Usb Flash Drive Write Protection Removal Software Free Download
Anita Damelio
Regarding frustrating tech error messages, "This drive is write protected" is right up there with the infamous "PC LOAD LETTER." You're just trying to save some files, and suddenly, your USB drive is giving you an attitude?
You could grab another flash drive, especially if you have plenty of bulk USB drives. However, if you know how write protection works, you might be able to remove it! Let's learn a little about this flash drive feature and why it exists. Then, we'll show you six easy options for removing write protection on a USB.
Write protection mode is a hardware or software feature that prevents the files on a USB drive from being removed, copied or altered. It's also known as read-only mode. While the drive is in this mode, a user can access files, but can't modify them. That means no adding files, deleting files, copying files, editing files - you get the idea.
The answer depends on how the write protection on your USB drive is set up. On some drives, the write protection is configured using the mass storage controller chip firmware. At USB Memory Direct, we often add this feature at our clients' request. This write protection can't be removed, and we recommend you use another drive.
First, look for a tiny switch on the body of your drive. This is a write protection switch that puts your drive into write protect mode, and it can be easy to accidentally activate it in a pocket or backpack. All you'll need to do is flick the switch into the "off" position. Write protection switches are no longer common on new USB drives, but it's always worth checking.
In recent years, flash drive sizes have been rapidly increasing. However, on smaller units, USB drives will sometimes show up as read-only if they're running out of space. In Windows Explorer or Mac Finder, right-click the drive and look at its storage space under Properties. If the drive is almost full, try deleting some files. (You should still be able to delete files if this is the case.)
Find your USB drive by looking at the size of each volume and comparing it with your flash drive size. Type "select disk 1" or "select disk 2", etc. depending on the number Windows assigned to your USB drive. Press Enter.
Lastly, you can also try reformatting the USB drive to remove the write protection. This will delete all of the data on the drive, so make sure anything you want to save is backed up! Use our guides to learn how to format a USB on macOS or Windows 10.
If, after typing the exit command, the write protected message still appears when adding files, remove the stick from the computer, wait a few seconds, and then put back into the computer. Then, try again.
If the steps below don't work for your flash drive, it may prevent permission changes from being locked by a security program. In these cases, you may be unable to make the flash drive writable. You may need to have administrator privileges on the computer to change permissions.
If the USB flash drive is still read-only after checking the Allow checkbox in step 7, repeat the steps and check the checkbox for the Full Control entry. Verify if the USB flash drive lets you modify its contents now.
If the USB flash drive is still read-only after checking the Allow checkbox in step 9, repeat the steps and check the checkbox for the Full Control entry. Verify if the USB flash drive lets you modify its contents now.
My USB flash drive is currently unusable because it somehow (quite suddenly!) became write protected. I have googled around and tried many solutions to this problem, but none of them have worked so far. Here are some of the solutions I've tried:
One factor that may make it more difficult to find a solution: I have no idea what the make or model is, because I received the USB flash drive from my university as a gift. So if anyone knows how to find the make and model, that alone might be helpful.
I have this problem all the time with a WD external USB drive on my laptop running Windows 7.I used the DISKPART suggestion above but after I unplugged and reconnected the USB drive I still had the problem.
First of all, follow any of the five methods to unlock your USB flash drive. Then, download and install the powerful data recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to scan and recover disappeared or erased files, such as photos, videos, and documents with three steps.
There is a Lock switch on the left side of the SD card. You need to make sure the Lock switch is slid up (unlock position). You will not be able to modify or delete the contents on the SD card if it is locked.
When you try to open a USB flash drive on your computer but receive the error message - the disk is write-protected, it means that your USB is physically locked, the operating system limits you from visiting the device, the registry entry, or the device itself is damaged. Consequently, you cannot visit or do any changes to your USB flash drive. The only way to resolve this issue is to remove its write protection.
Note that this operation may remove both the write-protection and data on your saved data from your USB flash drive. If it is so, reliable file recovery software can scan and bring your lost valuable USB data back with ease.
Don't panic when you see the disk is write-protected on your USB drive. You can fix this by either removing write protection or using another disk. This works for USB, SD cards, and internal and external hard drives.
