# [SOLVED] Pendrive: Device Not Ready



## vista87 (Jan 14, 2010)

Hi all,

I plugged in my 4GB pendrive to my laptop but an error message popped up, saying that I have to format the drive before I can use it.

However, I failed to format the pendrive normally. I keep getting this error 

_"windows unable to complete the format"_

I tried the method of editing "regedit" to remove the protection (I thought it was write-protected) in order to format the pendrive but failed.

Then I tried using command prompt;



> 1. Shutdown your computer or laptop
> 2. Insert USB Memory Stick into your laptop or Computer
> 3. Turn on laptop and then immediately start pressing (F8) key then Advanced Boot Options screen will come up
> 4. Select Safe Mode with Command Prompt
> ...


I managed to do from step 1-6. At step 6, after pressing enter, I got the message _"the device is not ready"_.

I am not sure what does it mean by _"the device is not ready"_. The device came up as G: in "My Computer". 

I tried to transfer a file to the drive but failed.

Now, I am not sure if the pendrive is write-protected or just totally damaged.

Although it's just 4GB but I would love to try to repair it. 

I appreciate if someone could guide me.

Thank you.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Pendrive: Device Not Ready*

Flash drives are notoriously volatile and known to fail. 
Go to Start/Search and type *diskmgmt.msc *Right click the *diskmgmt *icon in the search results and *Run As Administrator.* In the *Elevated Disk Management* if your Flash Drive is there, highlight it and go up to the Tool bar and press the* X.* This will delete the *Volume/Partition* (so be sure to get the right one) Now right click the *Unallocated Space *and create a new *Simple Volume.* If this fails, then the Flash drive needs to be replaced.


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## vista87 (Jan 14, 2010)

*Re: Pendrive: Device Not Ready*

Thanks for your reply.

I tried that but I got this message



> The operation is not supported on removeable media


I noticed that the file system is RAW.

Any other way?

:banghead:


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Pendrive: Device Not Ready*

The flash drive has failed, it needs to be replaced.


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