• Cannot finish formatting micro sd. Windows can't complete formatting your hard drive, flash drive, or memory card

    In the modern world, flash drives for PCs are quite popular, and in mobile devices ah - cards microSD memory. The popularity of the devices is due to their low price, the ability to store large amounts of data, and at the same time easily transfer all this data to other devices.

    But these devices also have drawbacks - this is a formatting problem. Users of these storage devices are perplexed that the SD card is not formatted. At the same time, the following questions are often asked: The memory card is not formatted, what should I do? And the SD card is damaged Android how to fix it? Let's answer these questions, and also find out what to do if the memory card is not formatted.

    Flash storage devices are a must modern world, therefore, it is important to know how to properly operate and maintain these devices so as not to encounter problems at the most inopportune moment.

    If your SD card is not formatted, that is, there are problems formatting the flash drive and you can’t this action, then you need: or carry the device to service center, or throw it away. But there are also other ways to “save a flash drive.” One of them is a way to format a flash drive through the console.

    IN Windows system There is one peculiarity when deleting files - if the file itself is occupied by some processes, then it will not be possible to delete it. And through the console we can destroy everything without any problems. So, here's what we do in the console if the micro SD card is not formatted:

    1. We use the key combination Win + R
    2. The Run window appears. Enter the command there - diskmgmt.msc.
    3. Click “Ok” and the “Disk Management” window appears in front of us. We look for our flash drive, right-click on it and select “Format”.

    If everything went well for you and without errors, then you’re doing great. If it doesn’t work, then don’t close the article - we have a couple more ways.

    If your microSD memory card cannot be formatted, then the SNDFormatter utility will help you. The program is free and easy to download on the Internet, and we will tell you how to use this utility.

    1. Let's launch the program.
    2. In the “Drive” tab, select our flash drive.
    3. In the “Format Type” tab, select “Full” or “Erase”. “Format Size Adjustment” set to “On”.
    4. And click “Format”.

    If the program did not work, then try this one - Apacer USB 3.0 Repair tool. The utility is similar to SDFormatter, but it is supplemented with the following functions:

    • low-level formatting;
    • disabling protection for flash drives.

    You can download the program on the Internet.

    1. Open the standard Windows utility “Command Prompt” using the Win+X key combination, or look for it in the Start menu.
    2. In the new window we enter “diskpart”
    3. In the next window that opens, write “list disk”. The window will show us everything available drives recording data on a computer, including our flash drive. We find our flash drive (usually it is at the very bottom of the list).
    4. We enter the data in the “select disk 1” window. Your flash drive may have a different name than “disk 1”.
    5. Next, clear the write protection attribute using the command – “attributes disk clear readonly”. To check disk attributes, use the command – “attributes disk”.
    6. We exit the utility using the “Exit” command, and again try to format the flash drive.

    If the above methods did not help you, then the next one is for you.

    Download the Flashnul program. The utility is designed for testing and in-depth work with removable drives on your computer. Therefore, use it carefully and try not to “click” anything unnecessary. Otherwise, you will damage your data and recording disks.

    1. We unpack/install the program on one of the main drives on our computer. For example, let’s take drive C. The path to the program will be – C:\flashnul.
    2. Let's launch command line via Win+X or through the start menu and enter this command:

    cd С:\\flashnul

    1. Next, we see a directory with a utility folder where we need to identify our flash drive. We write this command: flashnul –p
    2. In the list that opens, we look for the name of our flash drive (number or letter). Let's remember it. For example, you have a flash drive with the name N. In this case, write the command for complete cleaning data: flashnul N: –F
    3. We run a test for controller errors, and all data will be destroyed along with it: flashnul N: –l
    4. Upon completion of the test, we launch formatting through the management console. After the completed actions, there should be no errors.

    Problems with the program

    There are numerous problems that can occur with Flashnul. One of the important problems is the appearance of this type of error, in which flashnul itself cannot work with internal and external commands.

    To solve the problem you need:

    1. Open a command line and go to the directory where our program is unpacked. Let's take drive C as an example.
    2. On the command line we write “ C:».
    3. Next, you need to go to the Flashnul utility directory. Enter in the line cd flashnul that's all.

