Unable to Format

BOOBALAN.V
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Unable to Format

Post by BOOBALAN.V »

Dear Community,

I am unable to format my USB sandisk 8GB. I tried diskpart in cmd. it doesn't show in disk list then i tried disk management. There it will shows only 8mb. i tried to delete the volume then i tried to create new volume. It shows the same error. How to fix this issues. What causes the problem. Kindly help me.
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HansV
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Re: Unable to Format

Post by HansV »

What happens when you right-click the drive in Windows Explorer/File Explorer and select Format... from the context menu?
Best wishes,
Hans

BOOBALAN.V
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Re: Unable to Format

Post by BOOBALAN.V »

Dear sir,

It shows as the following picture. It shows only 8MB sir in CMD and As well as partition master software sir. I think it contain virus. It prevent to format the disk.
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HansV
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Re: Unable to Format

Post by HansV »

Try selecting FAT32 as File system, and perhaps 8192 bytes as Allocation Unit Size.
Best wishes,
Hans

BOOBALAN.V
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Re: Unable to Format

Post by BOOBALAN.V »

Sir still its not working sir. Now what to do sir. Do i want to replace the USB

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HansV
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Re: Unable to Format

Post by HansV »

I'm not a hardware expert - I'd wait to see if someone else has a better suggestion.
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Hans

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viking33
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Re: Unable to Format

Post by viking33 »

What Operating System are you using?
Is this a new drive you are trying to install?
If you open up Device Manager, do you see the drive listed?
While in DM, right click on the drive and them properties and what does it say?
Try updating the drive software while in DM.
Any other details you can provide?
BOB
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DaveA
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Re: Unable to Format

Post by DaveA »

The problem I see is the OP's images says 8MB where the OP say's 8GB.
Which is it?
I would say that it is an older USB 1 8 MB drive.
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HansV
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Re: Unable to Format

Post by HansV »

Or perhaps it's a fake - there have been cases of USB sticks being sold with a much larger capacity mentioned on the packaging than the actual size.
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Hans

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Argus
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Re: Unable to Format

Post by Argus »

BOOBALAN.V wrote:What causes the problem. Kindly help me.
I'd say anything is possible (with no information about history of the flash drive or the computer). In similar cases: it being previously used with a bootable image file (thus clearing the partition table and creating a smaller partition, but there would be unallocated space); an encrypted, hidden, partition (or similar; Sandisk had a software called U3 Launchpad, I think; it's EOL but they have an uninstall software); unrecognised partitions (non-Windows file system, missing or corrupt); damaged drive; malware or counterfeits*, i.e. fake drives (and perhaps problem with the USB port).

The format command will not change the size of the volume, no matter where it is done. (Ex. If you have one small partition and a large unallocated space, formatting the small partition won't regain unallocated space.)
BOOBALAN.V wrote:[...] then i tried disk management. There it will shows only 8mb. i tried to delete the volume then i tried to create new volume. It shows the same error. [...]
I'm not surprised you couldn't delete the volume in Disk Management, that option is greyed out in the menu (in most Windows versions) since it's considered being a removable media. (Partitioning, to create multiple partitions, isn't supported in Windows on removable media, but there are several third-party tools as mentioned below. [Apparently it's possible in Windows 10 Creators Update and onwards.])
BOOBALAN.V wrote:[...] As well as partition master software [...]
But then you mention a couple of additional things in your second post; Partition Master ... (EaseUS?). There are several third-party tools that can work with partitions in a GUI similar to that one. Are the partition options also greyed out in Partition Master?

Still, 8 MB of "nothing", is odd. Your small screenshot from Disk Management tell us it's not unallocated, there is a partition, at least interpreted by the software; if it had been formatted it would say FAT32, NTFS etc. and if not (i.e. disk cleaned an only a partition created) it would say RAW (a damaged file system could probably also show RAW).

You could try different USB ports, it's always good to try, and you give us no background, as well as uninstall it from the Device Manager, as Bob mentioned, then remove it and connect it again; however it will probably make no difference.

You mentioned DiskPart, and listing disks, and that you couldn't see it (I think Windows XP didn't list USB flash drives.), but what do you see? With the USB memory connected to a working USB port:
- Run a Command Prompt as administrator (for ex. type CMD in the start menu, right-click, select Run as administrator.
- Run DiskPart.
- Type list disk

What do you see?

You could try list volume, what do you see?

And finally, can you share any history, as Bob asked?

There are some tools out there, such as Testdisk etc. that perhaps might help, given the information so far (though long time since I used them so don't know).
DaveA wrote:The problem I see is the OP's images says 8MB where the OP say's 8GB.
Which is it?
I would say that it is an older USB 1 8 MB drive.
Then it ought to be one of the earliest USB flash drives and should be framed and put on a wall. :smile:

* There is a simple tool to test the storage capacity of flash drives, to perhaps check fake drives etc. not solve your issue; H2testw. (It's also mentioned here, together with some more tools.)
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