10 Tips Fix Please Insert a Disk into USB Drive Error Win 10

“Please Insert a Disk into USB Drive” Error Pops Up

When you use or open a USB flash drive, pen drive, removable disk, SD card, memory card, or other USB drives on your Windows 10 computer, you may see the error message “Please insert a disk into removable disk” like the image below.

This error usually occurs if the USB drive is corrupt, malfunctioning, has incompatibility issues or malware/virus infection, etc.

If you meet this error, the USB device is not recognized by your computer, and you can’t access the USB device and read the data on it. If you right-click the USB drive and select Properties to check its properties, you may see 0 used bytes and 0 available bytes.

Below we list some causes and solutions to fix “Please insert a disk into USB drive” error on Windows 10.

Why You See the “Please Insert a Disk into USB Drive” Error

The causes that lead to the “Please insert a disk into removable disk” issue might be uncertain. But it might because of the following:

• The USB drive is not well connected.
• Drive letter conflicts.
• Corrupt file system and bad sectors on the disk.
• Virus or malware infection.
• USB is incompatible with your computer OS.
• Incompatible USB file system format or the USB file system becomes RAW.
• The USB disk reader is damaged.
• Physical damage on the removable disk.

Based on the possible causes for “Please insert a disk into USB drive” error, you can continue to check the solutions below to fix this issue without losing data.

How to Fix “Please Insert a Disk into USB Drive” Error on Windows 10

#1. Basic Troubleshooting Steps

• Re-plug in the USB to Computer.
• Plug in the USB drive to another USB port.
• Try to insert the USB drive into another computer to see if it works.
• Eject the USB drive and restart your computer. After computer restart, connect the USB device again to see if it fixes the “Please insert a disk into USB drive” error.
• If you use a USB cable to connect the device to computer, change another USB to have a try.                  

#2. Change Drive Letter for the USB Drive

If it is due to the drive letter conflicts, you can follow the instructions below to easily change the drive letter for the USB device.

Get the best free disk partition management tool for Windows 10 – MiniTool Partition Wizard. This free tool allows you to easily assign a new drive letter for the USB. It also lets you create/delete/extend/resize/wipe/format partition, convert partition file system like FAT to NTFS, clone disk, check and fix disk errors, etc.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

• To change USB drive letter, you can connect the target USB to computer.
• Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard, and right-click the partition on the USB drive and select Change Letter.
• Choose a drive letter that isn’t used by other drives on computer, and click OK.
• Click Apply button to change the drive letter for the USB.

Check if the “Please insert a disk to removable disk” error message is gone, if not, try other measures.

#3. Update USB Device Driver

If the USB device driver is outdated or corrupt, it may make the USB drive not recognized by your computer. You can follow the steps below to update the device driver for the USB.

• Press Windows + X, select Device Manager to open Device Manager on Windows 10.
• Expand Disk drives category, and right-click your USB device to select Update driver.

#4. Run CHKDSK to Check File System and Bad Sectors on the USB Drive

In case the USB disk has some logical errors like corrupt file system and bad sectors, you can run a disk checking by using Windows built-in tool – CHKDSK. Check how to do it below.

• Press Windows + R, type cmd, press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open elevated Command Prompt on Windows 10.
• Next you can type chkdsk /f /r command in Command Prompt, e.g. chkdsk d: /f /r, and press Enter. Replace “d:” with the exact drive letter of the USB drive.
• CHKDSK can check and fix disk errors. After that, you can check if it still appears the “Please insert a disk into USB drive” error message when you plug in your USB drive to your Windows 10 computer.

#5. Run a Virus Scan

Malware or virus infection can cause the USB device malfunctioning. You can run a virus scan for the USB device to remove any virus or malware and repair the USB.

#6. Run Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter

Windows 10 operating system has a built-in Hardware and Devices troubleshooter that can check and fix issues of devices.

• You can press Windows + R to open Windows Run dialog.
• Enter msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic in Run dialog, and press Enter to open Hardware and Devices troubleshooter window.
• Follow the instructions to find and fix problems with devices and hardware.

#7. Update Windows 10 Operating System

If the USB drive is incompatible with some of your Windows 10 computer components, it might also show the “Please insert a disk into USB drive” error. To simply fix it, you can update your Windows 10 operating system by following the steps below.

• Press Windows + I to open Windows Settings.
• Click Update & Security -> Windows Update. Click Check for updates button to update your Windows 10 OS to the latest version.

#8. Do the USB Data Recovery

If you can’t fix “please insert a disk into USB drive” error on Windows 10, then you can utilize a professional data recovery program to recover data from the USB drive.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a data recovery software for Windows. This data recovery application allows you to easily recover any lost or deleted files from USB, SD card, memory card, external hard drive, and computer hard drive. Corrupt or formatted hard drive is supported.

Download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery on your Windows 10 computer, and check the steps below to recover data from USB drive.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

• Connect the USB drive to your Windows computer.
• Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery. Click Removable Disk Drive in the left column. If you connect an external hard drive, then you should click Hard Disk Drive.
• Click the target USB drive in the right window, and click Scan button.
• After the scan, you can check the recovery result and tick the files you want to save. Click Save button to set a destination to store the recovered files.

#9. Reformat the USB to FAT32 or NTFS

If the disk has problems or becomes RAW, then you may not access the disk and meet the “Please insert a disk into USB drive” error. You can reformat the USB to NTFS or FAT32 after recovering data from USB with the method in Tip 8, and check if the USB disk can work normally again after formatting. MiniTool Partition Wizard allows you to format USB to NTFS or FAT32 in a few clicks.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

• Connect the USB drive to your Windows computer.
• After you download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard on your Windows 10 computer, launch it.
• Right-click the partition on the USB drive and select Format.
• Choose a file system for the USB disk, e.g. FAT32, NTFS.
• Click OK and click Apply button on the main UI to format the USB.

You can also easily format USB with CMD, using Windows Diskpart command-line tool.

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#10. Send USB Drive to Repair Store

After trying everything, if it still fails and the “Please insert a disk into removable disk” error can’t be fixed, then you may send the USB drive to professional repair store to see if they can help, if not, change another drive.

Round Up

If it always pops up the “Please insert a disk into USB drive” error message after you plug in the USB device to your computer, you may try the 10 tips above to fix this error.

Have problems when using MiniTool software, please contact [email protected].

Please Insert a Disk into USB Drive FAQ

Also read: Unlock the secrets of hard drive data recovery and regain access to your precious files by delving into this enlightening article.