How to Format a Flash Drive Without Losing Data (100% Safe)

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:53 Why flash drive says it needs to be formatted?
02:28 Recover your data from byte-to-byte backup
05:36 Format a flash drive without losing data
06:16 Conclusions

Formatting sometimes is a necessary evil, but there are ways to use it to your advantage with virtually none of the downside. Does formatting a USB delete everything? After watching this, you will know.

Something real quick that I have to mention and get out of the way before we get started with anything else is that do not continue to use your USB flash drive until you have the ability to watch this video all the way through to the end at least once. That'll greatly preserve your data and drastically increase your chances of a successful recovery.

Sometimes, unfortunately, your computer doesn't really leave you much choice. Sometimes metadata or other key data on the drive that allows it to function properly becomes corrupted or straight up missing. And a format is the only way that you can restore optimum functionality to that piece of hardware.

I'm going to be showing you two methods. Both methods will be involving a piece of data recovery software called Disk Drill. I choose this data recovery software every time because it allows for multi-approach situations just like this. And it puts you on the cutting edge of data recovery and protection, all in one software suite. And you can recover up to 500 megabytes of files for free on all windows PCs.

Method #1:
1. Download and install Disk Drill.
2. Select the Drive Backup feature from the left pane.
3. Choose your USB drive and click the Byte-to-byte Backup button.
4. Pick a suitable location for the backup.

Once the backup is complete you can scan your byte-to-byte backup image to recover your data. To do that:

1. Launch Disk Drill.
2. Click the three dots in the upper-right corner.
3. Select the Attach disk image option.
4. Choose the byte-to-byte backup of your USB drive to mount it.
5. Select Data Recovery from the left pane and select the mounted image.
6. Click Search for lost data to scan the image.
7. Click Review found items to see the content of the image.
8. Select all files you want to restore.
9. Click Recover and choose the destination.

Now you can format your USB drive in any way you want since we already have a backup and our data is safe.

Method #2
So how to format a USB without deleting everything? If you're feeling slightly risky and times of the essence for you, then here's a faster way to achieve pretty much the same result. So the initial steps are really the same. Connect your USB flash drive to your PC and download and install Disk Drill. But we're essentially just going to be skipping the entire backup part.

1. Open “This PC”, which will allow you to see all the drives easily.
2. Right-click on your USB drive icon.
3. Click the ‘Format’ option.
4. Set the options the way you want them and click ‘Start’. Make sure quick format is selected and hit OK.

And once formatting is completed, go ahead and open up Disk Drill and select your USB drive, choose your scan method and hit start. And upon completion from here, you can review the data, recover your data, all that just like in method number one, nothing really changes there.
And now you know the answer to the question - can you format a hard drive without losing data?

I honestly hope that you guys got a lot out of this video and if you did always be sure to leave us a 👍 down below, and also if you have any questions, comments, or things you want to see me cover in a future video, be sure to let me know down below in the comment section as well.

#flashdrive #datarecovery

[alina-m]

“You need to format the disk before you can use it” - is like a nightmare! 😮

[Yianakirby]

Thank you so much! I was so worried that all of my mom's medical work files would be gone forever. I can't thank you enough!!

[LURKING]

This program is well worth it boys.. bought it a while back and it’s very impressive.. you won’t be disappointed

[catinaowens]

Thank you so much for this video! It kept me from losing some very important data.

[prabhdeeprandhawa]

I LOVE YOU! YOU ARE SUCH A LIFR SAVER! GOD BLESS YOU WITH ANYTHING YOU

[waleskabocel]

Will this work if I have around 16GB of files?

[USAUSA]

This is why I love Linux Operating System. It doesn't complain even if the filesystem is slightly damaged. It actually opens your damaged usb storage... I just plugged in my so-called damaged filesystem by Windows and there it is... all of my files are right there and accessible on Linux. 🙃🙂😉😊

[MarkHammerFriend]

Thank you for providing this. I have been stuck for years. Just hobbling along, moving files with lots of difficulty.

[kaiadam]

downloaded the software, worked fine, a lot of files were recovered, but why does it run in the background and slow my pc down. after deinstalling it everythig went fluently
edit: after installing it a second time and running it, the problem seems to have disppeared. means 5/5 stars for the program right now

[StupidGamer]

Great recovery software, it somehow copied over everything from my flash drive while when I tried to copy everything manually, it would disconnect because of the screwed up filesystem it had. I felt like I would never be able to copy anything from it because of that. Please try Disk Drill, I beg you. Thanks for everything

[Sensxrr]

How is it free when you have to pay for recovery like I hate people who act like they are actually helping by trying to market themselves by lying

[honour]

Bro thank you so much you have saved me a lot bro wish you all the best in life!

[obscurelyvague]

Help. When I install my flash drive Disk Drill does not seem to recognize it. There is no "Drive Backup" option to click on.

[allyfromally]

Thank you Andrew, this video has been a life save for my business. Most of my photos have been recovered now and I am forever grateful.

[KdeB]

You should be so proud of yourself helping so many people including myself. Thank you so much

[carloolabre]

do you have to upgrade the subscription or something? Because im below the limit but its making me purchase something before able to recover my files

[xthriteenx]

I’m trying to mod my botw on my Wii U, and it’s Sd just went nahhhh, so I really hope this works!

[kazkhan]

Thank you so much for this. You are a lifesaver. Why wouldn’t you choose the way you formatted the 2nd option? It was more simplified

[swobiwm]

Andrew, do you cover alternative operating systems for both phone and PC? I'd like to see you cover that along with the best media players.

[feeltheforce]

Hi I clicked byte to byte back up and an error message came up - disk too small for partial backup.
There is data on my USB stick there are photos yet it tells me error disk too small ! what now ?