Does a USB drive need to be formatted before it can transfer files?

[brokentusk16 0]

Whenever I plug a USB drive into my laptop, it says it needs to format it. I click OK, but then it says it the formatting couldn't be completed. I've used these drives on work computer fine. Is the problem my laptop?

[The Electrifyer 0]

Nah, I don't think so. The same thing happens to my USB drive as well. Do you get an option that says continue without formatting? Just select that.

[brokentusk16 0]

Nah, I don't think so. The same thing happens to my USB drive as well. Do you get an option that says continue without formatting? Just select that.

 

No, I don't the option of continuing without formatting. Either I format or I cancel. And when I do format, it says it can't complete the formatting.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

what operating system are you using

[brokentusk16 0]

what operating system are you using

 

Vista. not sure if it's related but I can't use my cd-rom either. I called Toshiba and they said I probably need to reinstall my operating system.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

make sure you're running this on an administrator account. if the operating system is a problem, that'd be an easy solution (to explain, anyway), but i've seen errors like that pop up when a user has UAC on or is using a limited account. try that, and if not, it sounds like you have bigger issues anyways.

 

good luck.