My 16 GB USB flash drive has developed an odd problem. It appears to have
become 'write protected' all on its own. It doesn't have a switch anywhere
before everyone jumps on their keyboards ...

I have tried everything to mount the bloody thing and force a reformat, but
to no avail. Looking on the net, there are lots of references to the
problem, and even a little software utility that lots of posters have tried,
and had success with. I downloaded it and tried it, but nope - problem
persists. I've tried it with a Win 7 64 bit machine, and an XP Pro machine,
but same result. Windows format utilities have no success either. Nor
low-level attempts in command prompt, including with the /U switch added.
There are also instructions to change a registry entry to switch off write
protect. I also tried doing this, but it still stubbornly reports that it is
write protected, and any attempt to do anything just throws up an error,
citing this as the cause. The format utility on the XP machine did get into
the problem a bit deeper by saying that the current file format was "RAW"
and that it wanted to change that to "FAT32", which I OK'd. It then went
ahead and produced the progress bar which lasted for a couple of minutes. I
thought at that point that I'd cracked it, but no. The progress bar got to
the end, then up came the error message that Windows was unable to complete
the format operation because the target device was write protected. DOH !
:-(

So, any of the computer gurus out there got any ideas of other ways to fix
it ? Any free formatting utilities out there that will mount and format a
flash drive regardless ? Any idea how this occurred in the first place ? The
last known operation was that the wife put an AVI on there from her Vista
laptop, but the file itself is ok and virus free, and its something that she
does all the time. I know I could just go out and buy a replacement, but
it's like an old friend - and shaped like a .50 caliber bullet :-) - so it
would be nice to give it its life back ...

Arfa

On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 02:30:54 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

My 16 GB USB flash drive has developed an odd problem. It appears to have
become 'write protected' all on its own.

Standard question #1: Make, model, and capacity please?

Have you checked to make sure it's not a counterfeit?
http://reviews.ebay.com/Fake-SD-cards?ugid=10000000004680044
http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com
http://flashchiptech.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/fixing-fake-sd-sdhc-cards-is-it-possible-what-are-the-problems-and-challenges-what-software-to-use-to-test-for-flash-memory-fake-chips-is-there-a-free-download-to-check-flash-drives-and-memory-car/

The usual problem is not the SD card. It's the tiny switch in the SD
card receptacle. I have an SD card that doesn't quite hit the switch
on some readers but works on others. Tolerance problem.

Here's how to do it with an Xbox 360:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD0QO0w7zDg
It works.

I also had a micro-SD that claimed it was write protected. None of my
PC's or Mac's would format or fix it. So, I crammed it into my Droid
cell phone, and formatted it in the phone. No problem.

Incidentally, you might be interested in these SD speed test results:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/SDCardSpeedTests


--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

On Thu, 21 Jun 2012 21:10:49 -0700, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

Also try this formatter:
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3/
--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
: My 16 GB USB flash drive has developed an odd problem. It appears to have
: become 'write protected' all on its own. It doesn't have a switch anywhere
: before everyone jumps on their keyboards ...
:
I reformatted mine with the same problem, on an XP machine by
using DOS, "Command" not "CMD" in the Run window.

Colin

On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 02:30:54 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

My 16 GB USB flash drive has developed an odd problem. It appears to have
become 'write protected' all on its own. It doesn't have a switch anywhere
before everyone jumps on their keyboards ...

I have tried everything to mount the bloody thing and force a reformat, but
to no avail. Looking on the net, there are lots of references to the
problem, and even a little software utility that lots of posters have tried,
and had success with. I downloaded it and tried it, but nope - problem
persists.

I'm no guru, but ISTM that your flash drive may have reached the end
of its life. I think the failure mechanism may be something like the
following.

When data are written to a cell, the original contents first need to
be erased, they cannot just be overwritten. Since data are written in
whole blocks rather than individual LBAs (aka sectors), the original
block is copied to a new location and the pointers are then updated so
that the LBAs now map to the new block. The old block can then be
reused at a later date. That's how wear levelling works.

