Quite often, users encounter such a problem that when they try to copy some information from removable media, an error appears. It indicates that " Disc is write protected" This message may appear when formatting, deleting, or other operations are performed. Accordingly, the flash drive is not formatted, is not overwritten and generally turns out to be absolutely useless.

But there are several ways to solve this problem and unlock the drive. It is worth saying that you can find more similar methods on the Internet, but they will not work. We took only practice-tested methods.

To disable protection, you can use standard means Windows operating system or special programs. If you have a different OS, it’s better to go to a friend with Windows and perform this operation for him. Concerning special programs, then, as you know, almost every company has its own software. Many specialized utilities allow you to format, restore a flash drive and remove protection from it.

Method 1: Physically disabling protection

The fact is that some removable media have a physical switch that is responsible for write protection. If you put it in the " Included", it turns out that not a single file will be deleted or written, which makes the drive itself practically useless. The contents of the flash drive can only be viewed, but not edited. So first check if this switch is turned on.

Method 2: Special programs

In this section, we will look at the proprietary software that the manufacturer produces and with which you can remove write protection. For example, Transcend has a proprietary program called JetFlash Online Recovery. You can read more about it in the article on restoring drives from this company (method 2).

After downloading and launching this program, you should select the option “ Repair drive and keep all data" and click on the button " Start" After this, the removable media will be restored.


As for flash drives from A-Data, the best option will using USB Flash Drive Online Recovery. More details are written in the lesson regarding the devices of this company.

Verbatim also has its own disk formatting software. Read about using this in the article on restoring USB drives.

SanDisk has SanDisk RescuePRO, also proprietary software that allows you to recover removable media.

As for Silicon Power devices, there is a Silicon Power Recover Tool for them. In the lesson on formatting equipment from this company, the first method describes the process of using this program.

Kingston users will be best served by using the Kingston Format Utility. The lesson on media from this company also describes how you can format the device using a standard Windows tool (method 6).

Try using one of the specialized utilities. If there is no company above whose drives you use, find the desired program using the site's iFlash service. How to do this is also described in the lesson on working with Kingston devices(method 5).

Method 3: Use the Windows command line

Method 4: Registry Editor

Method 5: Local Group Policy Editor

Using the program launcher, launch " gpedit.msc" To do this, enter the appropriate command in the only field and click the “ OK».


Then proceed step by step along the following path:

Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / System

This is done in the panel on the left. Find the option called " Removable drives: Disable write" Click on it with the left mouse button twice.


In the window that opens, check the box next to “ Disable" Click " OK" at the bottom, exit the Group Policy Editor.

Restart your computer and try to use your removable media again.

One of these methods should definitely help restore the functionality of the flash drive. If all else fails, although this is unlikely, you will have to buy a new removable drive.

Writing files to a removable drive is the simplest operation on personal computer, which millions of users perform daily. But not all users understand the true reasons for such an error. In this article we will look at the causes of the error and how to resolve it.

Causes of the “Disk is write-protected” error. Why is the microsd card write protected?

The verbatim text of the notification looks like this: “The disc is write protected. You need to remove the protection or use a different disk." The appearance of this message is quite logical if the operating system does not have the ability to write to the disk - for one of the reasons it is prohibited.

The causes of failures may be software or hardware. Software and hardware failures occur both in the computer OS and in the file system of the drive. But before deciding what to do, you need to understand the reasons for this phenomenon.

Basic ways to protect a flash drive (memory card) or disk from being written to

Methods for protecting information on a flash drive, as well as types of failures, can be divided into two groups: hardware and system.
One of the options for hardware protection is a mechanical switch on the drive body in the “lock” position.

System protection is a set of programs and utilities specifically designed to ensure data security. For example, a block is set in the Windows registry or a group policy prohibits writing.

The easiest way to remove protection from a flash drive is Total commander

Total Commander is one of the oldest Windows managers, but is still popular among users because it has good functionality and easy to use. You can remove protection in TC using the following algorithm:

• Open "Configuration".
• Open the “File Operations” tab.
• Choose " automatic method copying."

Hardware method. Windows Command Line – Diskpart

Important: You must run the command line as an administrator.

