Can't format USB drive in NTFS format

Anonymous
2010-06-07T17:17:06+00:00

Can't format USB drive in windows 7

I recently bought a kingston 64GBUSB flash drive.  This works fine but I need to  format it in NTFS and windows format says it can't complete the format. Can anyone help?  answer here or at *** Email address is removed for privacy ***.  Thank ahead of time.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2010-06-08T16:13:23+00:00

Hi,

By default, Windows provides the option to format a USB flash drive with FAT or FAT32 file systems only, but not with  NTFS (New Technology****File System.)

The reason behind this is that there are some disadvantages of NTFS usage in this case. First of all, the speed of saving on the flash drive decreases (but the speed of reading data from the drive is the same), and you have to be more careful to always remove the USB flash drive safely.

However, you can still format the Flash Drive in the NTFS format. Follow these steps for the same.

1.      Insert the USB flash drive into the USB port.

2.      Click Start, type devmgmt.msc in the Search textbox and press  Enter.

3.      Find Disk Drives and expand it.

4.      Find the USB flash drive you want to format, and double-click it. It opens the  Properties dialog box.

5.      Click Policies tab.

6.      By default, the  Optimize for quick removal option selected, switch it to Optimize for performance and then pressOK.

7.      Now open  Computer. Right click on the USB Flash Drive and select Format. The Format dialog box now appears.

8.      Select NTFS in the File System field.

9.      Press Start and wait while the process will be completed.

10.   Now your USB Flash Drive is formatted with NTFS format.

Regards,

Syed N – Microsoft Support

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-06-22T10:00:31+00:00

    Are you sure you have a genuine Kingston USB flash drive?  I had the same problme with a 128GB DataTraveler 200 drive which I purchased on eBay for $22.00!  If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.  I tried to format the drive and it didn't work, and now the dive is useless.  As it turns out, it probably doesn't have near the capacity of what it should be.  How do I know this, cause in trying to find a way to get a format utility to work, I cam across this:

    http://fakememorysentinel.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/kingston-usb-flash-drives-how-to-check-you-have-a-genuine-one-and-not-a-counterfeit-easy-guide-kingston-technologies-fighting-to-protect-consumers-and-itself-from-counterfeits/

    It's well worth reading, and may be the source of your problem as well?  In particular, look for the serial number, etc on the tab of your flash drive.

    Good luck, and if it turns out your drive is a counterfeit, your not alone!

    Regards, Dennis

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-06-08T16:03:18+00:00

    Hi Christpher1965,

    Please see the following article with some helpful information:

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Convert-a-hard-disk-or-partition-to-NTFS-format

    Hope this helps!

    Debra

    Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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