USB flash drive changes to read-only on the fly
On 09/22/2010 02:21 PM, Daniel Louw wrote:
This might be a silly question, but it is very frustrating. I have this memory stick, a 2 GB one formatted with FAT32. *** FAT32 is a Windows file system but should work fine at 2 GB. I was working on a .C file stored on the memory stick, saving as I made progress with the code. Then all of a sudden I cannot save anymore. I get an error saying the disk is read only. I cannot create new folders or files or anything. chmod doesn't work, it simply says read only partition. What the hell? *** Tell us what kind of computer the memory stick is plugged into please. Could it be because I compile directly on the disk? *** No. I use the disk a lot at university and it is much easier to just work directly on the disk. Any help will be greatly appreciated! *** I think the computer your using might have changed the memory stick, or, the memory stick has just died. They do not have a long life, 73 Karl Regards Daniel -- Karl F. Larsen, AKA K5DI Linux User #450462 http://counter.li.org. Key ID = 3951B48D -- ubuntu-users mailing list ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users |
USB flash drive changes to read-only on the fly
Daniel Louw <daniel@dline.co.za> writes:
> I have this memory stick, a 2 GB one formatted with FAT32. > > I was working on a .C file stored on the memory stick, saving as I made > progress with the code. Then all of a sudden I cannot save anymore. I > get an error saying the disk is read only. I cannot create new folders > or files or anything. chmod doesn't work, it simply says read only > partition. What the hell? File systems get mounted read-only when file system errors occurs to prevent further damage and data loss. Florian -- <http://www.florian-diesch.de/doc/emacs/> -- ubuntu-users mailing list ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users |
USB flash drive changes to read-only on the fly
On Wed 2010-09-22 22:21:27 UTC+0200, Daniel Louw (daniel@dline.co.za) wrote:
> This might be a silly question, but it is very frustrating. > > I have this memory stick, a 2 GB one formatted with FAT32. > > I was working on a .C file stored on the memory stick, saving as I > made progress with the code. Then all of a sudden I cannot save > anymore. I get an error saying the disk is read only. I cannot create > new folders or files or anything. chmod doesn't work, it simply says > read only partition. What the hell? > > Could it be because I compile directly on the disk? I use the disk a > lot at university and it is much easier to just work directly on the > disk. Not a silly question. Compiling directly on the memory stick is no different to writing any other type of file to the disk. As far as Linux is concerned it's just another drive. I suspect there is some sort of FAT32 filesystem corruption on the memory stick, and once the Linux kernel encounters it it switches its FAT32 driver to read-only as to not cause any further corruption. You can do a file system check/repair on the memory stick from the Ubuntu GUI - System -> Administration -> Disk Utility. Then select the memory stick's FAT32 partition and click Check Filesystem. You may need to click on Unmount Volume first. On the other hand you may have encountered a bug in the FAT32 driver, although given the number of years people have been using FAT32 in Linux this is pretty unlikely. :-) /var/log/messages may give you some clues. You can view it from the Ubuntu GUI - under System -> Administration -> Log file viewer. FAT32 is pretty fragile. Instead of doing the FAT32 filesystem check above you may just want to make a backup of your data on the memory stick, reformat it as NTFS and copy the data back. NTFS is a bit more robust, with errors in the filesystem generally handled a lot more gracefully. There are few reasons not to use NTFS on memory sticks these days. For example the NTFS driver in Apple Mac OS X is read-only but you can download/install software to allow read/write NTFS drives on OS X. Similarly FreeBSD and other lesser-known operating systems. Regards Andrew -- ubuntu-users mailing list ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users |
USB flash drive changes to read-only on the fly
On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 3:21 AM, andrew clarke <mail@ozzmosis.com> wrote:
On Wed 2010-09-22 22:21:27 UTC+0200, Daniel Louw (daniel@dline.co.za) wrote: > This might be a silly question, but it is very frustrating. > > I have this memory stick, a 2 GB one formatted with FAT32. > > I was working on a .C file stored on the memory stick, saving as I > made progress with the code. Then all of a sudden I cannot save > anymore. I get an error saying the disk is read only. I cannot create > new folders or files or anything. chmod doesn't work, it simply says > read only partition. What the hell? > > Could it be because I compile directly on the disk? I use the disk a > lot at university and it is much easier to just work directly on the > disk. Not a silly question. Compiling directly on the memory stick is no different to writing any other type of file to the disk. *As far as Linux is concerned it's just another drive. I suspect there is some sort of FAT32 filesystem corruption on the memory stick, and once the Linux kernel encounters it it switches its FAT32 driver to read-only as to not cause any further corruption. You can do a file system check/repair on the memory stick from the Ubuntu GUI - System -> Administration -> Disk Utility. *Then select the memory stick's FAT32 partition and click Check Filesystem. *You may need to click on Unmount Volume first. On the other hand you may have encountered a bug in the FAT32 driver, although given the number of years people have been using FAT32 in Linux this is pretty unlikely. *:-) /var/log/messages may give you some clues. *You can view it from the Ubuntu GUI - under System -> Administration -> Log file viewer. FAT32 is pretty fragile. *Instead of doing the FAT32 filesystem check above you may just want to make a backup of your data on the memory stick, reformat it as NTFS and copy the data back. *NTFS is a bit more robust, with errors in the filesystem generally handled a lot more gracefully. There are few reasons not to use NTFS on memory sticks these days. For example the NTFS driver in Apple Mac OS X is read-only but you can download/install software to allow read/write NTFS drives