The UEFI_NTFS partition is there because you used Rufus to create a bootable USB drive.

GitHub - pbatard/uefi-ntfs: UEFI:NTFS - Boot NTFS or exFAT partitions from UEFI

UEFI:NTFS - Boot NTFS or exFAT partitions from UEFI - pbatard/uefi-ntfs

github.com

How To Delete EFI Partition From USB Drive - NEXTOFWINDOWS.COM

Sometimes when you plug in a USD drive, it shows EFI and FAT32/NTFS partition at the same time. It's odd that if your USB is in this state, it's better to

www.nextofwindows.com

 

Makes sense, yes. But why does it reappear after formatting?
And why is the stick behaving so strange?

When I plug the stick in, it freezes the whole Explorer on any device, and then after about 2-5 minutes it suddenly is recognized normally and can be used without any problem.
It feels like Windows is somehow confused about that stick and doesn't know what to do with it. Even chkdsk worked fine and said that the stick is healthy and all is normal.

 

I deleted the whole partition in diskmgmt before, but my mistake was that I didn't delete the other partition too and instead formatted it.
Now I deleted both partitions, and for the first time I was asked to create a new volume. So I created the new volume, formatted it and now that UEFI_NTFS folder doesn't reappear.
So that was a mistake from my side, because I did only delete that one partition and not the second one.

But still, the stick is behaving exactly same, no matter if I format it to NTFS or exFAT.
I simply can't imagine that it died just like that. But I am also not willing to sacrifice another USB stick for testing if it was really Rufus.
I am completely sure that either the Rufus or the "patched ISO" created by UUP dump messed something in the stick up.

Is there a way to completely reset an USB stick?
I am guessing inside an USB stick is a software part. Is it possible that that software part got messed up by Rufus?

I mean, how "deep" does Rufus get into the stick to prepare a bootable medium?
And how would I reset that?

 

Try the Flash drive on another computer. If the symptoms are still the same then
Run the Clean Command in Diskpart Erase Disk using Diskpart Clean Command in Windows 10
As stated. be careful and make sure you are selecting the correct drive because it wipes the drive Clean.
When that is complete, go to Disk Management. Confirm that The Flash drive is now all Unallocated Space. Do not partition or Format it.
Download a fresh ISO image of Windows 11 and burn the image using the Media Creation Tool from the same page. This app will create a partition and Format it while burning it.
If this is still slow, try it on another computer. If it acts the same, then the hardware has failed

 

What if I don't need to do the Media Creation Tool?

Just short backstory:
I already have a bootable Windows 11 stick, created with the Media Creation Tool.
The reason why I chose UUP dump is, because I wanted to have a second installation USB stick, with a "patched ISO" which includes all current updates, because the Media Creation Tool always uses some slightly outdated builds. So I chose UUP dump, let it convert to an ISO and put it on the stick by using Rufus. I have done that several times already, but not with a "patched ISO". So I am very sure that something there went wrong and messed my flash drive up.

Also, I won't use that particular flash drive anyway for bootable Windows installations anymore, because that particular flash drive already lost my trust. For now, I just want that flash drive back into the plain exFAT condition, because important things such as an Windows install I wouldn't trust on that stick anymore after what happened now.

So can I just replace the last step (Media Creation Tool) with formatting and just use it as a normal flash drive again?

 

If you have run the Clean Command in Diskpart and created a new partition to test it, It doesn't matter if it's another computer with Windows 11 or not, it's not a Windows issue.
If whatever computer you put it in, it acts the same, then it's a hardware issue with the drive, and the drive needs to be replaced.

 

I wasn't blaming Windows for that, I just meant that it seems that the drive got somehow unreadable for Windows, and it takes a really long time for Windows to make that drive ready for use.
Sadly, I think I will stop here and just give up that flash drive.

I used it everyday since months now, write occasionally, and read on it.
All was working fine at 25MB/s. Then I created a bootable Windows install on it with Rufus, with a recent unpachted ISO from UUP dump - all worked fine too.
But after that I formatted it again, because I wanted to get a patched ISO from UUP dump on it, and since then it's most likely broken.

Many times I used this stick, many times I used Rufus, and a few times I used UUP dump ISO's.
But it's the first time I used a patched ISO from UUP dump.

