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How to unlock a disk from writing. What to do if the disk is write-protected and the flash drive cannot be formatted - Low-level formatting. Changing disk properties

Nowadays, a lot of users ask how to remove protection from a flash drive.

This need arises at the moment when a person wants to write something to his removable storage device or delete some information from it, but cannot do this due to an error. It says that “The disk is write protected,” so nothing can be done with it.

But there are several ways to solve this problem, and some of them are incredibly simple.

1. Pay attention to the switch

Many drives have a standard switch, which, in fact, is responsible for installing protection.

If this switch is set to the “On” position, the user will only be able to view the contents of the flash drive, but not edit it. He will not be able to copy anything to his computer or write anything new to the drive.

Therefore, carefully inspect your flash drive for this very switch. If you find it, change position and try using the media again.

If after this the USB flash drive does not work as expected, you will have to resort to a more complex method of solving the problem.

2. Remove protection via the command line

As you know, Windows has a command line that allows you to very easily and quickly perform various manipulations with the system using text commands. A protected flash drive may also cease to be so if you enter some commands correctly.

In general, you need to do the following:

  • Launch this very command line, but, very important, do it as an administrator. To do this, go to the “Start” menu, open “All Programs”, then the “Accessories” folder and right-click on the “Command Prompt” item. In the drop-down menu, just click on “Run as administrator”. In Windows 8.1 and 10 there is no need to do this; there you just need to simultaneously press the “Win” and “X” buttons on the keyboard.

  • Now you need to launch the DiskPart shell by simply typing the word “diskpart” into the command line and pressing Enter on your keyboard. The shell will be launched and ready to use.
  • Then you need to see which disks are available for use (including flash drives) and remember the number of the one that is write-protected. To do this, enter the command “list disk” and press Enter again. The list we need will appear on the screen. You can find out your drive by its size. In our case, this is “Disk 1”.

  • Next, you need to select a flash drive to work with. In our case, the command will look like “select disk 1” (since in the previous step we determined that our storage medium was identified in the system as Disk 1).
  • Actually, now all that remains is to enter the command to remove write protection. It looks like this: “attributes disk clear readonly”. Do this and wait a little while the system removes the protection.

  • To exit, you need to enter the “exit” command.

It is worth saying that this method is quite strong and helps in most cases. But if all else fails, use the Registry Editor.

3. Remove protection through the registry editor

This method is also considered quite effective and efficient.

It involves the following actions:

  • Open a registry editor program. The most convenient way to do this is by opening the program launch window. To use this, press the “Win” and “R” buttons on your keyboard. When it opens, enter the word “regedit” in one single field and press Enter or the “OK” button in the same window.

  • Next, in the left panel, sequentially go to the following folders: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE”, after “SYSTEM”, then “CurrentControlSet” and finally “Control”.
  • Right-click on the “Control” folder. In the menu that appears, click on “Create” and then “Section”. This will cause a window to create a new partition in this folder to appear.

  • A new untitled folder will appear in the Control folder. Enter "StorageDevicePolicies" as its name. This will be a new section that will automatically open in the panel on the right.
  • Now in the newly created one, open the function menu (right mouse button), select “Create”, then click on “DWORD parameter (32 bit)” (for 32-bit OS) and “QWORD parameter (64 bit)” (for those , who have a 64-bit OS).

  • A new parameter will be created, the name of which should be entered “WriteProtect”. Open it. In the window that appears for changing the parameter, enter 0 in the “Value” field. Click the “OK” button at the bottom of this window.

  • Close Registry Editor and try using the drive that was previously not working.

If this method does not help, you can use the Group Policy Editor.

4. Remove protection through the Group Policy Editor

This method involves the following steps:

  • Launch the same program execution window that we already opened in the previous method. Write “gpedit.msc” and click “OK” in the opened window. The editor we actually need will launch.

  • Next, open the “Computer Configuration” folder in the left panel. Then open the "Administrative Templates" and "System" sections.
  • In the panel on the right you should find a parameter that concerns recording prohibition. Open it.

  • In the open window, check the box next to “Disable”. Click on the “OK” button and close all windows.

It is quite possible that this method will not help either. Then all that remains is to format the flash drive. Then absolutely all its parameters will be removed, including write protection. How to do this is clearly shown in the video below.

If you have any problems or questions regarding all the steps described above, write about it in the comments.

