USB drives are useful for storing and transferring data, but sometimes they can also face problems like not showing up in the file explorer when you plug in the USB drive in your computer. This might happen because something happened to the file structure of the drive, which made it unrecognisable.
In this article, we discussed various ways to help you format a USB drive that doesn’t appear in the file explorer on your PC.
Also read: Why is there an exclamation mark on C drive in Windows 11?
2 alternative ways to format a USB drive
If your USB drive is not showing up in the file explorer on your PC and you want to format it, we have explained a few methods that might help you format the USB drive that doesn’t show up.
Format USB drive from Disk Management
If a USB drive doesn’t show up or facing issues, then formatting it is the best option to fix the issue. To format a USB drive from disk management, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Press the Windows + X keys and click on the Disk Management option.
Step 2: Right-click on the USB drive connected to your PC, and that you want to format, and then in the dropdown menu, click on the Format option.
Step 3: In the pop-up box, checkmark the box beside Perform a quick format and click on the OK button.
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Format USB drive using Command Prompt
If you don’t see the USB in the disk management, then you can try formatting it from the command prompt.
Step 1: Connect the USB drive to the PC.
Step 2: Type cmd in the Windows search and click on the Run as administrator option on the right side.
Step 3: In the command prompt, type the following commands in the same order.
- Type diskpart and hit Enter.
- Type list disk and hit Enter.
- Type select disk (your disk number) and hit Enter; for instance, if your USB is located in disk 1, you should enter select disk 1.
- Type list disk and hit Enter to recheck that the right disk is selected.
- Type create partition primary and hit Enter.
- Type format fs=ntfs and hit Enter. You can also type format fs=ntfs quick for a quick format.
- After the formatting process is done, type Exit and hit Enter.
The disk is formatted and will show up in the file explorer now.
Also read: How to restore USB drive after making it bootable?