AIUI, USB flash drives and SSDs are "over-provisioned" with additional
storage space to accommodate spare sectors, etc. It could be that your
flash drive has now exhausted its over-provisioned space, in which
case there are no spare sectors to receive your new data. That could
be why the drive is reporting that it is "write protected".

Note that "erasing" files or formatting the drive still requires that
the original data be copied to a new location. SSDs can be erased
using the ATA Secure Erase command, but AIUI there is no similar
command for USB mass storage devices. The latter use a SCSI-like
command set. The Secure Erase command is performed internally by an
SSD or HDD -- it does not require the OS to write zeros to every
sector over the SATA/PATA interface.

BTW, which "little software utility" have you tried?

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 02:30:54 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

My 16 GB USB flash drive has developed an odd problem. It appears to have
become 'write protected' all on its own.

Standard question #1: Make, model, and capacity please?

Have you checked to make sure it's not a counterfeit?
http://reviews.ebay.com/Fake-SD-cards?ugid=10000000004680044
http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com
http://flashchiptech.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/fixing-fake-sd-sdhc-cards-is-it-possible-what-are-the-problems-and-challenges-what-software-to-use-to-test-for-flash-memory-fake-chips-is-there-a-free-download-to-check-flash-drives-and-memory-car/

The usual problem is not the SD card. It's the tiny switch in the SD
card receptacle. I have an SD card that doesn't quite hit the switch
on some readers but works on others. Tolerance problem.

Here's how to do it with an Xbox 360:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD0QO0w7zDg
It works.

I also had a micro-SD that claimed it was write protected. None of my
PC's or Mac's would format or fix it. So, I crammed it into my Droid
cell phone, and formatted it in the phone. No problem.

Incidentally, you might be interested in these SD speed test results:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/SDCardSpeedTests




We seem to be at slight cross-purposes here, Jeff. It's not an SD or CF
card. Its a normal USB 'dongle-type' flash drive. This particular one
happens to be shaped like a rifle bullet. The tip screws off to reveal the
USB connector. I guess that it might contain the same memory hardware as an
SD or CF card behind the USB interface which it obviously has, but I don't
know for sure. Some of these flash drives do have a little physical switch
for write protecting, but many don't. Mine is one such. Capacity is 16GB as
stated in the original post. It is still correctly identified as a 16GB
flash drive by Windows. Make and model are irrelevant. It doesn't have
either. It's just a typical Chinese memory stick in a novelty bullet shape.

Arfa

"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 02:30:54 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

My 16 GB USB flash drive has developed an odd problem. It appears to have
become 'write protected' all on its own. It doesn't have a switch anywhere
before everyone jumps on their keyboards ...

I have tried everything to mount the bloody thing and force a reformat,
but
to no avail. Looking on the net, there are lots of references to the
problem, and even a little software utility that lots of posters have
tried,
and had success with. I downloaded it and tried it, but nope - problem
persists.

I'm no guru, but ISTM that your flash drive may have reached the end
of its life. I think the failure mechanism may be something like the
following.

When data are written to a cell, the original contents first need to
be erased, they cannot just be overwritten. Since data are written in
whole blocks rather than individual LBAs (aka sectors), the original
block is copied to a new location and the pointers are then updated so
that the LBAs now map to the new block. The old block can then be
reused at a later date. That's how wear levelling works.

AIUI, USB flash drives and SSDs are "over-provisioned" with additional
storage space to accommodate spare sectors, etc. It could be that your
flash drive has now exhausted its over-provisioned space, in which
case there are no spare sectors to receive your new data. That could
be why the drive is reporting that it is "write protected".

Note that "erasing" files or formatting the drive still requires that
the original data be copied to a new location. SSDs can be erased
using the ATA Secure Erase command, but AIUI there is no similar
command for USB mass storage devices. The latter use a SCSI-like
command set. The Secure Erase command is performed internally by an
SSD or HDD -- it does not require the OS to write zeros to every
sector over the SATA/PATA interface.

BTW, which "little software utility" have you tried?

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.


Thanks for that explanation. I guess it's a possibility. The utility I tried
is called "Repair_v2.9.1.1.exe'

I downloaded it from a website after Googling on "Flash drive says it is
write protected". Many of the hits that returned made reference to this
utility, and provided a link to the URL where it is to be found. Almost
everybody reported total success from using it, but there were a few cases
like mine, where it didn't work.