To remove protection using command line, you need to follow the following algorithm:

1. Go to the Start menu.
2. Find the “Command Prompt” application (the command line can also be launched using the Win + R key combination).
3. Enter Diskpart into the command and press the “Enter” key at the command line, thereby launching the disk manager application on the system.
4. Enter Attributes disk clear readonly into the command and press the “Enter” key, thereby disabling the read-only mode.
5. Enter Clean in the command and press the “Enter” key, thereby deleting all partitions and volumes of the disk.
6. Enter Create Partition Primary in the command and press the “Enter” key, thereby creating the primary disk partition from scratch.

The ability to write to a flash drive is often blocked by numerous malicious programs that enter the computer system through other external media connected to the device or the Internet.

To find and eliminate them, you need to download an antivirus, for example Dr.Web CureIt, and scan the system for malicious code.

Mechanical protection. Switch for recording modes on a flash card

Some flash drives are equipped with special write protection mechanisms. They are located on the device body, on the outside. The device looks like a small switch.

Important: These switches are more common on SD cards, but also on some USB models they exist too.

To activate the ability to write to a disc, just move the switch slider to the desired “OnLock” position.

Windows Tools. Setting up Group Policy (gpedit.msc)

How do I remove protections that have been installed as a result of Local Group Policy settings? This restriction is removed using the following algorithm of actions:

1. Activate Windows keys + R command prompt.
2. Enter the command Gredit.msc in the search bar and click OK.
3. In the new window, go to the tabs: Configuration>Administrative Templates>System>Access to removable storage devices.
4. Go to the “Disable reading” line.
5. Double-click on the line.
6. In the new window, activate “Apply”>OK.

Registry editor. Removing write protection using regedit

Registry Editor - standard program, built into modern Windows systems. The application edits registry keys, sets new default settings, and restores files from backup copies.

To remove protection using the editor, you need to follow the following algorithm:

1. Log in to the registry editor program by activating the Win+R keys.
2. Type Redegit in the search bar and click OK.
3. Find one of the registry branches called: HKey Local Machine
4. Select the System branch from the drop-down list.
5. From the list that drops down under this branch, select Current Control Set, then Control
6. From the list of subsections, select StorageDevicePolicies
7. In the program interface, check the WhiteProtect parameter
8. Change the parameter value from 1 to 0.
9. Close the editor and reboot the OS.

What to do if the disk is write-protected and the flash drive cannot be formatted - Low-level formatting

If the above attempts to remove the protection did not bring results, then you should use the method low level formatting drive to clear and recreate all the flash card file system tables. At the same time, you need to remember that in this case the recorded data will be lost, but the damaged disk memory will be restored. Full formatting will block damaged USB areas and the system will not be able to write data to them in the future.

The Low Level Format Tool program is suitable for this operation. The application clears the partition table, boot sectors, and even manufacturer data - all down to the last byte. Available on the Internet free version program, but it works slower than its paid counterpart.

Not typical causes of the “Disk is write-protected” error

The reasons why writing to a disk is blocked can be divided into common and atypical, more rare ones. The second group includes file system errors, wear and tear or physical damage to the flash drive, microcontroller failures, and USB port malfunctions.

— Fatal errors in the file system of the flash card
If the sequence of storing and naming information in the drive's memory is violated, the structure of the file system is damaged. Logical errors occur after incorrect removal of the flash drive from the connector, memory wear, power surges and other processes. The disk is blocked, and the system reports the need to format it. To correct the situation you need:

• Try to recover data using software suitable for this media.
• Perform a high-level format with file system recovery.

Physical damage to the media is caused by manufacturing defects, cracks, overheating in motherboards and microcircuits. Physical damage is also caused by violations of operating and storage conditions, power surges, and loosening of USB connectors.

— Microcontroller failures or complete wear of the flash drive
Flash memory and the computer “talk” to each other using a controller chip built into the external storage. The controller is controlled by a microprogram written into the chip. Sometimes, in case of unsafe removal of the flash drive or horse races electric current, a controller software failure occurs. A clear sign of such a malfunction: write blocking. Also, blocking occurs due to wear of the memory chip, exceeding the threshold of rewrite cycles. The system goes into information protection mode to stop the process of memory destruction. Flashing the microcontroller using special programs will help eliminate failures.

It is rare for a USB port to turn off spontaneously on a computer, but this error still happens. To check if the port is working properly, you must first try connecting other devices to it. If the port sees the smartphone, keyboard and other devices unstable or completely refuses to notice them, then it does not function. If the user sees a system message about the disk being write protected, it is not related to a malfunction of the USB ports. But the administrator can disable them intentionally to protect data from downloading. How to remove write protection from a flash drive if the port is disabled?
In this case, you need to enable USB using the following procedure:

1. Enter the BIOS by holding down the F2 or F10 keys.
2. Find values ​​for USB Controller.
3. Set the Enabled parameter for these values.
4. Confirm the changes by activating the F10 key.
5. Restart your PC.

