How to Restore Your USB Key to it’s original state

WARNING: This process will delete any information that is currently stored on the USB key. Proceed with caution!

Restoring your USB key to it’s original state via Windows:

1. Download the HP USB Format tool
2. Run the USB Format tool. Select your Device from the list, select your File system type, and click Start to format the drive:



3. That’s it, your USB flash drive should now be formatted in a singular partition just as it was from the factory

Restoring your USB key to it’s original state using Linux Ubuntu:

A. First we need to delete the old partitions that remain on the USB key.

1. Open a terminal and type
   

   sudo su

2. Type
   

   fdisk -l

   and note your USB drive letter.

3. Type
   

   fdisk /dev/sdx

   (replacing x with your drive letter)

4. Type
   

   d

   to proceed to delete a partition

5. Type
   

   1

   to select the 1st partition and press enter

6. Type
   

   d

   to proceed to delete another partition (fdisk should automatically select the second partition)

B. Next we need to create the new partition.

1. Type
   

   n

   to make a new partition

2. Type
   

   p

   to make this partition primary and press enter

3. Type
   

   1

   to make this the first partition and then press enter
   

4. Press enter to accept the default first cylinder
5. Press enter again to accept the default last cylinder
6. Type
   

   w

   to write the new partition information to the USB key

7. Type
   

   umount /dev/sdx

   (replacing x with your drive letter)

C. The last step is to create the fat filesystem.

1. Type
   

   mkfs.vfat -F 16 /dev/sdx1

   (replacing x with your USB key drive letter)

That’s it, you should now have a restored USB key with a single fat 16 partition that can be read from any computer.