4 Common USB Flash Drive Issues Along with Quick Fixes

USB Flash drives are the most convenient storage medium that can store tons of data of any format. We can carry them along anywhere we want with ease. These tiny miracles are portable in size and are available in different storage size variants and designs. When it comes to transferring data from one device to another, USB flash drives are always our first pick.

But are you facing any issues with USB flash drive lately? Is your USB pen drive behaving weirdly? Is your system unable to detect the flash drive when you plug it in? Well, don’t worry! These are some of the most common USB flash drive issues that millions of people face every day. But the good thing is, there’s a solution for every USB annoyance that is bothering you. By making a few tweaks in the settings, you can fix all these troubles on your own without seeking anyone else’s help.

Let’s get started and see how we can tackle these minor issues on our own.

1. USB Flash Drive not Recognized

There are times when our system is unable to detect the USB flash drive. Even when we try to unplug and re-plug it back repeatedly, the USB flash drive is not recognized.

To fix this here are a few things that you can try:

Shut down your PC and restart it after a few seconds. Now plug the USB flash drive again and see if it’s detected by the system.
Try using the flash drive on some other system or USB port in case if there’s an external issue with your system’s USB port.
Last but not least, we can try to format the USB flash drive to start afresh. Press the Windows + R key combination and then type “diskmgmt.msc” in the text box. Tap enter and you will see a “Disk Management” window on the screen. Most probably, you will your flash drive’s name on the screen. Right click on it and select “Format”.

2. The Device is Currently in Use

You may have definitely seen this pop up when you’re ejecting the flash drive from the system. Even if you close all windows as prompted by the pop-up, the flash drive still shows the same error.

Here are a few solutions you can try:

You should always try to safely remove the USB flash drive once you’re done using it. Right click on the USB flash drive and select the “Eject” option from the list, instead of directly plugging it out.
Open Windows Task Manager by pressing Control + Alt + Del key combination. In the list of active processes, find your USB flash drive’s name. Right click on it and hit the “End Task” option.

3. Write Protect Error

When you’re trying to copy some data on USB flash drive, you must’ve faced the “The Disk is write protected” error, right? This error also pops up when you’re trying to format the flash drive.

Let’s take a quick look on how we can fix this write protect error:

First, scan your flash drive via any anti-virus software and make sure that it’s error free.
If yes, then you can make a few tweaks in Command prompt shell to fix this issue. Launch Command Prompt on your system. Type “Diskpart” and hit enter. Now type “LIST VOLUME” and hit enter. Type “Select Volume <USB Flash drive name>” hit enter and then type “ATTRIBUTES DISK CLEAR READONLY”. Doing so will remove the write protect error so that you can continue using your flash drive like before without any hindrance.

4. Disk Not Formatted Error

This is another one of the most common USB flash drive issues that you may have faced.

Here are a few alternatives you can choose to fix this issue:

Try plugging the USB flash drive to some other PC and see if whether it’s showing the same error.

If that doesn’t fix, then you can take Command Prompt’s help. Open Command prompt and type “Format <USB flash drive name> /q “and then hit enter.

So folks here was a quick briefing on most commonly faced USB flash drive issues along with their quick fixes. Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to share your feedback!

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January 23, 2023

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