It is very frustrating when habitual manipulations performed many times suddenly, at one unfortunate moment, fail. It would seem that writing files to a flash drive is a routine operation that is already performed “automatically”. And so, when I try to transfer several files to this portable media once again, a message pops up that this flash drive is write-protected and it is not possible to perform the operation.

Is this a death sentence, or can the problem be dealt with? Let's figure it out.

Reasons for blocking a flash drive

There can be many versions of why it is impossible to write to the media - from mechanical damage to the flash drive to a stupid joke from someone you know. What led to the blocking in this case is not important. It is much more important to use the portable media correctly. Common recommendations include:

  • Avoid mechanical influences.
  • Protect from dust and water.
  • When finished, use the safe removal mode.
  • Check for viruses.
  • It is not recommended to use a flash drive in devices with different OSes, or at least not to write or format them in such devices.

It is much more interesting and useful to find out a way to get rid of the error and write to a flash drive.

How to remove write protection

Let's start everything simple. Having made sure that the flash drive is intact externally, nothing is broken and it has not been dipped into liquid, we will step by step find out why it turned out that this disk is write-protected.

Hardware lock

Inspect the storage media carefully. SD memory cards (microsd through an adapter) and some flash drive models have a mechanical switch that blocks the ability to write and format. Check what position it is set to; if it is in “Lock” mode, then all you have to do is move it and remove the write protection.

It is useful to connect the flash drive to a different USB port, or try recording on another computer. This will eliminate the possibility that there are problems with USB on this computer.

If the flash drive does not open on any computer, then most likely the drive is damaged and will have to be replaced.

Checking the file system type

Please note what kind of file you are trying to write to. As a rule, new flash drives are initially formatted in the FAT32 file system. If the file being written is 4 GB or more in size, you will first have to change the file system to NTFS. Only then will it be possible to record files of any size.

Virus check

Before you continue trying to unlock your flash drive, it is extremely useful to check it for viruses. The reason may be hidden in some malicious program blocking the ability to write information to the disk.

Use an installed antivirus program, or download a verification utility from the website of the developer of such software.

Using the Registry

You can enable disk writing by entering (or checking) the value of the parameter in the registry. To call it, you need to click the “Start” button, enter “regedit” in the search bar, then right-click on the found utility and select the menu item that runs it as administrator.

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR"

and find the “Start” parameter.

The value “3” of this parameter means that the entry is allowed, but if a different value is set, then most likely the cause of the error has been found.

Unblocking an entry in the Local Group Policy Editor

It is possible that the ability of some users to write to removable media is blocked on the computer. To remove the ban, you need to make changes to local group policy. You should click the “Start” button, enter “gpedit.msc” in the search bar, right-click and run the snap-in as administrator.

“Computer Configuration->Administrative Templates->System->Access to Removable Storage Devices.”

The value of the “Removable drives: Deny writing” parameter should be “Not configured” or “Disabled”. Otherwise, recording to external media is prohibited.

You need to reboot the system and then try again to write to the flash drive.

Removing recording protection using Diskpart

If there is still no result, then you can use the command line and the Diskpart program included in the OS. You need to click the “Start” button, enter “Diskpart” in the search bar, and on the line that appears with the name of the program, right-click to run it as administrator. In the window that appears, enter the following commands.

  1. “list disk” – a list of all disks connected to the system will be displayed. You need to choose the right one. You can determine which one corresponds to the flash drive if you go by the size of the disk.
  2. “select disk X” – select the desired disk, where “X” is the disk number from the list displayed by the previous command.
  3. “detail disk” – displays detailed information on the selected disk. You should make sure that the correct drive is selected.
  4. “attributes disk clear readonly” – resetting the “read only” attribute.
  5. “clean” – deletes all partitions on the disk.
  6. “create partition primary” – creating a partition.
  7. “format fs=fat32” – formats the partition with the creation of the FAT32 file system (if you use the fs=ntfs command, the formatting will be performed with the creation of the NTFS file system);
  8. exit – exit the program.

If no recording was made because the “read-only” attribute was set, then steps 5-7 can be skipped. Otherwise, it is advisable to format the flash drive, first saving all important data.

Using third party utilities

It is possible that the flash drive is not formatted, giving one or another error. In this case, to solve problems, it is advisable to use proprietary utilities produced by many flash drive manufacturers. Some of them can be listed:

  • JetFlash Recovery Tool – for Transcend drives.
  • Apacer Repair – for Apacer drives.
  • Apacer 8 Repair Utility is a set of utilities for drives not only from Apacer, but also from a number of others.
  • UFD Recover Tool – for Silicon Power flash drives.
  • USB Flash Drive Online Recovery – for AData drives.
  • Kingston Format Utility – respectively, for Kingston flash drives.
  • AlcorMP is a utility that can work with Transcend JetFlash drives and others that use the AlcorMP controller.
  • Phison Format & Restore – formats (low-level and high-level) flash drives with a Phison controller.
  • HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool is a universal utility for formatting flash drives.