How to remove protection from excel sheet

If the Excel sheet is not editable, the application toolbar is inactive, and the user does not have access to most functions. When you try to make changes, the program will display a message stating that the sheet is protected. To unlock the sheet, you will need the following steps:

1. Click on the “File” item.
2. Activating the “Unprotect” link in a new window.
3. Enter your password. Without knowing the password, you cannot remove the protection.

IN old version In Excel, to remove the lock you need:

1. Activate the “Service” item.
2. Select the “Protection” tab from the list.
3. Activate the “Unprotect Sheet” command.
4. Enter your password.

Programs for eliminating recording errors and formatting protected flash drives

Flash drive manufacturers understand that their products may malfunction for various reasons, so every well-known brand creates utilities to eliminate them. Useful programs available on manufacturers' websites. For example, the program for Kingston is called Kingston Format Utility, Transcend is called JetFlash Recovery. Programs are in free access on the manufacturers' websites.

Are you afraid that your information may be stolen from your work computer and taken away on a flash drive? Or, on the contrary, are you afraid of losing data stored on a flash drive because it can be easily deleted? How to protect files from being copied to removable media without prohibiting its use in the system? How can I protect what I copied from being deleted?

Write protection of a flash drive can be implemented in several ways, depending on the goals being pursued. Some of them prohibit writing to a removable disk using the system itself, which makes it impossible to write files to any flash drive on your computer, while others allow you to prohibit writing to a specific medium, regardless of which computer it is connected to. Let's look at them in more detail:

Prohibiting writing to removable media by editing the registry.

Small changes made to the registry will allow you to prohibit writing to any removable drives. In order to make the necessary settings, open the “Run” window using the Win/R key combination and launch the registry editor (to do this, enter the “regedit” command in the window and press the Ok or Enter button):

In the editor we are interested in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE section,

in which we will sequentially open /SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/

In the Control subsection we need to find the StorageDevicePolicies folder (and if it doesn’t exist, create a new one) and in the WriteProtect parameter replace the value zero with one:

To do this, double-click to open the parameter and edit its value:

If we created StorageDevicePolicies ourselves, we need to create the WriteProtect parameter in it, for which we need to right-click context menu, select “DWORD 32-bit value” and name the new parameter WriteProtect, then change its value to one in the manner indicated above.

After closing Registry Editor, restart your computer to apply the changes. Writing to removable disks is no longer available, nothing can be copied to a flash drive, and existing files on it cannot be deleted or renamed:

To disable write prohibition, you must return the WriteProtect parameter to zero.

Prohibiting writing to flash media by changing group policy

Another way to achieve similar results is to make changes to the local group policy. Open the editor using the familiar Win/R keys and entering the gpedit.msc command in the Run window:

Let's sequentially follow the path Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / System / Access to removable storage devices:

Here we are interested in the “Removable drives: disable writing” parameter, which must be set to enabled:

This method is good because it does not require a system reboot to apply the settings - after clicking the “Apply” button, the prohibition of writing to disks is activated immediately.

Also, recording is immediately disabled and turned off; just set the “Removable drives: write prohibit” parameter to “Not set” or “Disable”.

Both methods are good for prohibiting writing on your computer, but they are not capable of protecting important data on a flash drive when used to transfer files to another computer. This requires a completely different approach:

Write-protection of a flash drive by setting access rights

To use this method, you need to format your flash drive with standard using Windows V file system NTFS:

All data will be destroyed, so if you have important documents on it, copy them first to HDD, and after formatting, return it to the flash drive.

In “Properties” we are interested in the “Security” tab, where we can make changes to the file system access rights:

Set the “Everyone” group to write ban, apply the changes:

Now, regardless of the computer to which your flash drive will be connected, no user will have rights to write (and, accordingly, to delete files). Moreover, you can restore rights only on the computer where the initial changes were made by returning the checkbox for the “Record” item to the “Allow” position.

If you wish, you can experiment with different user groups, for example by only allowing a group with administrative rights to write. However, please note that these settings will only be valid for administrators on the computer where the changes are made and not on any other.

