How to Fix USB Flash Drive Not Formatted Error Without Losing Data
USB Drive Needs to Be Formatted
Case 1: If your USB drive is not recognized and needs to be formatted, it's likely due to a corrupted file system. To recover your files without formatting, try using a data recovery software like Recuva or EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. These tools can scan the drive and recover your files without modifying the original data. Be sure to stop using the USB drive immediately to avoid overwriting any data. If the software can't recover the files, you may need to send the drive to a professional data recovery service for further assistance.
Case 2: Your USB flash drive is showing a "not formatted" error, which means it's not being recognized by the computer. This is likely due to a corrupted file system or a problem with the drive's firmware. To fix this without formatting, you can try using a data recovery software to scan the drive and recover any accessible files. Some popular options include Recuva, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, and Disk Drill. If the drive is still not recognized, you may need to take it to a professional data recovery service. However, be aware that formatting the drive will erase all data, so it's essential to try recovery methods first.
The "USB flash drive not formatted" error can occur when the drive is unplugged abruptly while in use, or due to a virus attack, faulty operation, or other file system damage, often accompanied by error messages such as "You need to format the disk before you can use it" or "Disk is not formatted. Do you want to format it now?"
Part 1. Recover Files from an Unformatted (RAW) USB Flash Drive
When you receive an error message saying it's impossible to open a USB device without formatting, don't format it and try to recover important data first. You can use Qiling data recovery software to restore files from the inaccessible USB flash drive, which works well in RAW recovery. Download the software to recover data before trying to fix the issue.
Step 1. Select file types
Launch the Deep Data Recovery software, select the desired file types, and click "Next" to initiate the recovery process.
Step 1. Choose the USB drive to scan
Choose the USB drive where you lost important files. Click "Scan" to start the recovery process.
Step 2. Check and preview USB drive data
When the scanning is finished, you can quickly locate a specific type of file by using the Filter feature as well as the Search option.
Step 3. Restore flash drive data
After locating the lost USB drive files, click "Recover" to restore them. Save the recovered files to a safe location on your PC, not back to the USB drive.
Consult with Qiling Data Recovery Experts for a personalized manual recovery service. After a free diagnosis, we can offer various services, including (list the services).
- To repair a corrupted RAID structure, unbootable Windows OS, and corrupted virtual disk file, you can try running a disk check and repair using built-in tools like chkdsk on Windows or fsck on Linux. For corrupted virtual disk files (.vmdk, .vhd, .vhdx, etc.), you can attempt to repair or rebuild them using VMware vSphere Client, VirtualBox, or Hyper-V Manager, depending on the virtualization platform.
- Recover/repair lost partition and re-partitioned drive.
- Unformat hard drive and repair raw drive(Bitlocker encrypted drive)
- Fix disks that become GPT protected partitions
Part 2. Format USB Flash Drive to Fix the Not Formatted Error
After retrieving data from a USB drive, you can resolve the "not formatted" error by formatting the drive. A simple way to do this is by using Qiling, a free partition tool that can easily format USB flash drives from various brands, such as Sandisk, Kingston, Panasonic, Lexar, Samsung, and Sony, in all complex cases. You can follow a straightforward guide to format your USB drive in a few simple steps.
Step 1. Select the USB drive to format.
To format a USB drive, connect it to your computer, download and launch Qiling partition software, and then right-click the USB drive you intend to format and choose "Format".
Step 2. Set the drive letter and file system on USB.
Assign a new partition label, file system, and cluster size to the selected partition.
Step 3. Apply the changes.
Click the "Proceed" button to format the USB drive.
Step 4. Check "Yes" to confirm formatting USB.
If you see the Warning window, click 'Yes'. If you have important data on it, back up the data beforehand.
Part 3. Back Up Files to Protect Data
Creating a full backup by imaging using Qiling Backup is a recommended practice for all users, especially for advanced users, to ensure data safety in case of system crashes or hardware failures.
To use this free Windows backup and recovery software, simply download it and follow the steps below to back up your files.
Step 1: Open Qiling Backup and select "File Backup".
Having a large amount of important data to protect, such as documents, pictures, music, and videos, it's a good habit to have regular backups, and file backup is a good choice to recover from unexpected data loss.
Step 2: Select the files that you want to back up.
To back up only specific file types from one folder, select the option at the top right corner to exclude other files.
Step 3: Select a destination to save your backup file.
You should create the backup file in a different storage media or drive, so that it won't get corrupted or destroyed in case of an issue with the original file.
Step 4: Click "Proceed" to execute your operation.
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