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USB Write Protection Error/ Unable to Format


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#1
mikeyyz

mikeyyz

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Hi,

My 4GB USB is unable to format. Whenever I try I get a write protection error. I am not sure what model it is but I know it is not Transcend or SanDisk. It looks like this but without the CoreMicro logo:
USB 1
or like this:
USB 2

Any help would be great. And as a side note can someone tell me why as an empty flash drive it only has 3GB of space?

Thanks,

Mikeyyz
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#2
123Runner

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Welcome

Flash drives die and they are so inexpensive these days that it might be easier to just buy a new one.
Also, on some flash drives there is a little slide switch to write protect it. Yours may/may not have it.

As for the discrepancy of space available, losing a full 1 gb is quite a bit. But there will be a discrepency on all flash drives and hard disks. It has to do with the calculation of "bits".
A kilobyte is really not 1000, but 1024 in computers.
Sorry but its kind of hard to explain.

THIS should help explain it.
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#3
mikeyyz

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Okay thanks. I'll just buy myself a new flash drive.
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#4
AtsushiWhelan

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I solved the formatting problem in my SD card following steps here:
1. Go to Disk Management.(Right click the My Computer icon and select the item Manage)
2. The flash drive is listed at the bottom of the Windows. Right it and select New Simple Volume. Then follow the wizard.
3. The the drive will be formatted.
if the Disk Management can't help, you should format it with Command Prompt. It's still easy to format it with cmmand line.
I solved the formatting problem in my SD card following steps here:
1. click Start button and type cmd in the search both and press Enter
2. Type command diskpart on the black windows and press Enter key
3. Continue typing disk 4  Type create primary partition and hit Enter
4.  type in Command prompt format /FS:FAT32J
for more detailed information with screenshots visit this link - 

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