    Use the Usbflashinfo utility. After launching the program, click on the “get information about the flash drive” tab. Finding the lines VID, PID. Copy the values ​​found in these lines into a search engine. Most likely, for this flash drive there is special programs formatting.

    On the website flashboot.ru you will find an incredible variety of programs, utilities and useful information for flash drives and microSD memory cards from all popular manufacturers. Perhaps this is where you will find the program you need that will help your formatting problem.

    We hope that the article helped you fully and now you know what to do if your SD card cannot be formatted or other problems arise with formatting other storage media. Now you can not only safely work with flash drives for yourself, but also help your friends and acquaintances, who will thank you more than once for your efforts.

    If you are trying to format external hard disk, SD card, or USB drive but getting an error message Windows can't complete formatting then you can follow this guide to fix this problem. Typically, this problem is encountered when you right-click on a device in File Explorer and select Format. This may happen due to incorrect format disk or if it is damaged.

    Windows could not complete formatting: SD cards, USB flash drives, Removable drives

    There are several ways to solve this problem, let's look at them in order and what to do.

    1. Disk management

    If the formatting action in Windows ends in an error, then you can use the help of Disk Management.

    • Press a combination of buttons Win+X and select Disk management.
    • Right-click on the device that is throwing the error and select Format.
    • Now you need to select the affirmative option regarding file system, block size. If the task completes successfully, you will be able to use your drive immediately afterward.


    2. Using the command line

    This solution may work even if the first solution didn't work. You can use the command line to format hard drive, SD card, USB drive or any other storage device. Before you start, you should write down or remember the drive letter, which you want to format. Having done this, open command line and run the following command:

    format D: /fs:ntfs

    Here "D" is the drive letter that you remember to fix the error, and "ntfs" is the file system. This process takes a long time even if you have a 4GB USB drive. Therefore, do not close the window under any circumstances. Otherwise, your disk may be damaged.


    3. EaseUS Partition Master

    EaseUS Partition Master is convenient software for disk management, available for Windows. Even though the version has a premium version, free version will work well. Download and install EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. It has one drawback: the lack of a Russian interface.

    • Now make sure the drive you want to format is connected and right click on it and select " Format partition".
    • Now you need to select the partition label, file system, cluster size and click the button Apply".


    If necessary, delete all information from the storage device, for example, flash drives, memory cards or external hard disk, the user resorts to the formatting procedure. There is nothing complicated in it, but only if an error does not occur. If the drive is damaged or software glitch, the user will see the message “Windows cannot complete formatting the disk.” To correct this problem it is possible both using the operating system and third-party applications, and in this article we will look at what needs to be done for this.

    How to fix the error “Windows cannot complete formatting” using system tools

    The occurrence of the error discussed in this article is a fairly common problem that indicates a failure in the formatting process. However, you can format the drive not only in a standard way(by right-clicking on it in Explorer and selecting the appropriate item), but also through the disk management manager.

    In a situation where the error “Windows cannot complete formatting” occurs, it is recommended to do the following:


    By selecting one of the items, it will start Windows utility. Follow the steps it suggests and the formatting error issue should go away.

    If the method above did not help fix the situation, you can try formatting the drive from safe mode. This method appropriate when a formatting error occurs due to the operation of a particular program in background, which prevents the drive from being cleaned. You need to do the following:


    Note that in the example above "E" is the drive letter, it will vary depending on the computer.

    After executing the command, the problematic drive should be formatted. If and this method did not help solve the error problem, then you can try to fix the situation using third-party applications.

    How to fix "Windows can't complete formatting" error with apps

    When you cannot resolve the error when formatting a drive using Windows, can help third party applications. You can find many on the Internet free programs with approximately the same functionality, which cope with the task of fixing the error “Windows cannot complete formatting the disk.” Below we will look at two such applications.

    An extremely simple application whose only task is to format the drive. The program can be useful not only when an error occurs indicating that the disk was formatted unsuccessfully, but also if the capacity of a flash drive or memory card is displayed as zero.

    The EzRecover program is distributed free of charge. Having downloaded it and launched it, just click on the Recover button to fix any errors that have arisen.

    D-Soft Flash Doctor

    Unlike the previous program, this application has a little more functionality. It can not only restore a flash drive, but also, if necessary, create an image of it in order to write it to another drive in the future.

    A nice feature of the application is localization into Russian.

