

i cant formated it, but a message error appear :

The memory card is write-protected. please release the write protect switch.

there is not a switch lock/unlock

please, help me.

   
Reply to Javi

58

tinesy, on Feb 3, 2009 2:29:34 am GMT
  • +7

THANK YOU SO MUCH JACK!!
I would never have thought to look for a switch!
It worked. thankyou thankyou thankyou.
You just saved my homework assignement!

   
Reply to tinesy

20

hais, on Sep 7, 2008 9:09:55 am BST

I also have same problem, my Flash drive Brand: Adata
Please help me

   
Reply to hais

4

ted, on Jul 4, 2008 3:43:48 am BST

Damn. me too my usb said write protected i think thier virus

   
Reply to ted

5

Suren, on Jul 4, 2008 6:39:48 am BST

Hello,

I get a message telling me my USB key needs to be formatted, I click ok, try to format and I get a message saying , disk is write protected, the problem is I've been using that key for over a year with no problem, can anyone help please...

Suren

   
Reply to Suren

16

KD, on Aug 9, 2008 12:32:26 am BST

Cant format usb storage device , It reads write protected or it does not complete

   
Reply to KD

24

arasu, on Oct 1, 2008 4:38:50 am BST

Cant format usb storage device , It reads write protected or it does not complete

   
Reply to arasu

92

juna, on Oct 15, 2009 6:43:53 am BST

Hello,

I get a message telling me my USB key needs to be formatted, I click ok, try to format and I get a message saying , disk is write protected,what am i supposed to do,can you help me?




juna

   
Reply to juna

6

Rol, on Jul 4, 2008 9:08:56 pm BST

Hi! I need a help please! My external hard disk can't be seen on my computer but visible on device manager. I know that it needs formatting but vista o/s is not posible maybe there's a way but don't know how. I've done formatting a drive with xp o/s & works when used on vista. I just wanna learn some other way with vista o/s a way of formatting a drive. Your expert advice will be greatly appreciated....

   
Reply to Rol

17

toddus, on Aug 13, 2008 11:38:02 pm BST
  • +8

Control Panel - Admin Tools - Disk Managment - Wizard will (Init the Disk, Assign Drive Letter, and Format)

   
Reply to toddus

19

stebe, on Aug 14, 2008 8:03:28 am BST
  • +1

Wow man, i knew it was lack of partition considering i accidently deleted the partition when setting up xp lol. just didnt know how to set up primary partition, it was all unallocated. thanks alot, works great now

   
Reply to stebe

31

www.try2stopus.com, on Oct 19, 2008 3:08:12 pm BST
  • +1

Thank you alot you was a big help matter a fact you fixed my prob not me :) i spent 3 days trying to fix it and just wow your are very good thanks alot

   
Reply to www.try2stopus.com

39

Ismail, on Nov 12, 2008 11:48:09 am GMT

Dude your Disk Management trick helped me alot.. thank you very much....!!!!!

   
Reply to Ismail

7

Eero, on Jul 12, 2008 11:15:48 pm BST

Try http://emea.apacer.com/en/support/downloads.asp

Keyword search: "AH320 LFormat Utility" and download it.

   
Reply to Eero

8

Aruna, on Jul 13, 2008 2:07:23 pm BST
  • +1

Hi,
My Toshiba 8GB USB pen is fucked up.
It was working well before and I pulled it out when windows was runing scandisk on it after a reboot. After reboot, the pen is write protected. No external switch.
The pen cant be written. Cant format. It says write protected.
I tried in CMD format command. It also says same. Please help.

   
Reply to Aruna

18

dusty , on Aug 14, 2008 1:47:06 am BST

It was working well before and I pulled it out when windows was runing scandisk on it after a reboot. After reboot, the pen is write protected. No external switch.
The pen cant be written. Cant format. It says write protected.

Not sure but just out of curriosity Did you try to run a FULL scan disk on it again or even a defrag afterwards and then try to format it? I had this same problem on my Transcend 4GB and I did these steps. then it worked fine.

   
Reply to dusty

74

Harish, on Jun 2, 2009 3:41:23 pm BST

Hi everyone,
I have the solution for the Usb storage device. If u receive the message Write protected or Format not complete, You right click on the task bar and go to TaskManager and close all the unwanted process, i tried it by closing the process named searchindex.exe. click on the particular process and then click end task . Close other process which starts with "t" . If still it is not working you can try by closing other process . Its working try it. If you have any queries u can mail me hariekrishnakumar@gmail.com

   
Reply to Harish

9

yugo, on Jul 15, 2008 8:06:18 am BST

Hai,

I get a message telling me my USB key needs to be formatted, I click ok, try to format and I get a message saying , disk is write protected, the problem is I've been using that key for over a year with no problem, can anyone help please

   
Reply to yugo

10

jermat, on Jul 16, 2008 8:57:03 pm BST

I got this problem recently and I downloaded this software

http://www.apacer.com/en/support/downloads/AH320_Utility_LFo­rmat.zip

You should not have any other USB drive connected on your computer because it will format the first one it founds.
It worked on my Toshiba 4GB USB drive. First it said Formating failed but I just had to disconnect and reconnect it and then windows asked me to format it again... And now everything is fine.

