USB Disk cannot be detected even after formatting

Asked By katherine j 10 points N/A Posted on - 06/24/2011

Hi friends,

I have a problem with any USB storage drive. This includes Thumb drives, portable HD's, and my digicam linked in through USB. The device is recognized, but the error message "Drive is not formatted, do you wish to format?" appears. I've tried with some disposable thumb drives – reformat does not make the drive visible/usable. I can't link the onset of this problem to a specific action, and I don't know if my last system reset includes the issue or not. I tried uninstalling the USB mass storage driver and reinstalling, but that doesn't appear to be the issue . Any ideas? With the sudden onset, I feel  it's virus-like activity, but i scanned with McAffee and its clean.

Thank you.

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• Question Category: Peripherals

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Answered By samuel 0 points N/A #128109

USB Disk cannot be detected even after formatting

CHKDSK can be used without any parameter, in which case it checks the current drive without modifiers. You can specify the switches listed.
CHKDSK requires the Autochk.exe file. CHKDSK automatically locates Autochk.exe in the startup directory (boot). If you are not in your home directory, Chkdsk tries to find the installation CD of Windows 2000. If you do not find the installation CD, Chkdsk prompts for the location of Autochk.exe.
Eg.:
CHKDSK
Will show you all the information described above and also report on the linked files crusaders.
Chkdsk /f
Fixed cross linked files; however, do not run this command while you're in Windows 95. This command in two can help you investigate.

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Answered By hans grabber 0 points N/A #128110

USB Disk cannot be detected even after formatting

Hello,

I'm also guessing it's caused by virus. Maybe McAffee could not detect it as no antivirus can detect all viruses. Here's what you can do. You can try to kill all the running process (including the virus "process") and see if your thumbdrive is working.

Here's how to kill all the running process:

Go to Start > type "cmd".

The command prompt will open. Now, type exactly like this: taskkill /f /fi "username ne lalala"

All the active windows will be closed and your taskbar will disappear. To open it again, press CTRL+ALT+DEL, Click Start Task Manager.

Click New Task, type "Explorer"

Now, go to explorer and browse your thumbdrive. If it's working now, then the cause is indeed a virus. Try different antiviruses and make sure their virus definitions are up to date. Goodluck!

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• Posted on - 06/25/2011
• Question Category: Peripherals