• Program for formatting micro SD flash drive. Recovering SD cards and USB flash drives in Windows

    Formatting is the process by which a data storage area is marked up. This area is called file system, and is a table.

    Each square of such a table is called a cluster. And when a file is copied to a flash drive, the clusters are filled with data one by one until the file is completely moved.

    If information is frequently rewritten to the device, the clusters begin to fill unevenly, since some of them contain remnants previous files. And new recorded files can occupy clusters at different ends of the “table”, which slows down the operation of the flash drive.

    Formatting resets all parameters and re-marks. This has a positive effect on the speed of the device, because the file system is reset. That is, the “table” is cleared.

    Why do you need to format

    • To quickly destroy all recorded information
    • To “kill” all viruses and traces of their activity
    • To resolve errors that occur when opening and writing files
    • To speed up the device
    • When creating a bootable USB flash drive

    Formatting erases all data that was written to the flash drive! Therefore, before you run it, be sure to transfer everything important files to another location (for example, to a hard drive).

    How to quickly format a flash drive

    This can be done standard means systems. They are available in any version of Windows (XP, 7, 8, 10).

    1. Insert the flash drive into your computer.

    Most likely, an autorun window will open in a second or two. Let's close it.

    2. Open Start - Computer.

    3. Right-click on the flash drive icon and select “Format...”.

    4. Select parameters or leave everything as is.

    File system. You are asked to choose one of three. The default is usually Fat32. It is good if small files will be written to the device, as it interacts with them faster. But if you need to write a file larger than 4 GB, then problems will arise - Fat32 does not support working with such large files.

    NTFS is another matter. This system is capable of working with very large files, even more than 1TB. But with small ones it works a little slower than Fat32.

    There is also exFAT. This is an upgraded Fat 32 that can handle files larger than 4GB. However, on at the moment it is only supported in Windows system 7 and higher, and other devices (such as TVs) and computers on previous versions Windows can't work with it.

    There are more advanced file systems, for example, ext4, but Windows does not yet support anything better than NTFS and exFAT.

    So, if you plan to write small files to a flash drive, then you can leave the default file system (Fat32), and if you need to copy individual files larger than 4 GB (for example, a movie) to it, then choose NTFS.

    Cluster size. Minimum data size. It is better not to change anything in this field.

    Volume label. The name of the device that will be shown during boot. For example, I want the flash drive to appear as "Neumeka". This means that I erase from this field what is suggested and print the name I need. As a result, it will appear like this:

    Formatting Methods. Initially, this item is checked for “Quick (cleaning table of contents)”. This method will overwrite the file system, which is usually quite enough.

    If you uncheck the box, it will be done full formatting, which means that first the computer will check the physical surface of the flash drive and if it finds damage, it will fix it. In fact, they will simply disguise themselves and then it will not be possible to write information there. And only after all this will the file system be written.

    5. Click “Start”.

    The system will warn us that it will destroy all information from the device. We agree and wait for the end of the process.

    When it finishes, we will see the following window. Click “OK” and close the formatting window.

    All! The device is ready for use.

    If it didn't work out

    Despite the fact that a flash drive is more reliable than a CD and DVD disc However, she also faces problems. For example, it may simply not be displayed in “Computer”.

    This happens for several reasons:

    • File system is damaged
    • The device was not formatted by the manufacturer
    • The letter of the flash drive matches the letter of the drive already in use by Windows

    To eliminate these reasons, go to Start - Control Panel.

    Go to “System and Security” and/or “Administration”.

    Open "Computer Management".

    Click on “Disk Management” on the left side.

    The window takes on the following appearance.

    Right-click on the flash drive and select “Format...”.

    Formatting using the command line

    Another formatting method. But in order to use it, you need to know exactly the letter of the flash drive. Otherwise, you may accidentally delete data from another, desired drive.

    1. Press the key combination Win keyboards+R.

    2. In the Run window, enter cmd and click OK.

    3. In the window that appears, enter format G: /FS:NTFS /Q /V:flashka

    • format is a command to start formatting
    • G is the drive letter under which your computer recognizes the flash drive (do not confuse it!)
    • /FS:NTFS - file system in which you want to format the device. If you want fat32, then enter FS:FAT32
    • /Q- quick formatting. If you need the complete one, just don't use this command
    • /V:flashka - volume label (this name will be displayed when loading in “Computer”).

    When everything is ready, a similar inscription will appear.

    Low-level formatting or “flash drive treatment”

    Use this method should only be done if all of the above did not help.

