Formatting flash drives

logo D-Soft Flash Doctor D-Soft Flash Doctor
logo USB Disk Storage Format Tool USB Disk Storage Format Tool
logo JetFlash Recovery Tool JetFlash Recovery Tool
logo HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
logo SD Formatter SD Formatter
logo HDD Low Level Format Tool HDD Low Level Format Tool
logo Kingston Format Utility Kingston Format Utility
logo EzRecover EzRecover
logo MiniTool Partition Wizard MiniTool Partition Wizard

A flash drive is an object that constantly travels around different computers and laptops (less often it just lies in one place and stores recorded information). Because of frequent use any flash drive can start to work worse: there are broken sectors, various failures occur, the write speed decreases, residual files remain after normal deletion. This does not mean that the device is hopelessly broken and needs to be replaced - you can simply format it, after which most of these problems disappear.

You can use the standard Windows formatting of external drives, but it has only one function - deleting all the information with a superficial diagnosis of the device. Third-party programs often have advanced functionality and allow you to solve several problems in one procedure. For example, they can:

  • scan the contents of the flash drive, identify problematic sectors and fix failures;
  • find hidden files and show them to the user or delete them;
  • restore sectors corrupted by viruses and clean the media from malicious code on it;
  • quick deletion of information without the possibility of recovery (this is necessary in order to prevent certain information from falling into the wrong hands).

It is recommended to format any flash drive, even if it is working properly, from time to time to prevent possible damage and to protect stored data from being deleted as a result of an unforeseen failure. In addition, it allows you to get rid of undetected viruses and save computers from infection.

All Formatting flash drives in rating

The necessary information is quite often stored on portable portable memory devices - flash drives. But quite often software errors, virus attacks and other causes can damage the functionality of the drive at the most inopportune moment, files are no longer displayed and recording information on the device becomes impossible. To restore the necessary files and reanimation of USB - flash drives use special software D-Soft Flash Doctor. The functionality of the program as much as possible supports the recovery of your portable device and is supported by virtually all versions of the operating system Windows.

Pros

    • Portability - no need to install the application, just download the archive and run the executable file
    • Restore files from an image
    • Creating a disk image
    • Scanning for errors
    • Low-level formatting and software reset
    • Full drive performance restored after the cleanup
    • Recognizes most USB flash drives and memory cards that the system can't read or format
    • Supports both hard drives and flash drives, including damaged ones

Cons

    • Does not always recognize flash drives and help solve the problem
    • Quite a few useful features besides the basic ones
    • Almost no updates from the official site

When you use removable drives for a long time, the speed of reading and writing data gradually slows down, special utilities help to optimize the work process, one of the most logical and functional - USB Disk Storage Format Tool. It takes a very small amount of device resources, does not require installation, and you can download a portable version from the official website of the company-developer.

Pros

    • Quick and safe formatting.
    • Full deletion of all data
    • Error correction of existing partitions
    • Disk scanning for errors
    • Creating FAT32 partitions exceeding 32GB
    • Great compatibility with all drives from different manufacturers
    • No installation required
    • Creating bootable flash cards
    • Change partition name

Cons

    • Creating partitions in NTFS, FAT only
    • Does not always "pick up" empty drives

Almost all information, especially very important information, a user of a personal computer stores on memory cards. But sometimes flash drives malfunction, so that some information is lost from the drive or it stops working altogether. Of course, if the computer does not see the flash drive, you must first check the drivers. If the drivers are good, the problem is in the flash drive itself. It must be restored. And this can be done with the help of a special program JetFlash Recovery Tool.

Pros

    • Supports Transcend, A-DATA and JetFlash drives
    • Simply press the Start button to start the scanning process automatically
    • Get USB drives back to optimal performance
    • Simple, intuitive interface
    • Flash drive recovery software can be downloaded for free
    • Supports Windows, including legacy XP, Vista
    • Extremely low system requirements

Cons

    • Not all types of media are supported
    • During flash drive recovery, the contents will be deleted

Quite often users are faced with a situation when a flash drive starts working incorrectly, you can write or read information from it only once, or even not at all. Such situations occur with possible virus attacks or with a large number of damaged sectors. The functional and lightweight HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool resuscitates even those devices that cannot be repaired using the standard options of the installed operating system.

Pros

    • Designed to format pre-2012 USB drives and desktops and Windows XP PCs.
    • Works with newer operating systems
    • Hard drive formatting
    • Ability to partition the drive
    • Simple and straightforward interface
    • Formatting of USB drives with FAT, FAT32 or NTFS partitions

Cons

    • Must be used in safe mode to avoid errors
    • Lengthy formatting process

SD Formatter is an easy-to-use, useful software developed for the Windows operating system designed specifically to format and enhance the performance of popular types of memory cards. A unique feature of the software is that the formatting process conforms to the flash drive's specifications.