How to remove such write protection if there is no access to the original computer, or if the operating system was reinstalled on this computer? In this case, only formatting the flash drive again will help you. Don’t be alarmed if you store important documents on it - copy them to a folder on your computer’s hard drive, and then feel free to format your storage medium. After formatting, the file system will return to the initial state, to be sure, you can choose FAT as your new file system.

Write protection of removable media using a built-in switch

Don’t forget that some manufacturers provide a switch that allows you to block recording on a flash drive. This applies mainly to memory cards and adapters for them, however, USB drives can also be equipped with it:

If your media has such a switch, just switch it - and until you return it to the reverse position, it will be impossible to write anything or accidentally delete files. The main thing is that you yourself do not forget that you have enabled write locking on the flash drive, otherwise you are guaranteed unpleasant emotions when you will not be able to submit a report to your boss due to the fact that you will not be able to copy files to the flash drive, which is now protected.

It is very frustrating when habitual manipulations performed many times suddenly, at one unfortunate moment, fail. It would seem that writing files to a flash drive is a routine operation that is already performed “automatically”. And so, when I try to transfer several files to this portable media once again, a message pops up that this flash drive is write-protected and it is not possible to perform the operation.

Is this a death sentence, or can the problem be dealt with? Let's figure it out.

Reasons for blocking a flash drive

There can be many versions of why it is not possible to write to the media - from mechanical damage flash drives to the stupid joke of someone you know. What led to the blocking in this case is not important. It is much more important to use the portable media correctly. Common recommendations include:

• Avoid mechanical influences.
• Protect from dust and water.
• After finishing work, use the mode safe removal devices.
• Check for viruses.
• It is not recommended to use a flash drive in devices with different OSes, or at least not to write or format them in such devices.

It is much more interesting and useful to find out a way to get rid of the error and write to a flash drive.

How to remove write protection

Let's start everything simple. Having made sure that the flash drive is intact in appearance, nothing is broken and it has not been dipped into liquid, we will gradually find out why it turned out that this disk is write-protected.

Hardware lock

Inspect the storage media carefully. SD memory cards (microsd through an adapter) and some flash drive models have a mechanical switch that blocks the ability to write and format. Check what position it is set to; if it is in “Lock” mode, then all you have to do is move it and remove the write protection.

It is useful to connect the flash drive to a different USB port, or try recording on another computer. This will eliminate the possibility that this computer having problems with USB.

If the flash drive does not open on any computer, then most likely the drive is damaged and will have to be replaced.

Checking the file system type

Please note what kind of file you are trying to write to. As a rule, new flash drives are initially formatted in the FAT32 file system. If the file being written is 4 GB or more in size, you will first have to change the file system to NTFS. Only then will it be possible to record files of any size.

Virus check

Before you continue trying to unlock your flash drive, it is extremely useful to check it for viruses. The reason may be hidden in some malicious program blocking the ability to write information to the disk.

Use the installed antivirus program, or download the test utility from the website of the developer of such software.

Using the Registry

You can enable disk writing by entering (or checking) the value of the parameter in the registry. To call it, you need to click the “Start” button, enter “regedit” in the search bar, then right-click on the found utility and select the menu item that runs it as administrator.

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR"

and find the “Start” parameter.

The value “3” of this parameter means that the recording is allowed, but if a different value is set, then most likely the cause of the error has been found.

Unblocking an entry in the Local Group Policy Editor

It is possible that the ability of some users to write to removable media is blocked on the computer. To remove the ban, you need to make changes to local group policy. You should click the “Start” button, enter “gpedit.msc” in the search bar, right-click and run the snap-in as administrator.

“Computer Configuration->Administrative Templates->System->Access to Removable Storage Devices.”

The value of the “Removable drives: Deny writing” parameter should be “Not configured” or “Disabled”. Otherwise, recording to external media is prohibited.

You need to reboot the system and then try again to write to the flash drive.

Removing recording protection using Diskpart

If there is still no result, then you can use the command line and the Diskpart program included in the OS. You need to click the “Start” button, enter “Diskpart” in the search bar, and on the line that appears with the name of the program, right-click to run it as an administrator. In the window that appears, enter the following commands.

1. “list disk” – a list of all disks connected to the system will be displayed. You need to choose the right one. You can determine which one corresponds to the flash drive if you go by the size of the disk.
2. “select disk X” – select the desired disk, where “X” is the disk number from the list displayed by the previous command.
3. “detail disk” – output detailed information on the selected disk. You should make sure that the correct drive is selected.
4. “attributes disk clear readonly” – resetting the “read only” attribute.
5. “clean” – deletes all partitions on the disk.
6. “create partition primary” – creating a partition.
7. “format fs=fat32” – formats the partition with the creation of the FAT32 file system (if you use the fs=ntfs command, the formatting will be performed with the creation of the NTFS file system);
8. exit – exit the program.

