Cannot format your USB pen drive because it is write-protected? Get 'The disk is write protected' error message while trying to format the flash drive, pen drive or SD card? Some removable storage devices like USB flash drives or pen drive have write protection which is designed to help users prevent unexpected data loss by refusing to delete or format. If you’re stuck with a write-protected USB drive that can’t be formatted with 'The disk is write protected' error, please don’t worry! Here is a simple way you can try to remove the write protection and format the USB flash drive and pen drive with no hassle.
1. Remove write protection on USB flash drive/pen drive using Regedit.exe
- 1. Click 'Start', type: Regedit in the search box, click 'Regedit.exe' to open the Registry editor when you see it is displayed at the top of the list.
- 2. Then navigate to the following key: ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlStorageDevicePolicies
- 3. Double-click on the 'WriteProtect' value in the right-hand pane of Regedit.exe.
- 4. Change the 'Value' data from '1' to '0' and click 'OK' to save the change.
- 5. Close Regedit and restart your computer. Connect your USB flash drive or pen drive again, and you should find the write protection is removed and the device is no longer write protected.
Hi, I have this problem with my usb stick. It says, 'Windows was unable to complete the format.' Is there a force removal of write protect? Apr 22, 2019 Just connect your USB drive to the PC, then let a recovery program scan your USB drive to seek any recoverable items. Also Read: Complete Guide to USB Flash Drive Data Recovery Also, if you happen to have access to another computer, the first attempt you should take is try inserting the USB drive to that PC and then see if the drive can be.
If you are not professional in computing management and not familiar with command lines, don't worry. EaseUS R&D team has promoted a fresh kit for helping you resolve the write-protection issue on your hard drive, external hard drive, USB or SD card, etc., devices.
EaseUS Tools M is a practical computer fixing tool that is safe and light-weighted. It's a perfect alternative to the command line.
Use this one-click tool to solve the write-protection issues on your own:
Step 1: DOWDLOAD and install EaseUS Tools M for free.
Step 2: Run EaseUS Tools M on your PC, choose 'Write Protection' mode.
Step 3: Select the device which is now 'Write-Protected' and click 'Disable' to remove the protection.
After that, you can recover data from SD card with powerful data recovery software and format the drive as normal by following Method 2.
2. Format a USB flash drive or pen drive after removing write protection with EaseUS partition software
EaseUS partition software, a powerful third-party disk partition management tool which works well to format USB flash drive or pen drive after removing write protection. Besides USB flash drive, the program also allows you to format a write-protected SD card when the write protection is removed. Here is the detailed guide.
Step 1: Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition on your external hard drive/USB/SD card which you want to format and choose the 'Format' option.
Step 2: Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.
Step 3: In the Warning window, click 'OK' to continue.
Step 4: Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting your external hard drive/USB/SD card.