MetaDefender Drive Fails to Boot

Issue

MetaDefender Drive fails to boot, and/or the operating system detects it as a corrupted storage partition.

Solution

To recover a possibly corrupted MetaDefender Drive, try the following methods in order.

1. Using MetaDefender Drive Toolkit

If you can't boot your MetaDefender Drive or you do not have access to the internet: Follow the instructions to create and flash a drive using MetaDefender Drive Toolkit.

If you can boot your MetaDefender Drive with internet access: Check if an update is available for the Drive software by going to Settings → Update and clicking Check for Updates.

2. Wipe the Drive with Windows Disk Management or diskpart, then restore with the Toolkit

If the issue wasn't resolved using MetaDefender Drive Toolkit, the MetaDefender Drive's partition table is likely corrupted, which can prevent the Toolkit from detecting or writing to it. Wiping the Drive's partitions with the built-in Windows tools clears the corruption so the Toolkit can recreate the Drive. Use one of the two well-understood Windows tools below, then re-run the Toolkit.

Before you begin:

• Copy any reports or other data you want to keep from the MetaDefender Drive to another location.

• Unplug other external/USB drives so you don't accidentally select the wrong disk.

• Insert the MetaDefender Drive and note its capacity so you can identify it in the steps below.

Option A — Windows Disk Management (graphical)

1. Right-click the Start button and choose Disk Management (or press Win + R, type diskmgmt.msc, and press Enter).

2. In the lower pane, locate the MetaDefender Drive. Identify it by its capacity and its Removable type — do not use your system disk.

3. Locate the partition names MetaDefender Drive, right-click it and choose Delete Volume. You can also repeat until the entire disk shows a single block of Unallocated space, but it is not necessary.

   

4. Leave the space Unallocated — do not create a new simple volume. Close Disk Management.

5. Restore the Drive using the Toolkit (see Method 1).

Note

If Delete Volume is grayed out for a partition (for example, a protected or recovery partition), use Option B (diskpart) instead, which removes the partition table directly.

Option B — diskpart (command line — removes the partition table)

Use this option if Disk Management cannot delete one of the partitions.

1. Press Start, type cmd, right-click Command Prompt, and choose Run as administrator.

2. Start diskpart:

   diskpart

3. List the disks and find the MetaDefender Drive by its Size:

   list disk

4. Select the MetaDefender Drive, replacing N with its disk number. Double-check the number before continuing:

   select disk N

5. Confirm you selected the correct device before wiping it:

   detail disk

6. Remove the partition table and all partitions:

   clean

   Use clean (fast — removes the partition table). Do not use clean all unless you intend a full, multi-hour zero-wipe of every sector.

7. Exit diskpart:

   exit

8. Restore the Drive using the Toolkit (see Method 1).

After the Drive is wiped, repeat Method 1 (MetaDefender Drive Toolkit) to recreate and flash the Drive image so it becomes bootable again. If the Toolkit still cannot detect the Drive after wiping, see Toolkit Fails to Detect Some Drives.