Windows 10: Unable to reformat PNY 32 Gb USB

When trying to reformat PNY 32Gb USB I get the notification that the drive is write-protected. Things I've tried:

-Checked for a physical switch on the USB (none found)
-Cleared readonly status in diskpart (current read-only state still set to Yes)
-Updated StorageDevicePolicies values in RegEdit (no change)

Any ideas?

:)

 

Windows 10, Fixboot - Access Denied

You need to describe your system. If you are running Secure Boot in Win 10, you are using UEFI which needs a FAT 32 partition on a GPT configured drive.

If you just referring to a USB drive, you can reformat it as FAT 32 or at least 32 GB of it....

 

32gb with e63?? Does it work?

Thanks asperguy.... If I do buy the card, I will make sure to get either Sandisk or PNY or something of that sort.



However, the question to be answered is....can the E63 handle a 32 gb card or is 16gb the absolute limit?



Thanks

S

 

Does the Thumb drive show in Disk Management? If so you may be able to delete the partition on it and then format it. For universal usage choose FAT32 which it probably originally came formatted as.

 

I can view the USB in Disk Management but can't delete the partition

 

It's no consolation for you but I have a Linux Mint computer running and use the GPARTED function in it to take care of such chores. One could download the GPARTED LiveCD .iso file, create the disc, boot to it and try [or USB].
GParted -- Download

 

Surely you're logged on with an Administrator Account?

 

/

I am

 

Sorry I'm no help. My only experience with this, Disk Management enabled me to fix the problem.

Good luck ...

 

See this tutorial....

Enable or Disable Disk Write Protection in Windows

...option one describes a physical switch on the USB, worth checking again in case it's not obvious.

If there's no physical switch, try the Diskpart command in Option Three.

If all fails, there's a possibility that the USB is dying. It's controller may have disable writing to protect the existing data and give you a last chance to retrieve it.

The only permanently write-protected USBs I have heard of are the ones Microsoft use for the install media found in 'off the shelf' software boxes, such as Windows 10. Where did you get this USB from?

 

Thank you for the info - I've tried both the diskpart option and looked for a physical switch - neither have worked

 

Have you ever been able to write data to this USB? Is it a 'software install' USB that you are trying to re-use?

 

The USB has a few Gb of my mom's files on it, so we've been able to read/write files onto it before.

 

Then it may be, as I suggested before, that the internal controller has detected a fault and gone 'write protected' to preserve the data. I'd copy the files ASAP from the USB in case it's about to die.

 

And they WILL die.