# Solved: USB Flash Drive Won't Format



## electrix

I plug it in, click on it, and it says it needs to be formatted and asks if I'd like to do it now. I click yes, start, ok, and then an error message: Windows was unable to complete the format. I tried going into disk management to format the drive; no luck. Couldn't even find an option to format the drive. I've read through some other threads posing similar problems but couldn't find anything useful. At this point, am I out a USB Flash Drive or is there anything I can do to make it usable again? The files on the drive are unimportant; they can be sacrificed.


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## JohnWill

In Disk Management, right click on the drive, you'll see the format option.


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## electrix

There is no option in disk management for formatting the drive.


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## JohnWill

Sorry, I'm not buying that. Let's see a screen shot of Disk Management after you right click on the graphic of the drive in question.

To post a screen shot of the active window, hold the _*Alt*_ key and press the *PrtScn* key. Open the Windows PAINT application and _*Paste*_ the screen shot. You can then use PAINT to trim to suit, and save it as a JPG format file. To upload it to TSG, open the full reply window and use the _*Manage Attachments*_ button to upload it here.


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## electrix

Okay, here it is. Am I in the wrong place?


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## JohnWill

Are you right clicking in the right hand graphic that's under the drop-down? It appears you clicked on the left hand description, that won't work.

Here's what I see when I click where I'm talking about. Note that there is a format option.


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## Rich-M

Covered up in screen print is a removable disk E that is 3.78 gb...isn't that the flash drive?


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## Elvandil

Try the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool.


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## JohnWill

Rich-M said:


> Covered up in screen print is a removable disk E that is 3.78 gb...isn't that the flash drive?


Yep, and the black seems to indicate it's not formatted.


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## electrix

Had to partition it. Thanks!


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