How to Solve Kingston DT 101 G2 not Recognized (Case Study)

The case

“I have a 16GB Kingston Data Traveler 101 G2 USB flash drive. After inserted it into PC, I tried to open it in Windows Explorer. But a message “you need to format the disk in drive E: before you can use it” appeared. I clicked Cancel. It prompted an error – E: is not accessible, the volume doesn’t contain a recognized file system. Why my Kingston DT 101 G2 not recognized? How can I access it without obstacles?

Analysis

The issue aforementioned can be related to one or more factors listed below:

• It is infected with virus. If so, you can run anti-virus software.

• The partition table of it is corrupted.

• The file system of Kingston DT 101 G2 is corrupted.

• There are bad sectors on the Kingston DT 101 G2 USB.

Solutions

To fix Kingston DT 101 G2 not recognized in Windows 10/8/7 issue, you can refer to the following solutions.

Note: Before you take steps to fix the issue, it is highly recommended to recover data from Kingston USB, if there are necessary files on it. To recover data, you can turn to data recovery software like Recuva, PhotoRec and so on.

Option 1. Check Kingston DT 101 G2 USB for bad sectors

As listed above, bad sectors can be a cause of Kingston DT 101 G2 USB not working. To confirm whether there is a bad sector, you can employ Disk Surface Test in AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.

Free download it and have a try!

1. Install and run it. In the main console, locate Kingston Data Traveler USB, right-click it and choose Surface Test.

2. In the pop-up window, check Quick Test and click Start.

Option 2. Rebuild Partition Table for Kingston USB flash drive

When the problem happens out of damaged table, you can rebuild partition table of Kingston USB. Here are the detailed steps:

1. Fire up AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, right-click the Kingston USB and go to Rebuild MBR

2. It pops up a window where you should choose the MBR type based on your current OS.

3. Go back to the main interface. Click Apply and Proceed to commit operation.

Notes:

• AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard enjoys other features like merging partitions, making conversion between NTFS and FAT32 without data loss.

• AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard can be supported by Windows 10/8.1/8/7, XP and Vista. For Windows Server users, AOMEI Partition Assistant Server should be applied.

Option 3. Format Kingston DT 101 GB USB

If the file system of Kingston USB is corrupted or not supported by Windows operating system, it won’t be working. In such condition, you can format it with a file system compatible with Windows through the steps given below:

PS.: What I want to prompt you is that formatting will destroy all data.

1. Press Windows +Rat the same time, input "diskpart" and click "OK".

2. Then, run commands as follows:

• list disk

• select disk n, n refers to the disk number of Kingston USB that not working

• list partition

• select partition m, “m” is the partition number of the partition that you’ll format

• format fs=ntfs quick

• exit

Tips:

• You can also choose to format USB drive with FAT32 or exFAT.

• If the Kingston DT 101 G2 USB is write-protected, you should remove write protection from it in advance.

What if Kingston USB not showing up in Explorer?

You can repair Kingston Data Traveler 101 G2 USB detected but not accessible problem with the methods presented above. However, what should you do when you can’t view the USB in Windows Explorer? Keep reading the following text to get an answer.

If your Kingston USB is not assigned with a drive letter, it won’t appear in File Explorer. If so, you can assign a drive letter to it in Disk Management.

If it still disappears in Disk Management, you can update or reinstall driver for the Kingston USB in Device Manager

If you have disabled the USB interface in BIOS, it won’t show up in Device Manager. Here, you can enable USB device in BIOS.