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I am using Windows 10.

I used balenaEtcher to flash a usb drive with some Linux distro iso, but now I am trying to flash it with another iso and am failing:

I highly suspect this is because the USB drive is already flashed, thus I tried to "un-flash" like suggested in many internet guides, via Windows format options, again, with no success:

Who do I make this USB drive "regular" again, or, at the very least, make it possible to override the current flashed USB with another iso? (preferably using balenaEtcher, I prefer not to use any more 3rd party tools)

avivgood2
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  • Being bootable is not something that prevents writing to the device. [Having failed is](https://superuser.com/q/1125282/432690). It may be your USB drive is beyond repair. – Kamil Maciorowski Dec 24 '21 at 17:45
  • Try formatting it and not quick formatting it. Quick just zeros out entries in the FAT tables. – user1644677 Dec 24 '21 at 18:57
  • @avivgood2: If you have the `Linux` environment try to use `dd` command to erase the whole content of the USB drive: `dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M`. To find id of your USB drive you can use `sudo fdisk -l`. And then you can try to use your drive in the Windows. If after that it will not work then most likely you USB drive is destroyed. – Jackdaw Dec 25 '21 at 02:13
  • @avivgood2: In the Windows environment you also can use `Diskpart` to wipe out (and format) the drive. [How to use DiskPart to clean and format drive not working on Windows 10](https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-and-format-storage-drive-using-diskpart-windows-10) – Jackdaw Dec 25 '21 at 02:21

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I would suggest following this guide to try and use DISKPART to fix the usb drive before giving up... (except maybe format as FAT32 instead of NTFS) https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-and-format-storage-drive-using-diskpart-windows-10

commands are as follows (from the guide for posterity)

Open Start. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option. Type the following command to run DiskPart and press Enter:

diskpart

Type the following command to list all the active drives and press Enter:

list disk

Type the following command to select the drive that you want to clean and press Enter:

select disk DISK-NUMBER

In the command, replace DISK-NUMBER with the drive number you want to repair as it appears in the "Disk" column. If you do not perform this step correctly, you could erase the wrong drive. Proceed with caution.

Type the following command to wipe out the drive and press Enter:

clean

Type the following command to confirm the drive still selected and press Enter:

lisk disk

Quick note: The output should include an asterisk (*) next to the selected drive.

Type the following command to create a new partition and press Enter:

create partition primary

Type the following command to select the new primary partition and press Enter:

select partition 1

Type the following command to make the partition active and press Enter:

active

Type the following command to format the partition using the NTFS file system, set a drive label, and press Enter:

format fs=FILE-SYSTEM label=DRIVE-LABEL quick

In the command, replace FILE-SYSTEM with the name of the file system you want to use, such as NTFS or FAT32, and replace DRIVE-LABEL with the name of the drive as you want it to appear in File Explorer. The quick option is optional to perform a format more quickly. However, if you are not sure about the drive's condition, it is best to skip the option. Just remember that depending on the hard drive's size, the format could take a long time.

This example formats the drive using the NTFS file system and names the partition "Data":

format fs=ntfs label=Data quick

Type the following command to assign a letter and make the drive available in File Explorer and press Enter:

assign letter=DRIVE-LETTER

In the command, change DRIVE-LETTER for the letter you want the drive to use, which is not assigned to another device.

This example assigns the "G" letter:

assign letter=g

Type the following command to terminate DiskPart and press Enter:

exit

Type the following command to close Command Prompt and press Enter:

exit

good luck!

Chris Heath
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