I guess I'm just going to have to buy a new one. They are not expensive.
It's just annoying to be beaten by something as simple as a corrupted file
structure. It has been suggested to me that there are Linux ways of forcing
a reformat, so I might have a mate of mine who is into Linux give it a go as
a last ditch attempt.

Arfa

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 02:35:13 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Thanks for that explanation. I guess it's a possibility. The utility I tried
is called "Repair_v2.9.1.1.exe'

FWIW, this site appears to have a more recent version:
http://www.tcp.ac.th/downloads/Repair_v2.9.1.1.zip
http://www.tcp.ac.th/downloads/Repair_v2.9.1.8A.zip

I downloaded it from a website after Googling on "Flash drive says it is
write protected". Many of the hits that returned made reference to this
utility, and provided a link to the URL where it is to be found. Almost
everybody reported total success from using it, but there were a few cases
like mine, where it didn't work.

ISTM that this utility performs a low level format. Exactly what this
means in this particular case is unclear. I suspect it may just be a
zero-fill utility.

I guess I'm just going to have to buy a new one. They are not expensive.
It's just annoying to be beaten by something as simple as a corrupted file
structure. It has been suggested to me that there are Linux ways of forcing
a reformat, so I might have a mate of mine who is into Linux give it a go as
a last ditch attempt.

Arfa

AFAICS, if it were simply a case of a corrupted file structure, then
you still would have been able to wipe the drive.

Instead, it looks more like the failures reported at the following
Google hits:
http://www.google.com/search?q=ssd+%...%22worn+out%22

I'm assuming that USB flash drives and SSDs wear out in similar
fashion.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 02:35:13 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Thanks for that explanation. I guess it's a possibility. The utility I
tried
is called "Repair_v2.9.1.1.exe'

FWIW, this site appears to have a more recent version:
http://www.tcp.ac.th/downloads/Repair_v2.9.1.1.zip
http://www.tcp.ac.th/downloads/Repair_v2.9.1.8A.zip

I downloaded it from a website after Googling on "Flash drive says it is
write protected". Many of the hits that returned made reference to this
utility, and provided a link to the URL where it is to be found. Almost
everybody reported total success from using it, but there were a few cases
like mine, where it didn't work.

ISTM that this utility performs a low level format. Exactly what this
means in this particular case is unclear. I suspect it may just be a
zero-fill utility.

I guess I'm just going to have to buy a new one. They are not expensive.
It's just annoying to be beaten by something as simple as a corrupted file
structure. It has been suggested to me that there are Linux ways of
forcing
a reformat, so I might have a mate of mine who is into Linux give it a go
as
a last ditch attempt.

Arfa

AFAICS, if it were simply a case of a corrupted file structure, then
you still would have been able to wipe the drive.

Instead, it looks more like the failures reported at the following
Google hits:
http://www.google.com/search?q=ssd+%...%22worn+out%22

I'm assuming that USB flash drives and SSDs wear out in similar
fashion.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.


I guess that's another possibility. To be fair, it hasn't been used all that
much, so it would be odd if it had failed by running out of internal
'shuffling' space. It's mainly used to transport files from one machine to
another rather than shunting them across the network at wifi speeds. My wife
has a stick of smaller capacity that she uses for moving AVIs and similar
video format files on a daily basis, and there has been no problem with that
one. Both of us remove files that have been used, and are no longer needed
to be on the stick.

The only reason that I called it a file corruption issue is that XP reported
that the file structure was "RAW" and invalid when it tried to mount the
device, and it wanted to reformat it to FAT32. I guess this could be a
hardware problem, that Windoze is trying to do its best to interpret as a
software issue ...

Arfa

"Arfa Daily" wrote in
:



"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 02:30:54 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

My 16 GB USB flash drive has developed an odd problem. It appears to
have become 'write protected' all on its own.

Standard question #1: Make, model, and capacity please?

