Today, we will discuss the reasons and solutions to a typical error saying “Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format”. This error usually occurs when you want to format a storage device. Now, let’s see the details.
When you want to format an internal/external storage device like SD cards, you might receive such a specific error which says “Windows Was Unable to Complete the Format”. Don’t worry. We will analyze top 6 reasons and offer relevant solutions for you.
And to start with, it’s recommended to back up your vital data in advance, like backing up outlook data for pst recovery. In this way, you can protect your data safely.
1 Incompatibility issues
If the storage device is incompatible with your system, then you will receive this error absolutely. For instance, if your hard disk partition is larger than 2 GB, then many old windows systems will not support for it. In this case, you can attempt this operation in another familiar computer to check if it is normal.
2 Virus infections
Virus could exist anywhere in various ways and out of your imagination. If you haven’t installed any anti-virus software before in the computer, then you have to be cautious and take virus infection into account. Install anti-virus application right now to check if it is the real cause behind the problem.
3 Bad sectors
Many reasons can lead to bad sectors on the hard drives and other storage devices. If there are bad sectors on the device and the data which you want to format is stored on these sectors, then such typical error will show up definitely. In this situation, you can use inbuilt tool in windows called “chkdsk” to help you with the device problem first.
4 Write-protection
Some external storage devices like USB flash drives have write-protection switches. Therefore, you won’t be able to access the data when the switch is turned on. So you have to check whether your devices have such switches.
5 Physical damages
If you have knocked the device or put it in some bad environment like high temperature environment, then irreparable damages will occur and influence the normal function of the device categorically. In this case, you should resort to experts to make sure the device is normal as usual.
6 Empty drives
And another reason is that if the drive has no partitions on it, you will receive this error when attempting a format. Although you still can see the drive letter in the computer, but you are unable to format data on a device without partition. So check the device in Disk Management to solve this problem easily.
Author Introduction:
Allissa Shen is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including fix SQL Server and word recovery software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com
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