All utilities must be run as administrator.

You can clarify the type of controller used in the flash drive by using, for example, the “Flash Drive Information Extractor” utility.

Conclusion

If none of the recommendations help solve the problem, then the drive will probably need to be replaced. You can use specialized utilities designed to work with a specific type of controller. There is a possibility that the flash drive can be revived. The question is how much you can trust this drive after a serious failure.

Yesterday I helped a friend delete unnecessary information from her computer; it came down to removable media, in particular memory cards and flash drives. And I encountered a situation where, when I tried to erase files from a microSD for a smartphone, the microSD card was not formatted and an error was displayed: “The disk is write-protected.” In the article I will describe the methods I used to fix the problem, maybe they will help some of you.

How I unlocked the memory card

Disk management

Using the hot keys Win + R, open “Run” and enter the command diskmgmt.msc. In the list of volumes, find the connected external storage medium and right-click on it. And then, as shown in the screenshot below, and in the context menu that pops up, select “Format”.

Using diskpart to format an SD card

In the search for “Start” we write cmd.exe, this command will open the command line. Enter “diskpart” (without quotes). Using the keyboard, type list disk.

We find our SD in the table and recognize it by size.

Now we use clean.

The data will be deleted within a short amount of time.

Next, be sure to create a partition, enter create partition primary, then select partition to select it and active, when performing activation. In conclusion, we use format fs=ntfs, -full or format fs=NTFS QUICK, - quick formatting of microSD.

In turn, I want to note that the reception is the best!

Command line

In my case, the work was carried out in Windows 10 safe mode, but I think that the option described below will be relevant in later versions.

Open the command line, it can be found by opening “Start”, where we enter – format e:

Where “E”, respectively, is the volume letter.

What to do if MicroSD is write protected

Changing disk properties

Go to “My Computer”, right-click on the icon of the microSD card that cannot be formatted, go to “Properties”. We are interested in the “Access” tab, where we need to go to the “Advanced Settings” section.

In the window that opens, check the “Share” box and save the changes. Then format it using the standard method.

You can remove protection in the Windows Registry Editor

By using the hot buttons Win + R, by the way, you can create for yourself exactly those that will be more convenient for you to work with, and enter regedit. In the thread

In WriteProtect we change the value from 1 to 0.

If it is not there, then you need to create a DWORD(32-bit) parameter if the operating system is 32-bit or DWORD(64-bit) by clicking on the free space on the right side of the screen.

Changing the file system

If you cannot copy files from a MicroSD over 4 GB, then the issue may be due to the file system limit - replace FAT 32 with NTFS.

After such manipulations everything should work out.

Diskmgmt.msc utility

This action also applies to flash drives.

Let's launch the application.

In the window we look, for example, for our flash drive

Using the mouse we perform actions.

How to remove write protection using the policy editor

  1. In “Run” we use gpedit.msc
  2. Computer Configuration - “Administrative Templates” - “System” - “Access to Removable Storage Devices”.
  3. And disable “Removable drives: Deny reading”.

What to do when none of the options suits you

  • Apparently there is a problem in the memory itself.
  • Scan your PC for viruses.
  • The problem often occurs due to installed programs to create virtual disk drives, such as Alcohol 120%, DAEMON Tools, Virtual CD, Virtual CloneDrive and their analogues.
  • The point is in flash drive or SD firmware (use proprietary software, such as Hp disk format tool or HDD low level format, which is often available on the media or can be downloaded from the official website).

To the entry "The microSD card cannot be formatted. The disk is write protected" 8 comments

    Thanks for the advice, but I have the following similar problem. I have a 64 GB flash drive formatted in NTFS. I transfer information (movies, music, photos, etc.) from one computer (with Win XP Pro OS) to another computer (with Win 7 OS) - and almost always the flash drive becomes unreadable, uncopiable - with the message - remove the write protection. This can only be corrected by formatting the flash drive, but then all the information on the flash drive is lost. One computer is located more than 50 km from another; it is not possible to send information over the Internet. Afterwards, the newly formatted flash drive works fine. By the way, I noticed that it behaves this way only when I transfer information from Win XP Pro to Win 7, but not the other way around.

