USB Drive Stopped Working After Using RUFUS – Here’s What Happened and What I Tried

So lately, I’ve been on a little Linux adventure — test driving a few distros using RUFUS, which honestly makes creating bootable USB drives super simple. I picked up a brand new 32GB SanDisk USB 3.2 Gen1 drive for the job. Just dropped in a couple of ISO files, nothing fancy. Everything was going great — until it wasn’t.

The Problem Hits

Out of nowhere, Windows Explorer just stopped showing the USB drive. At first, I thought, “Maybe I pulled it out wrong.” But then I started digging:

• Device Manager shows it as SanDisk 3.2 Gen1 — no errors, no exclamation marks. Looks fine there.

• Disk Management recognizes the drive and says it’s healthy — although it’s only showing around 29GB, which makes sense since the last ISO I copied probably carved out a bootable partition.

• But here’s the kicker: Disk Management won’t let me assign a drive letter or format it. Any action throws the dreaded “Cannot find the file specified” error.

That’s when things got real.

Tried DISKPART – Got Blocked

I opened up DISKPART (Run as Admin, of course), selected the USB disk, and tried the old faithful clean command to wipe everything. But nope — I got hit with “Access is denied.” Now it’s personal.

Is My USB Dead?

At this point, I started wondering — has my USB gone to the great thumb drive graveyard in the sky? But before declaring it dead, I did some more digging and found a few possible explanations and workarounds:

Why This Happens (Probably)

Bootable tools like RUFUS can sometimes write in ways that mess with standard Windows utilities. Especially when writing in DD (Disk Dump) mode, which bypasses normal file systems and creates low-level structures that confuse Windows Disk Management.

This can lead to:

• Partitions that Windows can’t read or mount

• Disk locking that blocks commands like clean in DISKPART

• No file system or corrupted volume data

Fixes to Try Before You Bury the USB

Here’s a list of things I tried or found that might help others in the same boat:

✅ 1. Use RUFUS Again to Overwrite the Drive

Sometimes just re-burning another ISO in RUFUS will reset the drive's partition table. Use the MBR option and Standard ISO Mode, then cancel midway (if needed) — it might restore access.

✅ 2. Try Using Rufus's "Non-bootable" Option

Instead of writing an ISO, just make a non-bootable FAT32 volume with RUFUS. This can overwrite weird partitions and restore basic formatting.

✅ 3. Use Third-Party Partition Tools

Tools like:

• MiniTool Partition Wizard

• AOMEI Partition Assistant

• GParted Live (on another bootable USB)

These tools sometimes succeed where Windows fails.

✅ 4. Use DiskGenius or HDD Low Level Format Tool

Some users swear by these to do a full low-level wipe. DiskGenius especially has a “Rebuild MBR” feature that can fix corrupted USBs.

❌ 5. DISKPART with Admin Privileges – Still No Luck

Tried clean, attributes disk clear readonly, convert mbr — all blocked by access issues. So if DISKPART fails, don’t spend too much time here.

✅ 6. Linux to the Rescue

If you can boot into a Linux distro (which is ironic in this situation), run lsblk or gparted and try formatting the USB from there. Linux often sees drives Windows won’t.

Final Verdict?

If none of these work, there is a small chance your USB is dying — either a corrupted controller or a flash failure. But honestly, brand-new SanDisk drives are usually reliable. More often than not, it’s the funky partitioning caused by bootable tools that breaks Windows compatibility.

TL;DR:

• Your USB drive probably isn't dead — it’s just confused.

• Try fixing it using RUFUS, third-party partition tools, or even a Linux live session.

• Avoid formatting USBs in DD mode unless necessary — and always back up your ISOs!

• 
  

Have you faced something similar? Got a fix that worked? Drop it in the comments — let’s keep the Linux test drive dream alive.