    Download and install the HDD LLF Low Level program Format Tool from the official website. During the installation process, select “Continue for free”.

    Open the program, select your flash drive and click Continue.

    A window with information about the device will appear. Go to the LOW-LEVEL FORMAT tab.

    Click on the FORMAT THIS DEVICE button.

    A warning appears that all data written to the media will be erased. Click “Yes”.

    And we wait for the end of the process: when the window becomes something like this and 100% complete is written.

    Let's close it and do it normal formatting, otherwise the flash drive will not open. To do this, follow the first instructions from this article (Start - Computer - right-click on the flash drive icon - Format...).

    How to recover an SD card or USB flash drive if the computer does not see it, does not read or write data? Problems with flash drives are rarely caused by natural wear and tear. More often, problems with them are caused by users ignoring the rules for safely removing the device, experiments with various software in which these flash drives are involved, as well as their initially lousy quality. Below we look at the list possible actions carried out in Windows environment, which can solve the problem, unless, of course, the cause lies in a mechanical failure. And we, friends, will go from simple to complex.

    • Note: below we will only talk about restoring the functionality of flash drives, but not about saving the data stored on them. This is a separate topic, and there is information about this on the website. Most of the methods proposed below for recovering SD cards and flash drives will lead to the loss of their data.

    1. Hardware lock

    SD cards, MicroSD adapters and flash drives can be hardware protected from writing data or completely blocked even for reading. On such devices there is a lock switch, which must, accordingly, be set to the “Unlocked” position.

    2. Problems not related to the drives themselves

    Politics may be the cause of problems with SD cards and flash drives Windows security. You need to find out whether access to removable drives is blocked (in whole or in part of writing data to them) by the computer administrator. You also need to check the card reader or ports Computer USB. If everything is fine with the latter, the card reader reads other SD cards, but problems still arise with the flash drive, no matter how you connect it to others USB ports, let's move on.

    3. Windows Explorer

    Standard formatting using Windows Explorer can help in simple cases such as unsuccessful writing of data to a flash drive. Or when for some reason a smartphone, tablet, camera or other device cannot cope with this operation regarding SD cards. In any of the current Windows versions in the explorer window on the drive we call context menu, click “Format”.

    We leave the original file system and first try a quick format.

    If it fails, repeat the operation, but with full formatting (uncheck the fast box).

    4. Windows Disk Management

    You can try to perform the formatting procedure in disk management. To launch this tool, enter in the system search field:

    diskmgmt.msc

    In the disk management window, focusing on the size of the drive, we look for it among the disks connected to the computer. And in the context menu called on it, we launch formatting.

    You can immediately select full formatting.

    If the flash drive has a partition structure like a hard drive, you must delete each of those partitions. This is done using the “Delete Volume” option in the context menu.

    And then, in place of the resulting unallocated space, you need to create a single partition. To do this, in the context menu on this very unallocated space, launch the operation “Create new volume» and follow the instructions of the step-by-step wizard.

    5. Programs for low-level formatting

    Standard formatting tools may not help difficult cases, for example, when flash drives are shown (in the same Explorer or Disk Management) as unrecognized devices with file RAW system. The latter means that either the Windows environment does not understand the drive’s file system, or file system no as such in principle. Actually, this is what causes problems with a flash drive or SD card when it works on other devices, with other operating systems. In such cases, they will help you restore the flash drive. third party Windows programs, intended for so-called low-level formatting.

    In fact low level formatting- This is a procedure that is carried out either in the production conditions of flash device manufacturers, or in serious specialized services. Various types of Windows software that claim to perform this kind of operation actually perform a regular full format, but with mechanisms different from those that apply operating system. Such programs cope well with flash drive problems if these problems arise at the file system level. Let's look at two of these programs.

    HDD Low Level Format Tool

    http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

    Shareware portable program HDD Low Level Format Tool can format different types storage media, in particular SD cards and USB flash drives. After unpacking the archive with the program, run it and agree to the license terms.

    We choose free use.

    Directly in the program window we indicate the problematic drive and click “Continue”.

    We confirm the decision.

    We wait for the operation to complete and check the operation of the media.

    SDFormatter

    http://flashboot.ru/files/file/355

    A completely free small program called SDFormatter is another tool for so-called low-level formatting. Works with both SD cards and USB flash drives. Install SDFormatter into the system, launch it, and indicate the problematic flash drive in the “Drive” column. Click “Format”.

    The program wants to make sure that our intentions are serious, click “Ok.

