There was a time when we used to use compact disks (CDs) to transfer data from one system to another. A CD can store data up to 700MB. We still use disks for quick transfer of data but now we have another option of USB Drive or “Pen Drive” which is better and provides larger storage capacities. But sometimes these pen drives show formatting errors when we use them again and again. It happens at least once to everyone (unless you lose your USB key before) that when we try to format the pen drive, it fails. We try again and again by re-attaching the pen drive with the system but all we see is error. But you don’t need to worry anymore because in this article I’ll be showing you the simplest method to format virus infected pen drives.

Cause:

There are two main reasons behind these formatting errors:

• The most common error we face is that the files which are stored in the pen drive are being used by the system in which we try to format (see the image below). The reason behind such an error is virus. One should always try keep USB drive safe from virus.

• The other reason could be that there’s some hardware damage inside the Pen Drive. Obviously there’s no way to correct an internally damaged and broken pen drive. You better buy another one.

Method to format unformatable (Virus infected) Pen Drives:

The method I’ll be showing you is really simple. We’ll use the Command Prompt and enter some commands. And we’ll be done! So let’s get started.

• Go to Start and type “cmd” in the search space. Open the Command Prompt, the “cmd” file you’ll see in the search results.
• In the Command Prompt, type the command:

  format G:
   

  And press enter. In my case the drive letter of my Pen Drive is “G”. So instead of “G” in the above command, type the drive letter of your Pen Drive (see the image below).

  

•  Now Command Prompt will ask you to type the volume label (name) of the drive. Type the name correctly and press enter. In my case it is “games”. So I’ll type:

   games
  
  

• At the end, Command Prompt will show you a warning that all the data of the drive you entered will be lost. Type “Y” and press enter. Now your Pen Drive is fully formatted. No data and No virus or anything.
• 

So this was a really simple way to format virus infected unformatable Pen drives. There’s something to note that you can use this method to format any Drive on your system. Just enter the drive letter and volume label of the drive you want format and your drive will be formatted.

There’s also another way to format un-format-able or virus infected pen drives. Which is by using a third-party software. The software is “Unlocker”. This software will help you to bypass some of the restrictions on files and allow you to access those files. You can download this software from . After downloading the software, install it. Now right-click on the drive which you want to format and click on “Unlocker”. You’ll see the Unlocker Window which will show the files which are being used by the same system.

Click on “Unlock All”. After that, use the common procedure of formatting the drive i.e. right-click on drive and click on “Format”. The formatting will complete.

At the end I would like to advice my readers that they should take care of their pen drives. Instead of using them continuously again and again in hurry and pulling them out of the slot roughly, you should handle your pen drives with soft hands. Protective measures should be taken like safely removing the pen drive from your system before actually pulling out the pen drive out of the slot.