Formatting+Your+USB+Drives

Formatting Your USB Drives If your USB drive is not formatted in can be quite reasonably done as follows:-

Double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop, and then click on your USB drive. When you click on that icon, you should see a pop up that says that the drive is not formatted and would you like to format it? Obviously the answer is yes.

Another pop up window will appear

Note:- You must be signed in as Administrator

When established go to :- (Ensure you are in classic view option), Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management.(Near the bottom of the list )

All the information you need is on the bottom right. Where it indicates your USB drive letter, click on it.

Next click on New Partition and then go through the Wizard steps.

If your Wizard allows you to select any other options, ensure you select Primary Partition. (A Primary Partition is basically, the main storage area).

The following must be adhered to i.e. ensure you select FAT32 as the File System. This just makes it so everything is stored in the proper format. Then click Finish. The USB drive should be formatted once the screen pops up saying that it has been formatted. You now need to test the USB drive to make sure it works properly, put a couple of files onto the drive. Then unplug the drive, but do ensure that you do it properly, i.e. using the Safely Remove Hardware icon in your taskbar.

Take the USB drive to a different computer or just plug it back in. Then wait and see if the files are still there and if they open up. If they do you have just fixed your USB drive.

However, if it doesn’t work, contact the maker of your USB drive. It is sadly the case that if formatting does not work, the company requires there be certain drivers on the drive itself. Confusing as this may be, it is critical for the USB drive to have them. 