    He asks not to touch the drive while the operation is being performed.

    Upon completion, test the flash drive or SD card. If this does not help, repeat the operation with the settings for complete overwriting of sectors (nothing more than full formatting). Press “Option”, select “Full (OverWrite)”. And also click “Format” at the bottom.

    If using the above methods it was not possible to revive the flash drive, and it is still under warranty, you need to stop at this stage. And do not take any further action except contact the seller with a request to replace the device. All the actions described below should be resorted to only when, in fact, there is nothing to lose. The instructions below apply to USB flash drives, SD and MicroSD cards. However, in the case of the latter, the likelihood of recovery is extremely low.

    6. D-Soft Flash Doctor

    D-Soft Flash Doctor performs so-called low-level formatting, and at the same time also detects damaged sectors (cells). Well, and, accordingly, knows how to block them and replace them with backup ones. The program can help when flash drives or SD cards have difficulty reading separate files that fell on damaged sectors. The program is free and portable. I did not find the official website, but it can be freely downloaded on the Internet.

    In the D-Soft Flash Doctor window, the first thing you need to do is run a scan to detect errors.

    In my case, there were no damaged (broken) sectors.

    But if in your case, friends, the scan results are different and bad sectors are detected, we start the recovery process.

    The window for performing this operation promises that the process will not last longer than 10 minutes, but in fact, reassigning bad sectors on a drive with a capacity larger than 4 GB can take quite a long time. So it is better to run the recovery operation at night.

    7. Flashing the memory controller

    Programs for so-called low-level formatting or their analogues, which in any other form claim to be able to resuscitate all types of SD cards and/or USB flash drives, turn out to be powerless in the event of a software failure of the controller, when it requires flashing. This problem can have different symptoms, but more often it is either the computer does not see the drive completely, or it sees it and can even read the data, but cannot format it by any means. In particular, due to write protection even though the drive is not locked by hardware.

    Often, when it is necessary to format a flash drive, users use the standard Windows application. But it has some disadvantages and does not allow you to make fine adjustments to the formatting process. If you need to fix damaged areas of memory or erase information without the possibility of restoring it in the future, it is better to download and install a special utility.

    I already wrote about . I also discussed the issue of fast using programs and command line. Today we will look at low-level formatting.

    The concept of low-level formatting

    This formatting method is usually chosen when it is necessary to protect information from leakage. Perhaps the user of the flash drive stored some personal data and then gave it to another person for use. To prevent anyone from using data recovery programs, it is necessary to completely erase the information stored in binary form with zeros.

    *Low-level formatting* layouts the storage device into sectors and tracks, writes data about the type of file system. As a result of this process, all user information stored on the flash drive disappears without a trace. There is no way to restore it.

    Why do low level formatting?

    Most often, the reasons for choosing low-level formatting are the following:

    — it is necessary to remove applications that have been infected with viruses, and they cannot be removed in any other way;

    — if the flash drive is planned to be sold or given to another person for use;

    - if the flash drive previously served as a disk on which there was a distribution kit with Linux or this operating system in established form;

    - if you cannot access the flash drive disk, it is not visible in Windows Explorer, it is not possible to write any information to it;

    — it is necessary to restore damaged memory areas or use backup ones instead.

    Low-level formatting program USB Disk Storage Format Tool

    This low-level formatting program allows you to perform this process with various settings. If there are broken clusters on a flash drive, it can be used to restore them. Download and run the program. A small window will appear in front of you in which you need to select the device to format and the type of file system.

    Also, the application’s capabilities made it possible to name the device after formatting it in a special field called “Volume Label”. There are two ways to format a flash drive here: Quick Format (quick format) and Verbose (deep).

    You can also check the disk, which comes with 3 options: error correction, scanning and checking for contamination.

    The formatting process of this program is recorded in a log, which is displayed directly in the program window. More experienced users can view the log and determine the cause of errors.

    The disadvantages of the application include English language and the inability to create a boot disk.

    Download a program for low-level formatting of a flash drive— http://www.ixbt.com/news/soft/index.shtml?17/13/73

    Low-level formatting in full can only be carried out at the storage device manufacturing plant. But there are special applications. Which are able to almost completely imitate this type of formatting. One of the simplest and at the same time multifunctional programs is USB Disk Storage Format Tool.

    Any of the applications we reviewed effectively deletes information completely, connects via usb port To external devices, HDD, SD memory cards, etc. The most popular ones are able to find bad sectors, resize volumes, format flash drives for Unix systems. But each special program has its own audience, so we will choose the best in several categories.

