Fix Unable to Format Pen Drive Problem

Fix Unable to Format Pen Drive Problem

Most of the times, Whenever we try to format a pen drive or other removable storage devices like memory cards, flash drives, or external HDD. We get an error like “Can’t format the drive, quit any disk utilities or other programs that are using this drive, and then try formatting again”. There may be two reasons for this problem, either your pen drive is hardware faulty or your pen drive is infected from viruses. In case if its, hardware faulty then there is no way to fix it, until and unless it’s in warranty period. If it’s due to virus infection, then you can fix the unable to format or can’t format the drive problem easily.

Read more: http://www.geekscab.com/2014/01/fix-unable-to-format-pen-drive-problem.html#ixzz3THbepWHV

Method 1: To Fix Unable to Format Pen drive Problem

1) Plug in pen drive into your computer and click on start button.

2) Open run prompt and type CMD and press enter. It will open MS DOS Command Prompt.

3) In Dos Prompt, Type “Format X:/FAT32”, without inverted commas and press enter. Don’t forget to replace X with your pen drive or External HDD drive letter.

4) Once done, your pen drive will start formatting.

Most of the times above method works, In case if it’s not working for you. Then follow next Method

Method 2: To Fix Unable to Format Pen drive Problem

1) Plug in your pen drive into computer, and click on start button.

2) Now, Click on Run prompt and then type “compmgmt.msc”, without inverted commas in run prompt and press enter. It will open a computer management window.

3) Click on Disk management from right pane, A Disk management options pane will open on right side.

4) Right click on your pen drive and select format.

It will format your pen drive suffering with cannot format the drive problem, In case If both the above methods are not working for you, then try the 3^rd one. It will work for sure.

How to convert FAT to NTFS

Converting to NTFS Using Convert.exe

A partition can also be converted after Setup by using Convert.exe. For more information about Convert.exe, after completing Setup, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER. In the command window, type help convert, and then press ENTER.
It is easy to convert partitions to NTFS. The Setup program makes conversion easy, whether your partitions used FAT, FAT32, or the older version of NTFS. This kind of conversion keeps your files intact (unlike formatting a partition.

To find out more information about Convert.exe

1.      After completing Setup, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER.

2.      In the command window, type help convert and then press ENTER. Information about converting FAT volumes to NTFS is made available as shown below.

Converting FAT volumes to NTFS

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt

1.      Open Command Prompt. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.

2.      In the command prompt window, type: convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs 

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format. You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.
Important  Once you convert a drive or partition to NTFS, you cannot simply convert it back to FAT or FAT32. You will need to reformat the drive or partition which will erase all data, including programs and personal files, on the partition.

Converts a FAT volume to NTFS.

CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:filename] [/NoSecurity] [/X]

  volume      Specifies the drive letter (followed by a colon),

              mount point, or volume name.

  /FS:NTFS    Specifies that the volume will be converted to NTFS.

  /V          Specifies that Convert will be run in verbose mode.

  /CvtArea:filename

              Specifies a contiguous file in the root directory

              that will be the place holder for NTFS system files.

  /NoSecurity Specifies that the security settings on the converted

              files and directories allow access by all users.

  /X          Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary.

              All open handles to the volume will not be valid.

Terms
File Allocation Table (FAT)
A file system used by MS-DOS and other Windows-based operating systems to organize and manage files. The file allocation table (FAT) is a data structure that Windows creates when you format a volume by using the FAT or FAT32 file systems. Windows stores information about each file in the FAT so that it can retrieve the file later.
FAT32
A derivative of the file allocation table (FAT) file system. FAT32 supports smaller cluster sizes and larger volumes than FAT, which results in more efficient space allocation on FAT32 volumes.
NTFS File System
An advanced file system that provides performance, security, reliability, and advanced features that are not found in any version of FAT. For example, NTFS guarantees volume consistency by using standard transaction logging and recovery techniques. If a system fails, NTFS uses its log file and checkpoint information to restore the consistency of the file system. In Windows 2000 and Windows XP, NTFS also provides advanced features such as file and folder permissions, encryption, disk quotas, and compression.