    Good evening! How similar everything is! In Linux, format a flash drive with the command: sudo mkfs.vfat -F32 -I -v /dev/sdb, and in FREEBSD there is a similar command: sudo newfs_msdos -F32 /dev/da0.

    I've been fiddling with this problem for half a day and all these tips haven't worked. I started looking for a proprietary utility for the memory controller and the memory itself, and finally found it and is now formatting it with its help. To determine the data on the flash drive, I used the ChipGenius v4.00.0807 utility (it was only able to see, other similar utilities do not see the flash drive). The recovery took 1 hour and 15 minutes. , you can wait, the flash drive is completely alive.

    What I like about flash drives from Transcend is their reasonable prices and the program for “repairing” flash drives, which is downloaded into each media. ChipGenius, a good program, has also helped out more than once, but it does not communicate with all manufacturers.
    I often use: JetFlash Recovery Tool, MPTool, USB Flash Drive Recovery.
    And it’s best to try searching, as you do correctly, on the official websites of the product.

    ChipGenius is a program for determining the controller and memory type, and then you need to look for a proprietary utility for flashing the controller and formatting the memory. There may also be nuances, you need to try old and new versions of programs, for example, the old version of the program helped me, the new one did not want to work with the flash drive, although everything was determined and the required memory was set, but the START button was not available. You can change some things in the programs, you can even hardcode your name, change the operating mode of the LED indicator. The available languages ​​were: Chinese and English. The job description in PDF is in Chinese, but can be found in English and with Russian tips on what to do.

    Today I tried ChipGenius. Live and learn! Excellent program. Thank you, Vladimir!

    Please Sergey! It never hurts to try something new.

    In this regard, I am only “FOR”. Something interesting comes up, let me know. ;)

Leave your comment

Some flash drives have a protection function that prevents users from writing anything to a removable disk or, conversely, deleting data from it. Let's figure out what this function is, what it's for, and how to remove it if necessary.

What is write protection on a flash drive?

The write protection function is used in flash cards to make it impossible to delete or add files to the flash drive.

This function can be configured both on the flash drive itself, using a special physical slider, and by software. In addition, there is a special write protection: system. If you enable such protection on your computer, it will be basically impossible to transfer anything from the computer to a flash drive or any other recording device. Used, for example, on office computers.

How to remove write protection?

If, when you try to copy something to a flash drive, delete some files from it, or change them, a message appears stating that the flash card is write-protected, then you have a write ban enabled. And to continue working with the flash drive, the function must be disabled.

Protection enabled via built-in switch

The simplest case: the slider on the flash drive is moved to the Lock position, that is, write protection is enabled. Inspect your flash card, find such a slider (most often found on SD cards; rare on USB flash drives). If there is such a slider, and it is moved to the Lock position (a locked lock may be drawn instead of the Lock inscription), then move it back.

The write protection function will be disabled and you will be able to fully work with the flash drive.

System write protection enabled

If there is no mechanical switch on the flash drive or it is in the desired position, then the protection may be in the system itself. To verify this, try inserting another flash drive into your computer. If it is impossible to write anything to it, then the problem really is in the system protection.

System protection can be enabled in several ways; let's look at how to disable each of them.

Via the registry

  1. To disable registry write protection:
  2. First, open the “Registry Editor” (Win + R, enter regedit in the window);
  3. Then the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control;
  4. Find the StorageDevicePolicies folder;
  5. 1 - protection is enabled, 0 - disabled (if there is no StorageDevicePolicies folder, then protection is not enabled);
  6. Disconnect, reboot and try transferring the file to the USB flash drive, it should work.

Deny through Group Policy settings

You can write-protect a flash drive by changing local group policy settings. Here's what you need to do to re-enable writing to external drives:

  1. You need to open the “Local Group Policy Editor” (Win+R, enter gpedit.msc in the window);
  2. Then open the folder “Computer Configuration” -> “Administrative Templates” -> “System” -> “Access to Removable Storage Devices”;
  3. Find the "Removable drives: Do not write" option. If the parameter has the status “Enabled”, double-click on it and switch the status to “Not configured” or “Disabled”.
  4. Click "Apply" and try writing something to the flash drive, it should work.