If no recording was made because the “read-only” attribute was set, then steps 5-7 can be skipped. Otherwise, it is advisable to format the flash drive, first saving all important data.

Using third party utilities

It is possible that the flash drive is not formatted, giving one or another error. In this case, to solve problems, it is advisable to use proprietary utilities produced by many flash drive manufacturers. Some of them can be listed:

• JetFlash Recovery Tool– for Transcend drives.
• Apacer Repair – for Apacer drives.
• Apacer 8 Repair Utility is a set of utilities for drives not only from Apacer, but also from a number of others.
• UFD Recover Tool – for Silicon Power flash drives.
• USB Flash Drive Online Recovery – for AData drives.
• Kingston Format Utility - respectively, for Kingston flash drives.
• AlcorMP is a utility that can work with Transcend JetFlash drives and others that use the AlcorMP controller.
• Phison Format & Restore – formats (low-level and high-level) flash drives with a Phison controller.
• HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool is a universal utility for formatting flash drives.

All utilities must be run as administrator.

You can clarify the type of controller used in the flash drive by using, for example, the “Flash Drive Information Extractor” utility.

Conclusion

If none of the recommendations help solve the problem, then the drive will probably need to be replaced. You can use specialized utilities designed to work with a specific type of controller. There is a possibility that the flash drive can be revived. The question is how much you can trust this drive after a serious failure.

Hello! Today we will look at the question of how to remove write protection from a flash drive? When this problem occurs, a window pops up with the following message: “Remove protection or use another disk” or “The disk is write-protected, remove protection or use another disk.” This feature allows you to protect data on removable disk, keeping them unchanged. The problem is that it is impossible to write other information to such a drive. Fortunately, there are many ways to disable protection using the advanced settings of your personal computer.

Some models of removable devices are equipped with special levers for write protection. To remove protection from a disk, you first need to check it for the presence of a physical switch. If there is one, then you need to make sure that the lock on the USB device is removed. If the lever is broken, you will have to purchase a new drive.

Why is the flash drive write protected? You need to check whether the disk is filled to capacity with information. A write error message may appear in cases where the free space on the flash drive is exhausted. To see the quantity free space just go to standard file manager"My computer". Even in cases where the disk is not completely full, an error may occur because the file is too large to copy.

How to remove write protection? It is advisable to check the file properties. Sometimes it happens that the copied information is protected from being written to a flash drive, and not the removable disk. To change file attributes in Windows environment, you need to right-click on it and select “Properties”. Uncheck the box next to “Read Only” and click “Apply”. On Mac systems, hold down Control, click on the file, then select “Get Info.” Go to “Sharing & Permissions” and in the “Privilege” column set the value “Read & Write” for your username.

To scan drives, you can use a utility called UsbFix. This is an open source program source code, designed to find problems related to removable drives and USB drivers in a Windows environment. You can download this application for free. After starting the program, you need to click on the “Research” button. When the scanning process is completed, click on “Clean”. After this, the removable disk can work as expected.

Scanning with antivirus

Write protection on a flash drive may be associated with infection of the device. The surest sign is a strange file extension on a removable device. It is necessary to check the drive for viruses and malware. You need to scan the flash drive every time it is connected to any other computer. Many virus scanners can be configured to automatically scan removable drives as soon as they are connected. If there is no such function, then you can right-click on the flash drive and select “Scan with antivirus”.

The next step is to scan your computer for viruses and other malware. If every removable drive you insert into your computer automatically becomes write-protected, then this is a sure sign of infection. In this case, you need to run an anti-virus scan of the entire computer as quickly as possible using a program specially designed for this. For example, you can use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware or Dr.Web Cureit! , protecting from the majority known viruses. These programs are available for free download. I use the latter (does not require installation and after checking the computer and removing viruses, it can be removed painlessly).

Disabling protection via the command line

If all of the above methods did not help solve the problem and the flash drive says “The disk is write protected,” then you need to move on to more advanced settings. You must run the command prompt as an administrator. If a protected flash drive operates in Read-Only mode, this can be fixed:

To do this, click on “Start”, “All Programs”, “Accessories”.