Have you checked to make sure it's not a counterfeit?
http://reviews.ebay.com/Fake-SD-cards?ugid=10000000004680044
http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com
http://flashchiptech.wordpress.com/2...ke-sd-sdhc-car
ds-is-it-possible-what-are-the-problems-and-challenges-what-software-t
o-use-to-test-for-flash-memory-fake-chips-is-there-a-free-download-to-
check-flash-drives-and-memory-car/

The usual problem is not the SD card. It's the tiny switch in the SD
card receptacle. I have an SD card that doesn't quite hit the switch
on some readers but works on others. Tolerance problem.

Here's how to do it with an Xbox 360:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD0QO0w7zDg
It works.

I also had a micro-SD that claimed it was write protected. None of
my PC's or Mac's would format or fix it. So, I crammed it into my
Droid cell phone, and formatted it in the phone. No problem.

Incidentally, you might be interested in these SD speed test results:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/SDCardSpeedTests




We seem to be at slight cross-purposes here, Jeff. It's not an SD or
CF card. Its a normal USB 'dongle-type' flash drive. This particular
one happens to be shaped like a rifle bullet. The tip screws off to
reveal the USB connector. I guess that it might contain the same
memory hardware as an SD or CF card behind the USB interface which it
obviously has, but I don't know for sure. Some of these flash drives
do have a little physical switch for write protecting, but many don't.
Mine is one such. Capacity is 16GB as stated in the original post. It
is still correctly identified as a 16GB flash drive by Windows. Make
and model are irrelevant. It doesn't have either. It's just a typical
Chinese memory stick in a novelty bullet shape.

Arfa



I took apart a dead SD card(from a camera found in the retention pond) and
it seems to be the flash memory chip without a controller/bus IC like a
flash drive has,that part being in the "card reader". I have a flash drive
with a transparent casing,and you can see there's two ICs in there.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 14:57:34 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:



"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 02:35:13 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Thanks for that explanation. I guess it's a possibility. The utility I
tried
is called "Repair_v2.9.1.1.exe'

FWIW, this site appears to have a more recent version:
http://www.tcp.ac.th/downloads/Repair_v2.9.1.1.zip
http://www.tcp.ac.th/downloads/Repair_v2.9.1.8A.zip

I downloaded it from a website after Googling on "Flash drive says it is
write protected". Many of the hits that returned made reference to this
utility, and provided a link to the URL where it is to be found. Almost
everybody reported total success from using it, but there were a few cases
like mine, where it didn't work.

ISTM that this utility performs a low level format. Exactly what this
means in this particular case is unclear. I suspect it may just be a
zero-fill utility.

I guess I'm just going to have to buy a new one. They are not expensive.
It's just annoying to be beaten by something as simple as a corrupted file
structure. It has been suggested to me that there are Linux ways of
forcing
a reformat, so I might have a mate of mine who is into Linux give it a go
as
a last ditch attempt.

Arfa

AFAICS, if it were simply a case of a corrupted file structure, then
you still would have been able to wipe the drive.

Instead, it looks more like the failures reported at the following
Google hits:
http://www.google.com/search?q=ssd+%...%22worn+out%22

I'm assuming that USB flash drives and SSDs wear out in similar
fashion.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.


I guess that's another possibility. To be fair, it hasn't been used all that
much, so it would be odd if it had failed by running out of internal
'shuffling' space. It's mainly used to transport files from one machine to
another rather than shunting them across the network at wifi speeds. My wife
has a stick of smaller capacity that she uses for moving AVIs and similar
video format files on a daily basis, and there has been no problem with that
one. Both of us remove files that have been used, and are no longer needed
to be on the stick.

The only reason that I called it a file corruption issue is that XP reported
that the file structure was "RAW" and invalid when it tried to mount the
device, and it wanted to reformat it to FAT32. I guess this could be a
hardware problem, that Windoze is trying to do its best to interpret as a
software issue ...

Arfa
I'm not sure this is still a problem, but some versions of Windows
will refuse to format a drive if they do not recognize the file
system. While an improvement from the days when Windows was eager to
reformat and mark every drive it encountered, it can be a source of
frustration.

The suggestion of turning to Linux is valid. Linux accommodates
(demands!!) a greater awareness of the consequences of any action, and
if the device is actually alive it should be possible to reformat it
by a number of techniques.