Hope this will work for you

   
Reply to jermat

85

guyvers world, on Aug 9, 2009 10:44:36 am BST

Thanx my brudda,it worked well for me...i think...thanks g,...

   
Reply to guyvers world

11

raja, on Jul 22, 2008 5:47:08 am BST
  • +1

I can't format pen drive

   
Reply to raja

86

selva_bothers, on Aug 9, 2009 2:53:38 pm BST

Go to safe mode with command prompt and type format "device path"....may solve ur prob check it

   
Reply to selva_bothers

12

Nietzsche, on Jul 24, 2008 12:07:59 am BST

As jack said, "Some usb keys or flash drives have a little switch that locks it & makes it read only. Try looking for something like this".

I had this problem yesterday. Covered that place of missing (probably broken) small switch with adhesive tape, the same way used to do with copy protected floppies some decades ago, and voil� ! Problem solved.

   
Reply to Nietzsche

14

Maddy, on Aug 2, 2008 3:10:48 pm BST
  • +1

Dude... Eera... U are a genius... that tool worked perfectly alright for me.... too good man... rock on... keep helping...

   
Reply to Maddy

15

tanmay, on Aug 6, 2008 10:50:32 am BST

Hi,
i am tanmay i have a problem i con't format usb device
do you have any soluction then reply ans.

thanks

   
Reply to tanmay

56

bogs, on Jan 7, 2009 2:28:29 am GMT

Hi just throw it u cannot format and recover your flush drive.

   
Reply to bogs

21

anil, on Sep 8, 2008 2:55:56 am BST
  • +1

Hello dear,
This problem is create by a trojan programe .So frist of all scan computer with kespersky antivirus and then if trojan and worm are found the first of all delete this threats and then format your pandrive If the problem is same then Reinstall your usb driver of Defragement the pan drive

   
Reply to anil

22

nishant, on Sep 9, 2008 12:56:22 pm BST
  • +1

Hi Jermar,

I download that utility Formatter.exe but it can't be installed on vista,can you please suggest simmiler uility for vista.

Hi Anil,

i searched for trozan but not found one,ma pen drive is giving error on each and every system,so does not seems to be a system specific or trozan related issue or may be if trojan itself gets from pendrive to

   
Reply to nishant

23

hellocdw, on Sep 27, 2008 3:48:24 pm BST
  • +1

Jermat...
it says usb flash drive not found
i dont know which brand is my usb -_____-

   
Reply to hellocdw

25

bisc, on Oct 1, 2008 10:20:36 am BST
  • +3

I try all the suggestion but still it say the usb flash disk(I have transcend 4gb) is write protected,
I also try this "AH320 LFormat Utility" but it say usb flash disk not found...
any other suggestions? +________+

   
Reply to bisc

27

sai, on Oct 8, 2008 6:34:46 am BST
  • +1

I have a memory card. and its write protected, what, should i do to format it, please he

   
Reply to sai

42

Mohan, on Nov 18, 2008 10:45:51 am GMT
  • +2

I too had this problem (problem with write protected memory card).do u have any solutions for this,reply me please.

   
Reply to Mohan

29

Dondon, on Oct 13, 2008 8:33:36 pm BST

Grrr i have the same problem. except I'm using vista and need a solution. i tried the formatter software on XP but it didnt even find the dam thing, but my computer reads the disk. :\ hellp

   
Reply to Dondon

48

gimi, on Dec 22, 2008 6:17:41 pm GMT
  • +1

Hy, i have a problem with a disk drive.i can´t formate him.i receive en error "windows was unable to complete the format" what can i do???

   
Reply to gimi

60

james, on Feb 15, 2009 1:26:43 pm GMT
  • +2

Hello sir.
i tried and used every method to format my flash i could not. when i insert flash the icon appears but access denies giving message "format" when do that it fails pleas help me pleas.

   
Reply to james

49

gimi, on Dec 22, 2008 6:18:34 pm GMT
  • +6

Hy, i have a problem with a disk drive.i can´t formate him.i receive en error "windows was unable to complete the format" what can i do???

   
Reply to gimi

50

MIMI, on Dec 24, 2008 8:59:30 pm GMT
  • +3

I have a problem with my usb pleas help .Windows was unable to complete the format.

   
Reply to MIMI

75

Harish, on Jun 2, 2009 3:43:07 pm BST

Hi everyone,
I have the solution for the Usb storage device. If u receive the message Write protected or Format not complete, You right click on the task bar and go to TaskManager and close all the unwanted process, i tried it by closing the process named searchindex.exe. click on the particular process and then click end task . Close other process which starts with "t" . If still it is not working you can try by closing other process . Its working try it. If you have any queries u can mail me hariekrishnakumar@gmail.com


by
Harish

   
Reply to Harish

63

adeel, on Mar 24, 2009 1:55:01 am GMT

Sir good morning

sir just i have tried formatting to my usb but there are some virus which can not formatted plz tell me good format software thank u

   
Reply to adeel
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