Security is enabled by setting access rights

When formatting a flash drive, you can set access rights for different user groups. For example, allow only administrators to write files to a flash drive. To check whether your flash drive has such protection:

  1. Open the properties of the flash drive (right-click on the icon of your flash drive in “My Computer”, then “Properties”);
  2. Open the “Security” tab;
  3. The page will contain a list of different user groups. By clicking on one of them, you can see which actions are allowed for this group and which are not. The list of permissions is located directly below the list of user groups.
  4. If permissions have been set on your computer, you can change the permissions by selecting the desired user group and clicking the "Change" button. To completely remove the write ban, select the “Everyone” group, click “Edit” and check all actions in the “Allow” column.
  5. If the rights were not set on your computer, but you do not have access to the desired computer (or you basically do not know on which computer this was done), then only formatting the flash drive will help, which will lead to loss of data on it. Of course, if the ban is only on writing, and not on reading from a flash drive, then important files can be saved on the computer’s hard drive.

How to format a flash drive, if necessary:

  1. Open “My Computer” (either “Computer” or “This PC”, depending on your version of Windows);
  2. Find the icon of your flash drive, right-click on it and select “Format...”;
  3. Then select the file system into which you want to reformat the flash drive (if you don’t understand, select FAT32 - the standard Windows file system);
  4. Click the "Start" button. A warning will appear stating that formatting will erase all data from the device, close the dialog box and wait until formatting is completed.
  5. Ready.

Disable write prohibition using the command line

You can solve the problem through the command line. This will not help in all cases, but in many.

  1. Open a command line (Win+R, type cmd in the window);
  2. Type the command Diskpart, then disk list. A list of all connected drives will appear, find the number of your flash drive.
  3. Enter the command select disk *flash drive number*;
  4. Enter attributes disk clear readonly;
  5. Close the command line, restart your computer and try copying something to the USB flash drive.

Video: how to remove write protection

Disable write protection using special programs

There are several programs that can remove write protection from flash cards. Some flash drive manufacturers produce such programs for their products. However, the usefulness of these programs tends to zero, since the principle on which they work is formatting a flash drive.

Naturally, with the removal of all data. Any user can do the same independently by right-clicking on the flash drive icon in “My Computer” and clicking “Format...”.

But perhaps such software can help inexperienced users, so let’s look at the existing software.

JetFlash Recovery Tool

The program was developed by Transcend and can only work with flash drives from Transcend and A-Data. To format a flash drive, download the program from the official website, install it, then run it. The program itself will detect your flash drive, all you have to do is click “Start”.

Apacer Repair

A program from Apacer that can only work with flash drives from its manufacturer. The operating algorithm is as follows: download the program, open the exe file, click Repair or Format. The Repair function automatically detects the problem, the Format function formats the flash drive.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

As we found out, the problem of prohibiting recording is completely solvable. There are many ways to deal with it, but sometimes it is impossible to disable the protection without losing the data stored on the flash drive. There is only one piece of advice: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don't rely on a flash card; save important data both on your computer and in cloud services. It will be more reliable this way.

Most users have flash drives (usb sd, transcend, microsd, kingston, sandisk, cd, flash, qumo, microsd, apacer, verbatim, sdhc, psp), hard drive d (hdd), dvd or any other removable or local storage .

You probably use them with great regularity. They allow you to copy your media, photos and important documents.

Despite their high resistance to mechanical damage and the ability to store data for many years, like all other gadgets, they deteriorate.

One of the most common errors that can affect USB flash drives, memory cards or disks is an annoying message: the “Disk is write-protected” error.

Those who have ever had a similar problem know exactly what I mean.

Inability to copy/add/delete any files - this can lead to frenzy.

After trying hard to repair, most end up giving up on the fixes and buying new ones.

What should I do if the system writes the disk is write protected? How to remove this notorious protection?

Here are some simple but effective solutions to restore a disk or flash drive to a working state.

Use these simple tips and simply forget about the message: “the disk is write-protected,” although there is one point here that I have encountered more than once.

It's a microprocessor issue. If it fails, even partially - you can read it - you can copy or format it - no), then only a utility from the drive manufacturer can fix it, and even then not always.

Let's start unlocking disks and flash drives

You have a USB flash drive connected to your computer and you want to copy some files.

Here a surprise awaits you: “The disk is write protected. Please remove write protection or use another drive."

Then you say, "...fuck, how did this happen"? Don't panic - take a deep breath and remain calm.

This is just an error message. Now we will go through a few simple steps together to remove write protection on a USB flash drive. It's just technology and we can fix a lot of things.

Step 1 - Check your USB drive for viruses

Every time you connect a USB drive to your computer, you should automatically scan for viruses - especially if you used it on computers that you don't own.