    The formatting error occurs equally often on new and used SD cards for mobile devices. The problem looks like this: the system offers to format the media, but when you agree, an error appears.

    If the cause of the error is software, you can solve it by using special formatting software or a registry editor. It’s worse when the reason for the impossibility of formatting is hardware, for example, mechanical damage, then, as a rule, the media cannot be restored.

    Use formatting programs (SD Formatter and similar)

    Format flash drive standard means Windows and other operating systems do not always work. In addition, as a result of “rough” formatting, the service life of the media is greatly reduced. Therefore, experts recommend using for these purposes special utilities eg SD Formatter.

    To format a flash drive using SD Formatter:

    1. Download the program, it is free, and install it on your computer.
    2. In the “Formatter” menu, select your flash drive through the drive menu.
    3. Run the process in Quick or Full mode.

    Video instruction:

    For most tasks, especially when the flash drive simply refuses to be formatted in the standard way, the Quick format option is sufficient. But if that doesn’t work, you should try activating Full mode, it might work.

    Alternatives to SD Formatter: Mini Tools Partition Wizard, USB disk storage format tool. They are also free and work no worse, and sometimes better, than the most popular formatting program. The launch principle is similar: select the SD card in the Drive menu, start quick or deep formatting.

    Remove write protection by editing the Windows registry

    Special applications often help, but not always. No specialized utilities for formatting cards can handle the “Disk is write-protected” error, with the exception of professional solutions. It will be easier for the average user to understand how the Registry Editor (Regedit) works in Windows than to pay for and study complex commercial versions of applications.

    The registry is a software storage of information about the operation of all software and hardware components of the computer. To deactivate software protection from the entry you need to go into the registry, correct the error and save the changes. How to do it:

    Instead of regedit, advanced users can use a third-party registry editor. As a rule, there is no difference in the result: making edits through the built-in interface or installing proprietary programs.

    All that remains is to restart the computer and try again to format the SD Card, it should work. If not, the flash drive may be faulty at the hardware level.

    Check the memory card for read/write errors

    It happens that the above methods do not work due to problems caused by viruses and malicious software. The most common reason is read/write errors. Again, Windows itself will help fix them:

    1. Insert the memory card into the computer's card reader.
    2. From the Start menu, select Run and type cmd in the text box.
    3. In the command line that opens, enter [drive letter of the flash drive]: /f /r and press Enter.

    The process of checking the selected memory card for errors and bad sectors will begin.

    It is because of the occurrence of read/write errors that failures occur, and they prevent the memory from being formatted in the selected file system. Once the scan is complete, restart your computer and try each of the methods described in this article again. It should help.

    Question - Answer

    [Flash drive cannot be formatted: "Unable to complete formatting"]

    We bought a new SD card, it worked perfectly for 2 months, and then files stopped loading onto it, all documents were deleted, and now it is not formatted. Tried it from my phone and from my computer. All data is visible, everything can be copied to the computer, but nothing is loaded onto it, and when formatting it says “Windows cannot complete formatting.” Lenovo phone A1000.

    Answer. Very often the problem begins with the message "Windows cannot complete formatting the disk." If you can't figure out why the flash drive won't format, there's not much point in finding out. the real reason, due to which Windows refuses to format the flash drive. You can most likely bypass the system warning by using alternative formatting tools.

    First, read the article:. This useful material containing useful information: what is formatting, how to format a flash drive correctly, what programs are intended for this. Is it in the OS? Windows tools for formatting? Selecting a file system: FAT, NTFS or something else? At the end of the article there are answers to questions related to formatting flash drives.

    [Phone SD card is not formatted - what to do?]

    Flash drive microsd sony 64 gb 70 mb cannot be formatted. It is impossible to format anything. The files seem to be deleted and written down. But after reinstalling it in the card reader, everything is in place again.

    Answer. If the memory card on your phone cannot be formatted, the advice is as follows: take a card reader, connect the SD card to the computer and use the SD Format program to format the memory card.

    The SD Format utility will become universal solution. It is usually useful in situations where the microsd is not formatted in the standard way and other utilities refuse to format it.

    I have an 8 GB Transcend microSD flash drive. Used on a car DVR. The problem is that after formatting this flash drive, the files remain. They are read, copied and even deleted, but when I reconnect the flash drive to the computer, the files appear again. I tried to format it into different file systems, it says that it was formatted successfully, but after reconnecting everything remains in its place. Please tell me what to do if the flash drive is not formatted.