In this section, we'll walk you through the process of disabling write protection on a hard drive or a USB drive in Windows 11/10/8/7. We'll remove write protection from a USB drive in the following example.
Note: The fixes are listed from easy to complex. Follow them one by one to remove write protection from your USB flash drive, memory card, or computer HDD/SSD by yourself. If you know little about computers, don't worry. You can resort to the manual disk repair and data recovery services from EaseUS. Our professional technical team can help you solve system-related problems, including system failure, BSOD, unbootable devices, etc.
Sometimes, people add write protection to files on a storage device from being modified or erased. However, storage devices like USB flash drives, SD cards, and internal or external hard disks may become write-protected due to the following reasons:
Sometimes, when the USB drive or the SD card physical switch is locked, the device becomes write-protected on all PCs and devices you connect. Let's see how to use the physical control to remove the protection from SD card/USB:
After this, restart your PC and check if you can access and use the saved data on your USB or hard drive again. If you prefer a video tutorial, you can watch this video to fix the disk is write protected error.
If you don't consider yourself a pro-computer user and you're not familiar with command-lines, don't worry. There are graphical-based solutions to help you remove write-protection from your hard drives, USB drives, and even SD cards.
Registry Editor also works to fix USB, SD, or internal/external HDD/SSD write-protected errors. It is an advanced-level procedure, and if you aren't sure what you're doing, you should probably not use this method. A wrong tweak to your computer's registry can cause many issues.
When BitLocker is enabled on your hard drive partition, it protects your files with its encryption feature. To make changes to a BitLocker partition, you must remove the protection first. Here are the detailed steps to disable Bitlocker encryption and unlock your disk:
Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to recover any lost data during the write protection removal. This software is also suitable for hard drive recovery, SD card recovery, USB drive recovery, and more.
I am having the same issue with my Corsair Flash Voyager 8GB drive. Running Windows 7, trying to format it and I get the message "The disk is write protected". It doesn't seem damaged in any way. I'll try booting under Linux and sorting it out that way although I don't have much hope it will work :mad:
later edit: I have now had a play-about with this under SuSE Linux. Using fdisk, I can delete the four partitions but cant write back the results; I can't delete files or directories; I can't chmod files or directories. I can read files and copy them off the drive.
Peeled the rubber casing off last night to see if there was any way of resetting it - there isnt. Its snapped in half, crushed with pliers and in the bin now. In future Ill go for two smaller cheaper pendrives to carry around critical data.
I own a 32GB Survivor that is no longer usable due to 'write protection'. I use it as temp-backup for my dissertation and run ceedo with vice versa on it to sync all important files between uni, home, laptop and actual backup drives. All licences are only for the corsair drive and now I cannot run any software any more.
Online tool, no thanks. A work around is not helping much, I need a solution. If your car/bike ever needs to go to the garage, you wouldn't agree taking the bus is an easier option to go with I suppose.
I installed SP1 on Windows 7 earlier this week and ran into the write protected with a sync program on all my external drives. I went into the drive properties sharing advanced sharing and fumbled around and finally got it straightened out. Sharing/permissions are a real pain on Vista and Windows 7.
USB mass storage devices that are already mounted as writeable will stay writeable until they are removed and reinserted. The same applies if you turn off read only protection while a USB mass storage device is active, it will become writable and stay that way until removed and reinserted.
I've been using a Kingston USB flash drive back up for months with absolutely no problems whatsoever. I can remove the device anytime and view saved images and video on my pc and then reinsert the drive back into the Arlo Pro base station and it continues doing its job. But, today I got a warning that my USB drive was not correctly formatted, so I hit the format button as I'd already saved videos that I wanted to keep to my pc. After a few seconds it said, 'Format USB Device', so I did it again. Still no joy. I removed the drive and then logged out of Arlo and back in, reinserted the drive and the same message appeared. Clicked on Format and now I'm in an endless loop of clicking on Format, being told it is not formatted and to do it again and so on. When I take the drive out of Arlo and play clips on my pc, they are all there plus new ones from today which have obviously been recorded even though it is saying my drive is not correctly formatted. So what gives? Is this yet another Netgear Software update that they haven't tested and we are the guinea pigs?
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