Viruses often fill USB drives with their files - this can cause a message: write protected.


Depending on your antivirus software, it can be configured to automatically scan USB drives when they are connected.

If you don’t have such a tool, you’ll have to do the scanning manually, it’s not difficult.

If you find a virus, eliminate it using antivirus programs.

Most likely, where there is one virus, there are two or more. For such work, the free utilities Doctor Web and AVG have good recommendations.

Step 2 – Check the enclosure of the USB flash drive

Some USB flash drives are equipped with a mechanical switch that allows you to set them to the write-protected position.

This can be a very small slider switch that can switch on its own in a pocket or computer case (if it is an adapter).

If this is your situation, then simply move the switch to the open position and try copying the files again.

Today there are not many USB drives with such locks. So there's a good chance that this isn't your problem.

On the other hand, if this is not the question, then the following fixes are a little more complicated.

Step 3 - Make sure the disk is not full

If your USB drive is full, you may also receive a writing error message.

So find your USB drive, right-click on it and select Properties.

This will give you a nice pie chart of how much is being used and how much free space is available on your drive.

Step 4 – File System

Make sure you are not using a file that is write-protected. Yes, you will receive a different error message, but perhaps you jumped to conclusions and thought that it was the entire USB flash drive that was blocked. This happens.

Right click on the file you are trying to burn and then on "properties" and the "security" tab.

You will now see several options at the bottom of this window, and one of them is read-only.

Make sure that the checkbox is unchecked or unchecked, and then click on the Apply button. You should now be able to write to this file.

Step 5 - Diskpart Command Line Utility

Have you ever worked on the Windows command line? This is not as scary as one might think, and as such it is the next logical step to remove protection.

Click on and enter the word CMD in the field: search for programs and files.

Now, click on the top (black icon). You will see the following window:

Enter the command “DiskPart” into it and press Enter. Diskpart is a tool that is built into Windows and is accessible through a command line utility. With it we can change the values ​​associated with your USB drive.

Make sure this is really your USB drive. Now type the command Select Disk 3, assuming your USB is number 3, and hit Enter.

Now paste another command there - disk clear ReadOnly - and then click on Enter.

This way you have cleared any read-only attributes that might be on that USB drive.

Now close the command prompt and try writing to the USB drive again. If the protection continues to block access, move on.

Step 6 - to the registry

If none of the previous steps worked for you, then you should do something a little dangerous - enter the registry.

If you are not satisfied with the registry, you can proceed to step 7, to format the USB drive.

Or maybe have a friend who is a computer technician and will check the registry for you.

Try it yourself - it's a fairly simple registry change and you can do it.

Click on the Start menu and enter the command – regedit – in the Search programs and files field. You will see something like the picture in the box below.

Click on the icon at the top and the Registry Editor window will open. By clicking on the arrows next to the menu items, navigate to the branch

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

and find the key named - WriteProtect.

If such an entry exists, right-click on it and click on "Edit".

Now, you will probably find that this parameter is set to 1. 1 means yes and 0 means no. Now change the value to 0 and click on the OK button.

Close Registry Editor, remove the USB device, and then connect it again. You should now be able to record to your USB drive. If not, then the disk will have to be formatted.

Step 7 - Format the USB Drive

WARNING: Make sure you have backed up all files and information on your USB drive. All data will be lost after formatting.

Formatting your hard drive is a last resort. However, it should make your USB capable of reading and writing.

Before formatting a USB drive, determine which file system it already has - NTFS or FAT32.


Usually the file system he already has will be best suited for him.

Now right-click on the selected USB drive and select “Properties” - there you will see the file system.

Close the Properties window, right-click on the USB drive again and select format.

This describes the built-in Windows tool, but sometimes it is advisable, especially if the integrated functions did not bring the desired result.

In the Formatting window, you have several options. You have already determined which file system you will format into.

I suggest unchecking the “Quick Format” checkbox. This will do more than just erase files.

If there are bad sectors on this USB drive, full formatting will throw an error.

Formatting shouldn't take much time. Of course, the larger the volume, the longer it will take.

Assuming you don't have a physical problem with the drive, it will be formatted and ready to read and write.

Conclusion

Sometimes the problem is simple and can be treated simply. Try the methods above as they are most often correct.

If the problem is deep and requires drastic action, make sure that this is true.

Now you have a lot of troubleshooting tools in your arsenal, you should be able to get your flash drives and drives back up and running, potentially saving you a pretty penny.

Of course, if you have any additional tips, we'd love to read them too. Good luck.

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