Share via

USB cannot be formatted.

Anonymous
2021-07-06T07:23:07+00:00

I have this 16GB USB, when I plugged it into my laptop, it only shows about 14,7GB ( I later learned that this issue is completely normal because companies marketed their product ''in a way that consumers could understand'' ).

So without knowing the issue, I went to CMD and used Diskpart commands to reformat it. After running the ''Clean'' command, the drive became 8MB for some reason, and from that point I wasn't able to reformat it anymore. The USB drive is now stuck at 8MB.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

* Moved from Mobile Devices

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

5 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2021-07-06T16:55:40+00:00

    I have gone through the same and this will surely work

    (1) Open CMD as Administrator and run the following commands

    Diskpart

    list disk

    select disk * ( ' * ' represents the number of disks)

    clean

    create partition primary

    active (optional)

    Format FS=NTFS Quick

    Assign

    Now you are all done

    Also, the result should look like this

    NOTE - If your pen drive is of gpt partition then command "active" will not work, but don't freak about it, this process will still work

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-07-06T14:40:47+00:00

    Can you try the following?

    Right click on the 8MB partition there and click on Delete

    Then again right click on the Unallocated Space and select Create a new partition

    Follow the steps. When it asks for the format, select FAT32 instead of NTFS

    When done, eject the pendrive and insert it again.

    If it's still 8 MB, open right click on the start menu and select PowerShell (Admin)

    Run this command: chkdsk F: /f /r /x (where F: is the letter you assigned to the partition.) This will scan and fix any errors with the drive.

    After it's done, eject and insert the pendrive again and open file explorer. Double click on the pendrive and if it asks to format, do it.

    6 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2021-07-06T14:22:55+00:00

    Hi Ishaan

    Thanks for replying. Here's what I see:

    I've searched some guides and they told me to reformat it again in cmd, but as expected it didn't work.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2021-07-06T11:12:17+00:00

    Hi

    Press the Windows logo key + R hotkey and type diskmgmt.msc in the box. Hit enter.

    Attach your USB and tell me what you can see in the new window of disk management.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2021-07-06T16:38:14+00:00

    Hi

    I tried your method, but it didn't seem to work as well :(

    After trying to create new partition, it said volume size was too small as you can see in the pic and the it's even decreased its size from 8MB to 6MB :(

    I also tried the PowerShell method and I got this:

    Which I guess it's another failed attempt. Do you have any more suggestions?

    0 comments