Right-click on “Command Prompt” and select “Run as administrator.”

Now enter “.diskpart” and press Enter.

This will launch the DiskPart utility in a separate command line window. All windows must be left open.

Type “.list disk” and press Enter. This command will display a list of drives connected to the computer.

We find it in the list USB drive. All connected partitions are displayed here (including internal ones) hard disks). There are also several columns of information that you can use to identify your external drive.

The "Ltr" column displays the corresponding drive letter for each partition. Not all sections will have letters. If you previously assigned a name to the removable drive, it will be indicated in the “Label” column. In the “Type” column you need to look for “Removable”. The “Size” column helps distinguish 2 similar drives if they have different amounts of memory.

You need to enter the command “.select disk X”. In this case, we replace “X” with a number from 1 column, which corresponds to the removable disk. For example, if the flash drive corresponds to the value “Disk 5”, then enter “.select disk 5”. Now you need to type “.attributes disk clear readonly” and press Enter. This will change the properties of the removable disk, making it non-read-only.

Now all that remains is to enter “.exit”, press Enter and check the flash drive again. After DiskPart closes, you can try burning something to the removable disk. You may have to remove and then reinsert the drive to get it to work.

If the command prompt window did not help solve the problem, then remove the write protection using the following method.

Disabling protection using the registry

Open the registry editor. If DiskPart commands didn't fix it external drive or it is read-only when connected, then you may need to change Windows registry. He controls operating system, so changes must be made with extreme caution. To open the Registry Editor, you will need the Win + R key combination, after which you need to enter the “regedit” command. If you are not an administrator, you will need to enter a password.

How to remove protection from a flash drive? We use the navigation tree on the left to open the desired location. To do this, you need to expand and collapse the items on the left to get to the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies. If you don't have a "StorageDevicePolicies" folder in the "Control" directory, then you need to right-click anywhere, select "New" and "Key". Let's call it "StorageDevicePolicies" and open it.

Double-click on the “.WriteProtect” entry. This will open an editing window. If you don't have a ".WriteProtect" entry because "StorageDevicePolicies" was created, you need to right-click inside the folder and select New, DWORD (32-bit). Let's call it “WriteProtect” and save it. Now you need to double-click on it to open the editing window. Change the “Value data” entry to “.0”. This will disable write protection on all removable drives. Close the registry editor and restart the computer. From this moment the flash drive should be unlocked.

Disabling protection using formatting

If all of the above methods did not help, and write protection of the flash drive is still a problem, then it’s time to move on to the most radical actions and format the removable drive. This will delete all data on the flash drive, but may make it work again. Reboot the computer into safe mode. It is impossible to properly format the drive while in normal operating system mode. You need to have time to press the F8 key before the computer starts loading Windows. Select “Safe Mode with Networking” from the list of boot options.

After downloading, go to “My Computer”. This window displays all hard drives and USB flash drives connected to the computer. It can also be opened through the Start button menu or using the Win + E key combination. Right-click on the removable drive and select “Format”. As a result, the corresponding window will open.

In the “File System” menu, select FAT32. When formatted, this will make the drive compatible with most computers and other devices. If the disk capacity exceeds 32 GB, then you need to select exFAT. File NTFS system Only suitable for PC with Windows system and is not used on other devices.

Uncheck the box next to “Quick Format” and click the “Start” button. Windows will begin the process, which may take some time. Once complete, you can check the flash memory. If the problem is still not resolved, then we can conclude that the flash drive is physically damaged and cannot be restored.

Disabling protection on OS X

On a computer running OS X, the problem can be resolved in another way. To do this, open Disk Utility. The permissions for your drives may be corrupted, but this can be fixed. Disk Utility is located in the Utilities folder. On the left, select a write-protected device (the Disk Utility window should list hard drives, CD drives, and all connected drives). Click on the “First Aid” button. Once confirmed, OS X will begin scanning the drive and attempt to fix any problems it finds. It can take some time. If you use more early versions OS X, then you need to go to the “First Aid” tab and click the “Repair Permissions” button.

If the flash drive still does not work, you can try formatting it. The NTFS file system is not suitable for OS X. Formatting will erase all data on the drive, but may restore it to normal operation. Open the Disk Utility application in the “Utilities” folder and select the write-protected flash drive (it will be displayed in the left frame). Select the desired file system and click the “Erase” button to start formatting. Video on the topic of removing write protection from a flash drive.