Free USB drive formatting
USB Low-Level Format is a free app for Windows that helps you restore your USB drive to its factory state. Over time, USB Devices such as flash drives and thumb drives can develop problems.
You may find that, even after you've removed all your files from it, your storage device still doesn't have as much memory as it had when you bought it. Alternatively, it may have picked up a virus, so you want to ensure that it's 100% clean. USB Low-Level Format lets you start with a clean slate. USB Disk Storage and HDD Low Level are other options worth considering.
What does it do?
USB Low-Level Format restarts your USB drive to its original state. Whatever problem you’re having with it, as long as it's still functioning, you can simulate the factory finishing process to restore your USB drive to its original configuration and capacity.
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It removes all data, flags and settings from the device and reformats back to how much storage it originally had.
Brand compatibility
During the storage restoration process, USB Low-Level Format connects to your USB device’s firmware. To give it the best chance of returning it to full capacity, it supports over 20 brands of drives. Well-known manufacturers including Intel, Toshiba, SanDisk and Western Digital are supported, as well as many brands but don't have as much consumer-end presence.
Operating and file systems
With USB Low-Level Format, you can create a bootable USB drive that works with various operating systems. You can use it for installing Windows, Unix, Linux and various others. It also works with all the most popular file systems, including exFAT, FAT32 and NTFS.
Additional tools
The software developer, Bureausoft, also has your security in mind. You can use the program to apply industrial quality data wiping to your USB drive.
Our take
Maybe your USB drive has bad sectors, got corrupted, infected with malware or simply developed a glitch. Whatever the case may be, USB Low-Level Format is a great solution.
With excellent firmware and operating system compatibility and its ability to securely wipe all the data from your USB drive, USB Low-Level Format is definitely worth having in your digital toolkit, even if you only rarely use them.