    We really liked the tools Flash Memory Toolkit. Using the utility is a pleasure. Its context menu provides access to all necessary functions. The developers even screwed up the benchmarks, which already deserves respect! However, it was not without its drawbacks - latest version program dates back to sometimes Windows XP, which means that the utility’s operating algorithms are outdated. Its high cost is also a deterrent.

    An alternative is the combination D-Soft Flash Doctor And MiniTool Partition Wizard Free. Both tools are free. You can download programs from the official website in the latest edition; updates are released regularly; functionally they complement each other.

    For home use will do JetFlash Recovery Tool– proprietary utility for flash drives and hard drives Transcend. Its interface is intuitive and simplified as much as possible. But again, the only limitation is that only branded devices and a number of compatible chips are supported.

    Has no such shortcomings USB Disk Storage Format Tool. It was developed by HP, but is compatible with any equipment. The program not only restores flash drives, but also at a low level erases all information from any HDD, which will be useful, for example, within pre-sale preparation laptop.

    It's a pity, but the HP application does not always find damaged devices. For this there is a “one-button” EzRecover. The algorithm of its operation is simple - we find the device, click on it, reset it programmatically and overwrite it with default settings.

    Main features of the program Low Level Format Tool professionals will appreciate it. It most likely detects a damaged drive, meticulously formats and remaps sectors, but does not know how to do banal things - create partitions. The application will be able to add functionality MiniTool Partition Wizard or Acronis Disk Director.

    I would also like to draw attention to SD Formatter– this specialized service software was developed for memory cards of cameras and smartphones. He himself will select the best recovery algorithm and carry it out efficiently. Fine tuning present.

    And if you are engaged not only in repairing flash drives, but also carry out testing, you cannot do without Flash Memory Toolkit. The utility is a little outdated, but its benchmarks and diagnostic methods are up to date.

    One of the most popular storage devices nowadays is a flash drive. It is convenient because it can not only store necessary information, and transfer it to another computer, and the fact that it is reliable device can be used repeatedly. But, like all other equipment, a USB flash drive can wear out, causing errors in reading and writing information. Low-level formatting will help restore the device.

    First of all, low-level formatting is used when it is impossible to carry out the procedure by other known methods or in the case when the device is write-protected. Before using this method, be sure to make sure that other known methods will not help you solve problems with your drive.

    What is low level formatting

    This is the distribution of a flash drive into sectors for recording information. This process erases absolutely all files and leaves no way to restore them. In this regard, you should make sure that the deleted data is not very important to you.

    Low-level formatting is also carried out if it is necessary to clean the flash drive from virus files or when you need to delete secret information to prevent it from reaching third parties, and also if it is necessary to restore the boot sector.

    This procedure is performed using special utilities for formatting. Some of the applications are only suitable for a certain brand of device, while the use of others is universal for all types of flash drives. The article will discuss the most easy-to-use utilities.

    Method 1: HDDGURU HDD Low Level Format Tool

    This utility is completely free to use and has all the necessary functionality for formatting. In addition to working with a flash drive, it can also perform a similar procedure with hard drive computer. Free version has a storage capacity limitation, but the limit is high enough that most users should not have any difficulties.


    Once the download is complete, the flash drive is formatted and you can use it again as before. However, it is worth considering that upon completion of the procedure, the flash drive may need to be further formatted using Windows functions.

    Method 2: Low Level Formatter

    This program specializes in working with Silicon brand flash drives, but its functionality also extends to devices from other manufacturers. After connecting the media, the application will automatically determine if it is supported. Working with the program is quite simple and takes just a few steps.


    Method 3: D-Soft Flash Doctor

    The advantage of this program is that it does not require additional computer resources to operate, and it is entirely in Russian. You don't have to install it, since the utility works in portable mode. Follow these steps:


    Method 4: JetFlash Online Recovery

    The program in question works with devices of the following brands: JetFlash, Transcend, A-Data. Its advantage is that it is completely portable, contains only a couple of buttons and puts minimal load on the PC due to interaction with the cloud.

    To get started you only need to do two steps:


    As you can see, this is a very easy to use utility and even a novice user can handle it.

    Regardless of what software is used in the work, the information on the media will be deleted permanently. In this regard, it is extremely important to do backup copy all existing data before formatting. Sometimes after completing the procedure the flash drive starts to work slower, in this case it will be enough to do safe removal and reinsert the device into the PC.

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