    Answer. If you are using Mac OS then operating system automatically writes service files to the memory card, so even after formatting they remain (appear) on it.

    Try formatting the memory card under Windows or use another formatting application, such as SDFormatter.

    Some viruses can use your flash drive as a breeding ground for their malicious code, so it makes sense to check it for viruses by connecting it to your PC.

    In addition, the DVR can record files on its own, without your permission. Unfortunately, you did not specify which files are copied to the flash drive - therefore, we cannot help identify the true “culprit”.

    I bought a hard drive. But before writing files to it, a problem arose: a window pops up where you need to select the disk format (I select it as a flash drive), then the disk is formatted. Suddenly a message appears stating that "Windows cannot complete formatting." I went to the disk management section and entered new hard disk into operation, tried to format it as a file NTFS system and assign a drive letter to it, but nothing happened. What should I do, why is it not formatting? How to put this disk into operation?

    Answer. Windows can't format the drive because it's too big and standard utility formatting options are limited.

    Smash hard drive into several sections, for different types data (for example, music, videos, documents, etc.), for each disk, specify the file system type. The easiest way to do this is through a disk and partition manager such as Acronis Disk Director.

    Today we want to talk about one interesting situation. I have a computer with Windows XP. The hard drive is divided into two sections: C - system and D - data. When trying to format drive D, the system gives an error:

    Windows can't complete formatting

    Why does this problem arise?

    Such a pun with partitions and the location of the boot sector arises in the following situation. At reinstalling Windows system partition is deleted and then recreated in an unallocated area that is located in front of another section:


    As you can see from the second picture, the newly created section is named “Section3” for a reason.

    What happens in this case?

    As a result:

    • the second partition on the disk is the primary one
    • the partition that is physically located first is the logical one
    • The first one is system, however, the second disk is bootable.

    The picture below shows that:

    • drive D is active and bootable, because is the only main section, and drive C contains the system and is a logical one that occupies the entire additional partition;
    • The additional partition is physically located in front of the main one - where the other main partition was previously located:

    Attention! At Microsoft, for some reason, the “Download” label means a disk containing Windows folders And Program Files, and under “System” is the active section. Although, it would be logical to swap the names.

    Let's look at the contents of drive C - indeed, there are folders here Windows, Program Files And Documents and Settings:

    However, on drive D we see boot.ini, ntldr and other boot-related files. Therefore, neither C nor D can be formatted:

    How to avoid this situation when installing the system

    1. If during reinstallation you do not need to save any data on the SSD/HDD, delete all partitions (D key), then create them again and install Windows on the very first one.
    2. If you do not want to format the hard drive completely because of the data you need, then under no circumstances delete any partitions in the installation program! Just select the first one to install the system, then do quick formatting it and install Windows on it.

    How to fix the situation

    Method 1. The easiest way for the user: save all important data to an external hard drive or SSD and reinstall Windows, taking into account the recommendations from the previous paragraph:

    1. save all important data to an external drive;
    2. reinstall Windows, during which:
      • delete ALL partitions from the hard drive;
      • create the first partition for the system;
      • create another or several for the data;
      • install Windows on the first one.

    Method 2- complex: make the first partition bootable, active, edit the boot.ini file.

    Install the MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition program. (You can download the program from here: http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html)

    1 Convert partition C from logical to main.

    Click the button Apply up:

    Click Yes:

    Click Restart Now:

    The computer will restart and convert logical drive to basic (main). Expect:

    After reboot you will receive an error message:

    Windows can't start because the hal.dll file is corrupted or missing

    Now we boot with ERD Commander (or DaRT 5).

    2 Copy everything system files from D to C.

    Attention! When you are booted into DaRT or ERD Commander, the letters of the main and logical drives switch places! Be guided by the volume of partitions and their contents! Simply put, all system files should be in the root directory of the volume containing the Windows and Program Files folders.

    3 Open the boot.ini file and correct the boot partition number. Usually instead (2) needs to be registered (1) .

    4 Launch the command line and make the desired partition active:

    Let's reboot. The system should boot from the first disk and now the other (non-system) disk can be formatted.

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