Formatting write protected USB

Hi

Try this tool the HP DiskOnKey USB Device, was removed from the US and UK sites of HP but still on the HP China site, its HPs USB format tool and works quite well for this type of issue, doesnt work in all cases but worth a try, plus the instructions and menus are in English.

If you are using Vista or Windows 7 then you will have to righclick the apps shortcut menu and run as administrator.

 

Hi

Have one other option apart from using a Linux Live CD (ubuntu is good, will need to burn the ISO format file to CD using this imgburn) to format the USB in Linux enviroment, then re-format in FAT, FAT32 or NTFS is to use Diskpart which is a command line util in Windows.


Need to be careful when using as its quite powerful and doesnt list your driver as you'd think.

With your USB pen out of the PC, open the commandline window (CMD) in XP its Start > Run and type cmd and hit enter, in Vista and Win7 click Start and type cmd into the start search box and when it shows in the search list right click and choose run as administrator

then type at the prompt (hit enter after any command in bold)

diskpart
list disk
and you should get a list of disks and size and take note of them, most if HDDs will be in GB size, then put your USB pen in and again type list disk now it should show a new disk and its size should be in the MB range, this is your USB pen

here is sample of mine, top list disk is with USB pen as Disk #3 at size of 7999MB is the USB drive and bottom list disk is with the USB pulled out and just my HDDs

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9436/46297811.jpg

then when you are confident your have your USB pens disk # type

select disk # and enter the number of the disk in lieu of the # in my case above it would be select disk 3, yours may/will be different.

clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=fat32
assign
exit

I cannot stress this enough, do make sure you choose the correct disk # as getting the wrong one will format a HDD of yours and loose any data on that drive.

 

Hi

OK, one think to try and it can be a cause of USB issues is malware on your PC, or just some components of malware, so run this guide HERE, but dont need the logs in this thread, if the scans find malware then start a new thread in the malware forum and attach the logs with a small note on whats happening on your PC.

All the guide is to do for me it to check and run the cleaning steps, always a good thing to do to get a PC to a known state.


Another thing to do is to open Device Manager and open the Universal Serial Bus branch with the USB pen out, click the + and make note of the listing, then plug the USB pen in and Device Manager should refresh, if not close it and open it again and look for a change in the listing, likely called Mass Storage Device, right click that and choose uninstall, then unplug the USB pen and plug back in and this will re-install the driver (just weirdly it could be and a very off the wall thought is the driver is corrupt and causing the locked drive).

Do give the Linux CD a whirl also.

Loathe to let this beat me too now

 

Try this first

And if the above did not work, This removed write protection from some USB sticks
http://usa.apacer.com/us/support/downloads.asp
try the 3rd file from the bottom, AH421 Handy Steno 2.0 Repair Tool