Pros

    • Supports all current storage media
    • Fast, automatic drive cleanup
    • Format any memory card for multimedia devices
    • Resolving problems with damaged media storage media caused by viruses or improper use
    • Choice of working algorithm and fine-tuning of formatting parameters according to the user's wishes.
    • Cross-platform - there is MacOS version of SD Formatter.
    • Easy to use menu
    • Acceptable system requirements

Cons

    • Does not recognize all memory cards, cameras and digital players - you need a quality and universal card reader

Every user runs into problems from time to time with internal and external drives: write and read errors, applications do not function properly after an upgrade, and removable drives are unreadable. HDD Low Level Format Tool has all the tools you need to keep your system running smoothly and completely erase all the data on your drive. Clear control panel and russified interface make this software popular among users.

Pros

    • Powerful formatting algorithms
    • Compatible with all major HDD manufacturers
    • Ultra-DMA support
    • Supports connection of drives with software errors
    • SMART status and device information display
    • Works with MicroSD, SD, MMC, CompactFlash, and other memory cards
    • Choice of operating modes at the user's discretion
    • Wiping the whole information from the disk without possibility of recovery
    • Sleek interface

Cons

    • Low formatting speed without buying a license

    • No support for boxes and external chassis

    • No detailed status information about connected external devices is displaye

The free software Rufus, developed for the Windows operating system, is designed to solve users' problems in terms of reinstalling the operating system. Simple and easy-to-use software helps you easily write bootable Windows media. Ease of use and Russian-language interface allows you to work with the program even unprepared users.

Pros

    • Small size of the utility itself, high speed performance
    • Boot disk formatting and writing utility is constantly updated through official website
    • The interface language of Rufus USB Creator is in Russian
    • Both bios and uefi startup, grub and other linux loaders support
    • No need to install the software and it works just fine on default options
    • Quick creation of bootable ISO-images or bootable USB-disk
    • Compatible with ntfs, fat, fat32, exfat file systems
    • Quick and high quality creation of bootable flash disks with games, applications and operating systems
    • Good optimization while working with Window operating system

Cons

    • The utility does not support memory cards and CDs

The Kingston Format Utility is designed to stabilize, clean, and correctly work on your flash devices, and it is best used for Kingston branded media. If the user flash drive mistakenly protects the drive from recording, or there is a need to format the device, then this utility will quickly cope with the task. Despite the fact that the program interface is presented only in English, it is quite simple, before starting the user should determine the specific drive and file system, then the entire process to optimize the flash drive will take no more than 15 minutes.

Pros

    • Kingston flash drive recovery tool
    • Quick identification of VID and PID
    • Choice of FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, FAT file systems
    • Ability to fix errors related to the drive reading
    • Automatic software updates from official developer's web-site
    • Supports HyperX XXGB/DTHX30 series USB flash drives, Kingston DataTraveler, etc.
    • Extremely easy-to-use interface
    • High speed of the utility
    • Low system requirements

Cons


    • Support for memory cards from Kingston only (sometimes works on Silicon Power flash drives)
    • No tools to recover data from a damaged flash drive

Various files, images, archived data stored on the flash drive are often subjected to system failures, the causes of such problems may be different: improper removal of the device from the USB slot, virus attacks, residual files that interfere with the correct operation in interaction with other applications. In the process of operation there are more and more bad sectors and information on the removable storage device may not be detected at all, or its size is defined as zero.

Pros

    • Repair of flash drives and memory cards after software failures
    • Disk drives low level formatting
    • Wiping the information completely
    • Troubleshooting after incorrectly removing the device from the USB plug
    • Reanimation of the disk after virus attacks and crashes (with data loss)
    • Recovery from security vulnerability. "0mb capacity
    • High speed
    • Quick cleanup feature
    • Works with all popular devices, including SD, microSD, MMC, Compact Flash via an adapter

Cons

    • Lack of updates on the official site
    • Does not work with ATA HDD

Handy MiniTool Partition Wizard to work with the structural partitioning of your hard drive supports file systems FAT12-/16-32, Ext 2/3/4, NTFS. Quite often the process of optimizing a hard drive is required not only when detecting and need to eliminate any problems, but also for a more optimal operation of the hard drive. With the help of this utility you can successfully convert disks without losing information, as well as restore some damaged sectors, change the size of working directories.

Pros

    • Creating, deleting, formatting, and searching hard disk partitions
    • Selection of the file system partitions according to the specified parameters
    • High level of security, HDD partition conversion, recovery in case of data loss
    • Hard drive health test is possible
    • Free license available
    • Works with FAT and NTFS, supports RAID arrays
    • Cloning of hard drives and all the data is available
    • Option of creating new HDD partitions

Cons

    • Failures may occur when entering the serial number of a complete product
    • Partition formatting can be quite slow