PlainBill

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:27:26 -0500, Jim Yanik
wrote:

I took apart a dead SD card(from a camera found in the retention pond) and
it seems to be the flash memory chip without a controller/bus IC like a
flash drive has,that part being in the "card reader". I have a flash drive
with a transparent casing,and you can see there's two ICs in there.

Yep. If you look inside an SD to USB adapter, there's the 2nd chip.
It takes care of translating the SD cards 8 pins to the USB 4 pins, as
well as 3.3v to 5v translation.

Sorry about the screwup. I was playing with micro-SD while hacking a
Droid phone, and somehow decided that it was an SD card.

More than you ever wanted to know about SD cards:
https://www.sdcard.org

Official SD card formatter. Might as well try the real thing:
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3/

Drivel: SDIO science fiction products:
https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/sdio/

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

In article ,
Arfa Daily wrote:
structure. It has been suggested to me that there are Linux ways of forcing
a reformat, so I might have a mate of mine who is into Linux give it a go as
a last ditch attempt.

Under Linux, treating it as a raw block device, you can blast away at
it with impunity. Formatting, zeroing, randomizing ...

However, I had 2 of these things (8GBm, USB stick, not-very-branded,
no such write-protect switch) die in the same way, within a couple of
weeks. Inserting them to a machine with Linux gave a message saying
basically :-

1) USB Device detected
2) It's a memory stick of this brand, size, type
3) It's write protected

Which meant that the kernel, and all user apps, treated it as such.

Windows had already turned its nose up at the sticks.

I just returned them for 2 new ones, problem went away.

It wasn't EOL due to wear and tear, they went brand new to dead within
weeks when used for shifting video from PC to standalone player. The
replacements are still going strong. Same "brand", different identity
controller when probed by Linux.

--
--------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Mike Brown: mjb[-at-]signal11.org.uk | http://www.signal11.org.uk

--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to ---

In article ,
Arfa Daily wrote:

The only reason that I called it a file corruption issue is that XP reported
that the file structure was "RAW" and invalid when it tried to mount the
device, and it wanted to reformat it to FAT32. I guess this could be a
hardware problem, that Windoze is trying to do its best to interpret as a
software issue ...

I agree on that :- I took a hexdump of the "failed" USB stick (see other
post) and it had sections of valid data, interspersed with sections of
ever incrementing numbers. That wasn't the data that was on the stick,
ever. So it looks like the controller went bonkers and was returning
rubbish.

To Windows, it could well read a critical sector to test the FS type,
and then say "dunno. Raw?" in response to not finding a FAT/NTFS file
system.
--
--------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Mike Brown: mjb[-at-]signal11.org.uk | http://www.signal11.org.uk

--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to ---

"Mike" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Arfa Daily wrote:
structure. It has been suggested to me that there are Linux ways of
forcing
a reformat, so I might have a mate of mine who is into Linux give it a go
as
a last ditch attempt.

Under Linux, treating it as a raw block device, you can blast away at
it with impunity. Formatting, zeroing, randomizing ...

However, I had 2 of these things (8GBm, USB stick, not-very-branded,
no such write-protect switch) die in the same way, within a couple of
weeks. Inserting them to a machine with Linux gave a message saying
basically :-

1) USB Device detected
2) It's a memory stick of this brand, size, type
3) It's write protected

Which meant that the kernel, and all user apps, treated it as such.

Windows had already turned its nose up at the sticks.

I just returned them for 2 new ones, problem went away.

It wasn't EOL due to wear and tear, they went brand new to dead within
weeks when used for shifting video from PC to standalone player. The
replacements are still going strong. Same "brand", different identity
controller when probed by Linux.

--
--------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Mike Brown

Hmmm. That sounds pretty much like my experience. More than a couple of
weeks old, but not 'old' by any stretch of the imagination. I don't really
have the option of returning it. It's a FleaBay job from China, which
possibly makes its quality dubious anyway - although in so saying, I buy a
fair bit from modern China, and I have to say that in general, I have been
pretty impressed with the build quality and VFM of most of those purchases.
Of course, I see a lot of other stuff in the 'day job' that I would have to
rate as 'Chinese crap', so I guess it can still be a bit of a lottery.

