Window cannot formatt disk

The Symptom
When trying to format a USB drive or
memory SD card for not being able to access
it or something, the format process might fail
with an error message saying that Windows
was unable to complete the format. This
error message is too simple to see any
information about what went wrong. Since
USB flash drive and SD cards are easy to
carry for data storage and transmission, it is
important to know how to solve this issue.
Why cannot Windows format USB drive?
The possible reasons that result in Windows
unable to format pendrive, flash drive, and
SD card are a virus infection, write-
protection, bad sectors, and physical damage.
If the USB drive or SD card has ever been
used on a device infected by a virus, it likely
will get virus infected too. The virus will keep
writing dangerous files to it, leading to the
USB drive or SD card inaccessible. If the
drive is write-protected, you cannot format it
as formatting is a writing process. If some of
the sectors, which are the small units for
data storage, are damaged, then these units
cannot be read or written. Therefore, bad
sectors will also cause this problem. Lastly,
if the drive has some serious physical
damage, undoubtedly, it cannot be formatted.
How to fix Windows unable to format USB
drive?
For all these reasons that behind that
Windows fails to format, you may try one or
more solutions to fix this problem. As you
know, formatting a drive will erase all the
files on it, be sure to backup important files .
If you are not capable of formatting your USB
drive (USB flash drive, external hard drive,
SD card, pen drive, etc.) in the usual process
then try to format that drive with following
methods. Now connect USB drive to
computer and follow step-by-step guide
given below:
Solution 1: Format with Disk Management
Disk Management is a Windows built in
utility that allows you to manage partitions
and disks. If your USB drive or SD card is not
displayed in File Explorer because it has an
unrecognized file system or no file system at
all, it will show in Disk Management. Thus,
you can format the drive with the supported
file system.
Open Disk Management. Right click on Start
and select "Disk Management". You can also
open it by type “diskmgmt.msc” in the Run
box.
2. Right click the drive need formatting and
select "Format".
3. In the next screen, select a file system
format and click “OK” to start the format.
If the drive is shown as unallocated space
without any file system, right click on it and
select "New Simple Volume" item. Then you
can follow the New Simple Volume Wizard to
create a new partition for the flash drive.
Solution 2: Format with Diskpart
Diskpart is also a built in utility that helps
you to manage your disks and partitions from
the command line. Compared with Disk
Management, Diskpart gives you more
authorities. To open Diskpart, you can type
“diskpart.exe” in the Run box or run
“diskpart” command in an elevated command
prompt. Within the Diskpart command utility,
you can format a drive with the following
commands:
List disk
Select disk n (n represents the disk number
listed that you want to format)
Clean (this command will delete all the data
on the selected disk)
Create partition primary
Format FS=FAT32
Assign letter X: (X: represent the drive letter
for the USB drive, you can change it based
on your needs)
Then the drive will be deleted and
reformatted with FAT 32 file system. If you
want NTFS file system, you can change use
the command: “format FS=NTFS”.
Solution 3: Format with free partition
manager software
If you are still unable to format it. You can
try to use a free third party partition tool
AOMEI Partition Assistant. It provides many
provides many useful features regarding
partition and disk management, such as Wipe
Partition, Resize Partition , Convert disks
between MBR and GPT without data loss,
and Partition Recovery. If the format failed
because of bad sectors, AOMEI Partition
Assistant will fix the bad sectors and format
the drive for you.
1. Free download the software, install and
launch it.
2. In the main interface, right click on the
drive, in the drop-down menu, select “Check
Partition” under “Advanced” option.
3. In the next screen, check the first option
“Check partition and fix errors in this
partition by using chkds.exe” and click “OK”
to continue.
4. Right click the USB drive and select
“Format Partition” option to format the flash
drive.
5. Click “Apply” option to apply all these
operations.
If this is still unable to complete the format,
try the "Wipe Hard Drive" option in this
freeware. Besides the ability to fix bad
sectors and format USB drive, AOMEI
Partition Assistant is capable of recovering
partition that were deleted, formatted on your
internal hard drive or USB drives. If you USB
drive becomes inaccessible before you have
a chance to back it up, you can use the
Partition Recovery feature to recover your
files.
Generally, the USB drive or SD card should
be formatted as you desired by using the
steps above. However, if Windows was
unable to complete the format still after
these steps, it is most likely the USB drive
has some physical damage that prevent you
accessing it. You can bring it to a repair
center to see if people from there can make it
workable again by replacing damaged circuit
or other damaged parts.