Summary: You may have heard about converting a USB drive into a bootable recovery drive. But can you make it normal again? Certainly! This blog will walk you through some best ways to convert a bootable pen drive into a normal one.
A boot device is a storage piece with all the system files needed to operate a computer. In essence, the computer doesn’t start up until it loads a few files from the boot-enabled device.
Once a pen drive has been made bootable, you cannot use it to store more media or files (unless stored in separate folders) until it has been unbooted and returned to its original condition or rendered unbootable.
To utilize a USB drive as a removable USB once more, we must convert it back to FAT format from NTFS after making it bootable (we’ll talk about this shortly.) You can easily do this using My Computer or This PC application.
This might sound confusing, but we are here to help. Stay with us as we explain all the steps one-by-one, so you can convert the bootable pen drive to a normal one.
What are the NTFS and FAT memory file system differences?
Two important categories of Windows operating file systems are FAT and NTFS. NTFS is the abbreviation for New Technology File System, while FAT stands for File Allocation Table. Both offer benefits and drawbacks regarding accessibility, speed, security, and other factors.
Your USB needs to be changed back to FAT format to copy and transfer data across multiple devices, such as movies, documents, or music, as FAT facilitates data sharing across various operating systems.
How can I convert a bootable pen drive to a normal one?
1. Using the Format option in My Computer
Using My Computer is the easiest way to convert bootable USB to normal.
- To make your bootable USB pen drive unbootable, put it in the computer’s USB port.
- Locate your USB drive on My Computer. Select Format by right-clicking on that drive.
- Now choose FAT32 from the File System drop-down menu.
- Once Quick Format is selected, click Start.
- A warning message will appear. Just choose OK.
- Your USB will begin to be formatted to the FAT32 file system, and after it is finished, you will see the message Format Complete.
Check out this article if you’ve encountered Windows was unable to complete the Format error.
2. Via Command Prompt
The Command Prompt is a powerful tool that will help you convert bootable USB back to normal by typing a few commands.
- Press Windows + R to open the Run box. Type in cmd and hit Enter.
- Pres Enter key after typing DISKPART in the command prompt.
- Put in List Disk and press Enter.
- There will be a list of the disks with their numbers, sizes, and available space. Locate the appropriate disk that you wish to render unbootable. Locate the disk number of your bootable USB drive in the list’s left-most column.
- Enter the command SELECT DISK X. (Where X denotes the disk number)
- Input CLEAN, then hit Enter.
- Type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY and press Enter.
- Type ACTIVE and press Enter.
- Type FORMAT FS=FAT32 QUICK and press Enter.
- Type ASSIGN and press Enter.
Note: This process of converting a bootable pen drive to a normal one will remove all the data stored on the pen drive. To prevent this from happening, you should make a backup of all the data stored inside the USB.
What to do if I lose the data after making the pen drive unbootable?
Stellar Data Recovery Professional can help you retrieve your data. Data can be successfully retained with the software in different terrifying data loss scenarios, including deletion, drive formatting, disk corruption, partition loss or deletion, drive failures, crashed systems, and more.
The recovery program recovers data from desktop and laptop hard drives and solid-state drives. Additionally, it can recover lost data from all popular brands and types of USB devices, thumb drives, memory cards, flash drives, SD cards, Micro SD cards, and CF cards. The software can recover data from disks and partitions formatted with the FAT, ex-FAT, and NTFS file systems.
In other words, utilizing this software will quickly and completely restore all of your deleted data. You simply need to:
- Install the Stellar Data Recovery Professional software.
- Open the application, select the type of data you want to recover, and click Next.
- Select the faulty disk and click Scan.
- Select files after the Scan and click Recover to save recovered data.
Convert your USB to normal with minimal risk!
This article was all about converting a bootable USB device into a normal one. To put it simply, you must format the bootable USB, and this process is simple. There is another method of turning your bootable USB into a normal pen drive using Disk Management, but it wasn’t mentioned here because the process was so difficult.
Using the Format option in My Computer is the best approach since it’s the most straightforward method. You may relax knowing that Stellar Data Recovery Professional has you covered and can rapidly restore your files if anything goes wrong throughout the process.
FAQ
- Does formatting a USB make it bootable?
No. Regardless of whether it is bootable or not, the drive format is the same, so as long as a USB connection can be made, it will continue to function through the USB port as a “regular” data drive. To make the drive bootable or unbootable, you must use one of the techniques mentioned above to change the drive’s format.
- Does Stellar Data Recovery Professional require a payment?
Although the free version has less functionality, it can restore data from most disk storage. The software’s Professional edition, which is an advanced version but will also cost you money to activate, offers considerably more sophisticated data recovery methods. Additionally, it offers a deep scan option to locate and recover files that the Standard Scan missed.
- How can I be certain that the Stellar Data Recovery Professional software will completely recover my data?
The length of time between the data loss event and the software scan affects the amount of recovered data. Using the software as soon as the incident occurs will probably restore all your data. Another aspect that affects the proportion of recovered data is the amount of the data.
