The USB drive is a small, very useful storage device, but with frequent use it can eventually fail. You might want to use it, but the USB drive is write-protected , or your computer might not detect it because it's damaged.
But don't despair, we might be able to recover your USB drive and get it working again. In the next post, we'll give you the necessary instructions to format a damaged USB drive so you can use it again without any problems.
Does our PC detect the USB?
The first thing we need to check is whether our PC detects the USB drive . If it doesn't, we probably won't be able to repair or format the damaged device. To check, follow these simple steps:
- We introduce the unit in a USB port of our PC. If it does not work, we insert it in another port or clean the USB and port slots by blowing a little (it is possible that there is dust or dirt that prevents a correct reading).
- If the USB does not read us, we try to insert it in a different PC. Perhaps it is a problem with our PC and not with the USB.
- We access «Equipment» and see if the USB has detected us.
If our operating system still detects the USB drive , the data that was saved on it may have been corrupted, but we can still format it.
If our PC does detect the USB drive, the first thing we should do to check if the drive is working correctly is to go to:
- "Equipment" and "Devices and Units", we will right click on the USB drive and access "properties on the unit".
- Next, we will go to the "Hardware" tab to see the status of the device: Here it will appear if the device is working properly.
If we see a message indicating that it's working correctly, we might be able to format the USB drive for future use. This means we'll need to erase everything on the USB drive . We'll use DiskPart for this.
Methods to repair and format your damaged USB
The foolproof method: DiskPart
DiskPart is a built-in tool in Windows operating systems that allows you to configure storage drives. To access the tool, click the search bar in the bottom left corner of your PC and type Diskpart to run the command (always as administrator).
Once inside Diskpart, we'll run the command "list disk" by typing it into the console. Press ENTER and a list of all storage devices connected to your PC will appear. Locate your USB drive here (note the size in GB).
Next, we'll run the command "select disk X", replacing X with the number that corresponds to your USB drive. That is, if you see a list of 4 devices and yours is on the third line, then we'll type "select disk 3".
Now comes the most important step, as we're going to delete all the data from the selected drive. Type the command "clean" and press ENTER. Et voilà, the drive's memory erased.
Here we will follow these simple commands to create a primary partition on the USB and format the drive so that it can be used again:
- "create partition primary”: We create a primary partition.
- "Select Partition 1": We select the partition we have created.
- "active": We mark the primary partition as active.
- "format fs = FAT32”: We format the USB drive.
The process will take a few minutes. When it's finished, your USB drive will be formatted, readable, and ready to use again without any problems . What we've done is clean the USB drive and give it a new format.
If the USB drive is still damaged and unusable, we have bad news. It probably can't be repaired, and you'll need to buy a new one.
CHKDSK, the command that will repair your USB memory before formatting it
If you're not convinced by the DiskPart tool or don't want to format the USB drive without first trying to repair it, we suggest the following option. To access the CHKDSK command , you'll need to run the command " cmd" as administrator from Cortana (bottom left corner of your PC).
Once inside cmd (the black console), we will execute the command: " chkdsk /x /f F: ". Always without quotes, and the letter F corresponds to the drive letter assigned to the USB, that is, it can be G, H, N…
This command scans the USB drive for errors , and if it finds any, it will attempt to fix them. If the error persists, we'll need to use DiskPart.
Format USB without commands or consoles
If we don't want to access the console or use commands, we can also format our USB drive more easily. To do this, we go to "This PC" or "File Explorer," select the USB drive, and right-click to choose the "Format" option.
We will uncheck the " Quick Format" option and click " Start ." This will format the USB drive. Otherwise, we will need to follow the steps in the first option (DiskPart).
Were you able to format your damaged USB drive? Did these steps help you format the USB? Do you know of any other methods? Let us know in the comments and we'll try to help.