Unable to format (delete or...)

[nole1]

Have problems with formating USB flash wich is FAT32 and writeprotected but in a software way of sence. Under Windows FAT32. Anybody can help. Tried all kinds of program as sudo, but not working. What should I do?

[Qqmike]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

GParted: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

GParted Live CD will do the job.

[Qqmike]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

In fact, you can get gparted through your Kubuntu (K > System > Adept Manager), and that will also work. After opening it (K > System > Partition Editor), if there is a padlock on the USB, right-click on it and select Unmount.
Also, use at top tab GParted > Refresh Devices.

Caution: Watch the drop-down list of drives over on the right of the GParted screen! Don't format the wrong drive!

[nole1]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

Tried but now working. Gparted shows that the job is done and when I quit the qparted and try again to see if it works. Again the same problem. Nothiong has changed.

[nole1]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

Also tried to unmount but no way. It win FAT32 file system on it and I can do notnihg to change it. Can anybody help?

[nole1]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

To be precise here is the snashot of the screen when using Qparted as root.

[Qqmike]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

Oh, gosh, that's QtParted, not GParted.
(We hear lots of problems with QtParted, but GParted always seems to work just right.) fwiw, I format flash drives all the time using GParted. Gparted comes on a Live CD or you can get it on your Kubuntu (as explained above).

Just to show you examples of what I (and others) do using GParted, here's some:

How To Make GRUB Thumb Drive
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081748.0

Build a LIVE Kubuntu Flash Drive, How-To
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...089474.new#new
Step-by-step

(If you have questions, please continue to post them back here in this thread.)

[nole1]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

Tryed even with Gparted as told. Here is the result. I do not know what is going on.

[Qqmike]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

Two idea now.

In GParted, first highlight & Delete that sdc1 partition.
Then highlight unallocated space and Partition > New.
Apply.
Then highlight scd1 and
Partition > Format as ext3.
Apply.


Or, first, zero-out that whole thumb drive, as follows:
In Kubuntu, at Konsole, and with the flash drive plugged in and recognized by Kubuntu as sdc,
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdc

That will take some minutes.
Your flash drive light (LED if it has one), will blink. (look underneath or place a dark colored paper under the flash drive to see the light)
Just wait. dd will inform you when it is done, with a brief report (in, out, time).

CAUTION: dd is unforgiving!
Please make sure the flash drive is sdc!

THEN, after restoring the flash drive like new (with zeros, like the factory),
in GParted, do the partition & format.
GParted will ask you to set a new Volume Label? (MSDOS type)
Say Yes.
Then proceed with partition & format.

If that doesn't work, return the flash drive to the vendor for an exchange or full refund.

[Qqmike]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

I wouldn't think you should need any of this, but just in case:

Toward the end of Reply #1 of my how-to, Commands at Konsole, you'll find an example of changing ownership of a flash drive.
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3091607.0

In Kubuntu, you can mess with such under K > System Settings > Advanced > Files & Disks, Administrator Mode, right-click the flash drive, Modify, set a mount point (like /media/sdc1) and allow any user to do anything, click Writable also, then OK, then Enable.

[nole1]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

Tried like you said but dd resulted with this:
novica@novica-desktop:/dev$ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdc
[sudo] password for novica:
dd: opening `/dev/sdc': Read-only file system
novica@novica-desktop:/dev$

[Qqmike]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

Wow. Hmmm.

I wonder if you can change that RO to RW using Linux methods like chmod?
That command how-to may have that (I can't remember); but Tuxfiles definitely has a whole thing on changing permissions at the command line using chmod.

How strange. I'm not really sure now, except for the chmod idea (using sudo).
I'll think about it some more and now maybe others will see this and may have dealt with this issue ... ? Surely sudo chmod should get in there ... ?


The only other time I've seen that is when the UFD came with U3, and then:
U3 remove from your flash drive:
http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/u3/launchpadremoval.exe or
http://www.u3.com/uninstall/final.aspx

[Qqmike]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

Maybe this has to be (un)done in Windows?

[nole1]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

The problem started when my friend gave me this flash telling me that this is from Windows and can be done only under Linux. SO I tried and this trun out to be a great Sh... Can you tell me on what do I should apply the comand sudo chmod? to /dev/sdc or ?

[Qqmike]

Re: Unable to format (delete or...)

If you're in Kubuntu, it should come up on your Desktop mounted. Or, you mount it in K > System Settings > Advanced Disk & Filesystems as Administrator Mode.
Then at Konsole,
ls -a -l
should show you all the files in sdc1 and who owns them.

You could apply chown and chmod to the mounted UFD (eg, /media/sdc1).