It might be a huge coincidence, that exactly then my drive fails, but still I am sure that it's most likely broken because of installing the patched ISO with Rufus.
I am not blaming Microsoft for that, nor Rufus or UUP dump, but still something went wrong here, about that I am sure.

 

Where did you get that USB drive? There is a big problem with small-capacity USB flash drives that have been hacked to read a larger size than they really are. eBay is full of these and they also pop up from time to time on Amazon and Newegg. The sellers get away with the scam for a time because most users only partially fill USB drives. It's only when someone tries to install a large file, like an operating system .iso that they are caught out.

Here's a current scam listing from eBay. Do you really think that you are going to get a legitimate 2 TB USB flash drive for three dollars with free shipping?

High Speed USB 3.0 2TB Metal Flash Drive Pen Drive U Disk External Memory Stick
Brand New $3.16 Free shipping from China.

 

Where did you get that USB drive? There is a big problem with small-capacity USB flash drives that have been hacked to read a larger size than they really are. eBay is full of these and they also pop up from time to time on Amazon and Newegg. The sellers get away with the scam for a time because most users only partially fill USB drives. It's only when someone tries to install a large file, like an operating system .iso that they are caught out.

Here's a current scam listing from eBay. Do you really think that you are going to get a legitimate 2 TB USB flash drive for three dollars with free shipping?

The flash drive came from a big company which definitely can be trusted.
Also I used it to nearly full capacity many times, and it already had a working Windows 11 setup on it.
Really, it just began failing after installing that one patched ISO. It was also the first time ever that I saw that UEFI_NTFS partition appearing, and since then the drive was having big problems after plugging in, the freezes began and all that other stuff.

Also, sadly yes, people think they can get USB drives and other storage for that price.
Once, I got a SD card just for fun, because it was super cheap. It was supposed to be a 512GB SD card for just about 2$, and I was curious on how many GB it really has.
Well, when it arrived, I already had it kind of damaged, and I saw that this was not even a SD card, it had a hidden Micro SD card inside, sticked with some kind of glue to the pins. That little Micro SD card even had 16GB written on it. I still have that 16GB card though, 2$ is not even such a bad price.

 

Toss it.

I got 5 Micro Center 64 GB USB drives off Amazon. One never worked correctly. It would copy the same way you suggested yours does, 30 MB then to 0 MB then go back up to 30 MB. Would finish the copying process, but all the files were corrupted.

Use Teracopy to copy the files. It has a verify feature that will tell you if you have made an exact copy. After installing it you need to turn on the verify feature.

I use the older version Teracopy v2.3 and with the verify feature can get indication of a possible failing drive.

That particular thumb drive would also get hot very fast. Another indicator that it was bad.

 

Toss it.

I got 5 Micro Center 64 GB USB drives off Amazon. One never worked correctly. It would copy the same way you suggested yours does, 30 MB then to 0 MB then go back up to 30 MB. Would finish the copying process, but all the files were corrupted.

Use Teracopy to copy the files. It has a verify feature that will tell you if you have made an exact copy. After installing it you need to turn on the verify feature.

I use the older version Teracopy v2.3 and with the verify feature can get indication of a possible failing drive.

That particular thumb drive would also get hot very fast. Another indicator that it was bad.

I am about to toss all my USB sticks.
Just recently I learned by listening to other people and from my own experience, that even the USB drives from "big companies" are unreliable garbage.
Just a while ago I said "The flash drive came from a big company which definitely can be trusted." in my post. But I don't think this anymore.
None of the USB drives are ever reliable, it's basically disposable storage, and everyone using it has to expect that it could become useless any moment.

I switched now to SSD's that are connected via S-ATA to USB adaptors.
Let's see how that will be in long term. But one thing is sure: They are so much faster, it's incredible.

It's not even so much more expensive, it's nearly the same price.

 

USB Flash drives are not meant for long term storage. They are primarily used for transferring files from one computer to another or for creating a bootable OS Installer. or Windows PE Rescue disk Other then that, they are volatile and can fail at any time, but usually last a while longer as long as they are used in the former manner.

 

The drive in the Dell XPS might have bad sectors. Restart the computer and press F12 and run the Dell Diagnostics and test the HDD If the test fails, then the HDD needs to be replaced.