How to Fix USB Drive Keeps Showing Deleted Files Win 10/11

In general, when you delete your files from a USB drive, the deleted items should be deleted permanently instead of moving to the Recycle Bin. However, according to the Internet, many users have ever encountered the issue of “USB drive keeps showing deleted files”. When you are facing this problem, you may want to know: How do I delete files from my USB flash drive permanently?

Here we are going to talk about how to fix the “USB deleted files keep coming back in Windows 10/11” and how to delete files from flash drives permanently.

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Fix 1. Remove Write Protection in the USB Drive

Some USB flash drives offer a physical write-protect switch. This feature allows you to set the drive as “read-only,” thus protecting the data on the drive. When this function is turned on, the USB drive and the files inside are read-only, and you cannot edit or delete them.

So, when the USB drive keeps showing deleted files, you need to make sure you slide the drive’s write-protect switch to the off position. Here you may be interested in this article: Kanguru Launches SS3 USB Flash Drive with Physical Write Protect Switch.

Fix 2. Remove Read-Only Mode in the USB Drive

If the USB drive is in read-only mode, you cannot edit or delete files on it as well. In this situation, you need to remove the read-only mode of the USB flash drive. Various ways can be used to remove read-only state USB, and here we task the DiskPart tool for example.

Step 1. Press Windows + R key combinations to open Run.

Step 2. In the run window, type diskpart in the text box and press Enter. You need to select Yes in the User Account Control window.

Step 3. In the command line window, type list disk, and press Enter. Then type select disk X (X refers to the disk number) and press Enter.

Step 4. Finally, type attributes disk clear readonly and press Enter.

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Fix 3. Run Disk Checking Utility to Fix Errors

When there are some problems with the USB drive itself, the USB drive keeps showing deleted files happens as well. In this case, you can try to scan and fix USB errors by following the steps below.

Step 1. In File Explorer, right-click the target USB drive to select Properties.

Step 2. In the new window, move on to the Tools tab, then click the option of Check.

Step 3. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the error-checking process and check whether the deleted files keep coming back issue has been gone.

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Fix 4. Format the USB Drive

Formatting the USB drive is also an effective way to stop USB-deleted files from coming back. Here you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard, the best partition manager to format your USB flash drive. MiniTool Partition Wizard can help to resize volumes, delete volumes, wipe partitions, and so on.

Step 1. Click the button below to get MiniTool Partition Wizard Free installed.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 2. Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard Free to get its main interface. Select the target partition on the USB disk, and in the left panel, scroll down to click Format Partition.

Step 3. Set up the partition label, file system, and cluster size, then click OK.

Step 4. Click Apply in the lower left corner to apply this operation.

With MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can effectively delete files from flash drives permanently.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files From USB Drives

Some users are worrying about how to recover permanently deleted files from USB drives. Here a piece of free data recovery software is highly recommended.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery, the best data recovery software, can help to recover files from formatted USB flash drives, recover files automatically deleted by Windows, recover files deleted when left-clicking, and so on.

Now you can click the button below to download and then install MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free to recover 1 GB of files without paying a penny.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

For an intuitive guide to carry out formatted USB drive data recovery, you can refer to this article: How to Recover Data From Formatted USB Drives.

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Wrapping Things Up

Now you should know what should you do when a USB drive keeps showing deleted files and know how to recover permanently deleted files from USB.

Should you have any questions about file deletion on USB drives or MiniTool software, please feel free to leave your comments below or send an email to [email protected]. We will solve them as soon as possible.