Dear Folks,

Can anyone help me in returning at 64gb USB drive to normal use as a 64Gb USB drive?

I have tried Disk Manager in Windows 11, I have tried Partition Magic and also the DISKPART command line all without success (see here https://www.anyrecover.com/storage-device-tips/convert-bootable-usb-to-normal/

Any suggestions?

Regards
ANDREW (Holbeach, UK)

Can you elaborate on what exactly happened other than success using any of those methods?  Error messages, etc.?  Using the "clean" command in Diskpart is typically a surefire method.  So what happened when you ran that?

A MR rescue Media is just another USB drive.  The first thought that came into my head is that perhaps you have Image Guardian (IG) installed and have it set to protect that disk?  Beyond preventing you (or a piece of malicious software) from manually deleting MR backup files, I suppose it may prevent you from changing the disk layout. 

To check it, open Macrium Reflect, go to OTHER TASKS and then IMAGE GUARDIAN SETTINGS.  Is the box checked next to  TURN ON IMAGE GUARDIAN ?  If so, then YES you have Image Guardian on.  Next click the VOLUMES tab and see if that sticks volume letter shows in the list.  If so then UNcheck it and OK it. This should stop IG from preventing you from modifying the USB drive. 

Or you can simply put the stick in another PC on which you DON'T have Macrium installed and change the layout and format it. 

Try to change your stick again. 

 

Image Guardian doesn’t protect against volume-level operations.

+x

 

jphughan - 23 March 2023 12:10 PM

Image Guardian doesn’t protect against volume-level operations.

Thanks, I didn't think so but was grasping at straws.  I've reused MR recovery media USB drives before, I just slicked them and repartitioned and formatted and was on my way.

OP:  Try the free version of MiniTool Partition wizard, it makes working with disks a breeze.  Clean the drive and set it up and format it all from the same utility. 

Also, you may be required to run any tool you use as administrator in order to use it on such a deep level as this. 

+x

 

adchesney - 22 March 2023 7:56 PM

Dear Folks,

Can anyone help me in returning at 64gb USB drive to normal use as a 64Gb USB drive?

I have tried Disk Manager in Windows 11, I have tried Partition Magic and also the DISKPART command line all without success (see here https://www.anyrecover.com/storage-device-tips/convert-bootable-usb-to-normal/

Any suggestions?

Regards
ANDREW (Holbeach, UK)

1. Running DISPART CLEAN it shows 64Gb, whereas on File Manager it show 2Gb. I try to format in Windows 11, it says "The disk is write protected".

2. In MiniTool Partition Wizard the USB (DISK 2) is shown as READ ONLY and won't execute any actions.

3. In AOMEI Partition Assistant  I tried to wipe the disk, it come with error 51 and cancelled the operation. Also in AOEMEI if I try to extend the volume from 2Gb to 64Gb, the operation cancels and gives error 110 "failed to read and write disk sector".

4. In CMD (Admin) I run CHKDSK D:/f is comes up with "Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected."

Ok, I was expecting you to reply that "clean" returned an error of some kind based on your original post.  And immediately after a "clean" operation, you shouldn't see a partition of any size from that flash drive because the entire device will have been marked as unused.

After you run "clean", try running the following commands immediately after:

create partition primary
format fs=ntfs quick (replace NTFS with exFAT if you prefer)
assign

At that point you should have a single partition spanning the full capacity of your flash drive, and it should be visible in Windows Explorer because a drive letter will have been assigned to it.  You might need to refresh views or close/relaunch applications to see those changes though.

If you get any result other than that, then please be specific about what happened along each step of the way and where you observed an unexpected result.  Screenshots may be helpful.  The more information you can provide about exactly what you're doing and what you're seeing, the more likely we'll be able to help you.

OP, goofy question, is there perhaps a tiny little sliding switch on it, sometimes USB sticks have a READ ONLY switch, it's more common on SD cards. 

It can also be locked with a RO attribute.  Here's a link on clearing the READ ONLY attribute https://www.diskpart.com/articles/usb-drive-read-only-7201.html , hopefully one of these may do it for you.  

Being that you prepped it with Macrium, that shows it is able to be written to.  Do you have another PC on which to try it? Perhaps some utility or AV product is blocking it. 

+x

 

Rootman - 23 March 2023 2:35 PM

OP, goofy question, is there perhaps a tiny little sliding switch on it, sometimes USB sticks have a READ ONLY switch, it's more common on SD cards. 

It can also be locked with a RO attribute.  Here's a link on clearing the READ ONLY attribute https://www.diskpart.com/articles/usb-drive-read-only-7201.html , hopefully one of these may do it for you.  

Being that you prepped it with Macrium, that shows it is able to be written to.  Do you have another PC on which to try it? Perhaps some utility or AV product is blocking it. 

I’m just in hospital visiting my wife, so no access to computer.

However, I did try ALL the suggestions on that article (except registry edit) before I posted my request for help on this forum.

I will try the other suggestions when I get home.

It’s a real puzzle to me. I’ve been using computers since MsDos days, and this situation is strange.

Thank you all for your help. If it comes to it, I’ll throw the USB drive away!!

Flash drives can indeed wear out. Their endurance is typically vastly short of proper SSDs. So if even the "clean" command is having trouble executing -- which seems like a possibility if it still showed a 2 GB partition afterward -- then that may well be the cause. If you need a replacement, my go-to is the SanDisk Cruzer Flair. Physically small, available in a wide range of capacities, great prices, and high read speeds. Write speeds are low, but I have a SanDisk Extreme Pro flash drive for that. Quite a bit more expensive and larger, but performs like a mid-range SATA SSD.