Can't format USB drive in NTFS format

I am finding that this still does not work. get a format failed message.

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.

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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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I followed these steps as a local administrator and I still get "Windows was unable to complete the format."

I have NO problem formatting it with "default" FAT

I know what the solution. Its because the USB stick is reporting a larger size than it actually is. So there is no way you can format it to NTFS.

But i found a solution to this. You will need to get hold of some program that can resize/delete/create partitions. I recommend EaseUS Partition Master - Home Edition since its free, works great and is easy to use.

In my case i got a stick branded as a 32 GB stick. And Windows reported it as being 32 GB. But it was not true. I think its more like 6 GB. So here is what i did.

1. Open a partition manager of your choice.
2. Find the USB stick in the list of disks/drive
3. Delete the entire partition on the usb stick so that the stick appears unformatted.
4. Then create a primary partition that DOES NOT take up the entire space of the stick. In my case i made a partition of around 5 GB on the stick. The rest of the stick being unusable.
5. Voila you can format as NTFS.

Edit the changing of policies DOES NOT work in this scenario. Its a VERY low quality stick branded wrongly as a larger size than it actually is.

I am finding that this still does not work. get a format failed message.

me too