I guess I'll give the Linux route a try, and if it won't have any of it
then, it will get retired and replaced ... :-(

Arfa

"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:27:26 -0500, Jim Yanik
wrote:

I took apart a dead SD card(from a camera found in the retention pond) and
it seems to be the flash memory chip without a controller/bus IC like a
flash drive has,that part being in the "card reader". I have a flash drive
with a transparent casing,and you can see there's two ICs in there.

Yep. If you look inside an SD to USB adapter, there's the 2nd chip.
It takes care of translating the SD cards 8 pins to the USB 4 pins, as
well as 3.3v to 5v translation.

Sorry about the screwup. I was playing with micro-SD while hacking a
Droid phone, and somehow decided that it was an SD card.

More than you ever wanted to know about SD cards:
https://www.sdcard.org

Official SD card formatter. Might as well try the real thing:
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3/

Drivel: SDIO science fiction products:
https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/sdio/

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558


Thanks for the pointer Jeff. I tried it, and it does correctly identify the
device, size and drive letter-wise. However, when you ask it to do a format,
it starts, then hums and hahs about it for another five minutes, before
finally declaring that the device is write protected, and that I should turn
off the write protect switch ...

Oh well ... :-\

Arfa

In article ,
Arfa Daily wrote:

I guess I'll give the Linux route a try, and if it won't have any of it
then, it will get retired and replaced ... :-(


If you don't have a linux installed machine, find a "live" CD or DVD on
a magazine etc. and run direct off the CD. Most will get you to a root
(console) login with no password. Once there, plug in the device, wait a
few seconds and then type

dmesg

or

cat /var/log/messages

or

cat /var/log/syslog

One (or more) of these will have some bumph about the USB stick at the
end of it.

usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd
usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0c76, idPr
usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
usb 1-2: Product: Drive 3S_USB20
usb 1-2: Manufacturer: FLASH
usb 1-2: SerialNumber: 002xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

scsi10 : usb-storage 1-2:1.0
scsi 10:0:0:0: Direct-Access FLASH Drive 3S 0 ANSI: 2
sd 10:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg6 type 0
sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] 15636720 512-byte logical blocks: (8.00 GB/7.45 GiB)
sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Write Protect is off ---- **THIS WILL SAY "is on"**
sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through
sdf: sdf1 sdf2
sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Attached SCSI removable disk

^^^^^
In my case it shows up as a whole-disk /dev/sdf with two partitions
(sdf1, sdf2), be very sure what /dev/sdXX it turns up as before you go
doing anything to it! /dev/sd(others) are your hard drives.
--
--------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Mike Brown: mjb[-at-]signal11.org.uk | http://www.signal11.org.uk

--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to ---

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...


"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:27:26 -0500, Jim Yanik
wrote:

I took apart a dead SD card(from a camera found in the retention pond)
and
it seems to be the flash memory chip without a controller/bus IC like a
flash drive has,that part being in the "card reader". I have a flash
drive
with a transparent casing,and you can see there's two ICs in there.

Yep. If you look inside an SD to USB adapter, there's the 2nd chip.
It takes care of translating the SD cards 8 pins to the USB 4 pins, as
well as 3.3v to 5v translation.

Sorry about the screwup. I was playing with micro-SD while hacking a
Droid phone, and somehow decided that it was an SD card.

More than you ever wanted to know about SD cards:
https://www.sdcard.org

Official SD card formatter. Might as well try the real thing:
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3/

Drivel: SDIO science fiction products:
https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/sdio/

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558


Thanks for the pointer Jeff. I tried it, and it does correctly identify
the device, size and drive letter-wise. However, when you ask it to do a
format, it starts, then hums and hahs about it for another five minutes,
before finally declaring that the device is write protected, and that I
should turn off the write protect switch ...

Oh well ... :-\

Arfa



I've got a SanDisk 8Gb SDHC card here that does exactly the same thing with
that formatter.
It is brand new and failed the first time my girlfriend put it in her
camera.

Neither camera or laptops will format it, though windows does actually show
the camera's filesystem, with one jpg and two movies on it, but you can't
open them.


Cuh.




Gareth.