on OS X. Similarly FreeBSD and other lesser-known operating systems. Regards Andrew -- ubuntu-users mailing list ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users More chances are that your fat32 FS got an error. Which means you don't have any other option than to copy the data else where and format it. It might be the reason that your pen drive's flash chip is failing. I had a Transcend 512MB USB Drive and just couple of months ago it failed permanently. I was getting similar ReadOnly FS situations for a month ago. I used to reformat it and use it again. But after a while it stopped replying to the PC. No reply - no device initiation - and I have a dead USB Drive. Not sorry though that thing cost me Rs 650/- five yrs ago. i.e roughly $13 and had 3yrs warranty. Regards, Vaibhav Dalvi Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny. - Tyron Edwards Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html -- ubuntu-users mailing list ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users |
USB flash drive changes to read-only on the fly
On Thu, 2010-09-23 at 07:51 +1000, andrew clarke wrote:
On Wed 2010-09-22 22:21:27 UTC+0200, Daniel Louw (daniel@dline.co.za) wrote: > This might be a silly question, but it is very frustrating. > > I have this memory stick, a 2 GB one formatted with FAT32. > > I was working on a .C file stored on the memory stick, saving as I > made progress with the code. Then all of a sudden I cannot save > anymore. I get an error saying the disk is read only. I cannot create > new folders or files or anything. chmod doesn't work, it simply says > read only partition. What the hell? > > Could it be because I compile directly on the disk? I use the disk a > lot at university and it is much easier to just work directly on the > disk. Not a silly question. Compiling directly on the memory stick is no different to writing any other type of file to the disk. As far as Linux is concerned it's just another drive. I suspect there is some sort of FAT32 filesystem corruption on the memory stick, and once the Linux kernel encounters it it switches its FAT32 driver to read-only as to not cause any further corruption. You can do a file system check/repair on the memory stick from the Ubuntu GUI - System -> Administration -> Disk Utility. Then select the memory stick's FAT32 partition and click Check Filesystem. You may need to click on Unmount Volume first. On the other hand you may have encountered a bug in the FAT32 driver, although given the number of years people have been using FAT32 in Linux this is pretty unlikely. :-) /var/log/messages may give you some clues. You can view it from the Ubuntu GUI - under System -> Administration -> Log file viewer. FAT32 is pretty fragile. Instead of doing the FAT32 filesystem check above you may just want to make a backup of your data on the memory stick, reformat it as NTFS and copy the data back. NTFS is a bit more robust, with errors in the filesystem generally handled a lot more gracefully. There are few reasons not to use NTFS on memory sticks these days. For example the NTFS driver in Apple Mac OS X is read-only but you can download/install software to allow read/write NTFS drives on OS X. Similarly FreeBSD and other lesser-known operating systems. Regards Andrew Hello Andrew Thank you for a very informative reply. I also suspect it is something to do with a corrupt filesystem or something. I will sometime do a proper check and fix and so on. I think it comes from not unmounting the disk after use. It's a bad habit of mine. Regarding using NTFS, I can't. Like I said the PC's in the labs at varsity uses a *very* old and ridiculously stable (I have not managed to break them :-)) Debian OS. And there is no write support on the NTFS driver for these PC's. I have asked about fixing it, but with the varsity being more a bureaucracy than anything else, I am not going to try again. And booting into Windows every time just to save all my new work on the disk is not going to fly with me. So I'm stuck with the FAT32 for now! Thanks! Regards Daniel Louw -- ubuntu-users mailing list ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users |
USB flash drive changes to read-only on the fly
Vaibhav Dalvi wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 3:21 AM, andrew clarke <mail@ozzmosis.com> wrote: > >> On Wed 2010-09-22 22:21:27 UTC+0200, Daniel Louw (daniel@dline.co.za) >> wrote: >> >>> This might be a silly question, but it is very frustrating. >>> >>> I have this memory stick, a 2 GB one formatted with FAT32. >>> >>> I was working on a .C file stored on the memory stick, saving as I >>> made progress with the code. Then all of a sudden I cannot save >>> anymore. I get an error saying the disk is read only. I cannot create >>> new folders or files or anything. chmod doesn't work, it simply says >>> read only partition. What the hell? >>> [snip] > > More chances are that your fat32 FS got an error. Which means you don't have > any other option than to copy the data else where and format it. It might be > the reason that your pen drive's flash chip is failing. [snip] I had some failing flash drives, too. Especially if you write data to them frequently. If you want to test the flash drive and not the filesystem, backup your data on another device and write with dd to the flash drive (CAUTION! This permanently deletes data, don't execute the following commands if you don't know them): dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX you will need to be root to access the drive directly. If the flash drive is failing you might get some In- and Output Errors. If you print the logfile you will have less troubles when asking for a replacement. just my 2c Franz -- ubuntu-users mailing list ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users |
USB flash drive changes to read-only on the fly
Daniel Louw wrote:
> Regarding using NTFS, I can't. Like I said the PC's in the labs at > varsity uses a *very* old and ridiculously stable (I have not managed to > break them :-)) Debian OS. And there is no write support on the NTFS > driver for these PC's. I have asked about fixing it, but with the > varsity being more a bureaucracy than anything else, I am not going to > try again. And booting into Windows every time just to save all my new > work on the disk is not going to fly with me. So I'm stuck with the > FAT32 for now! > > Thanks! > > What about using ext2 on the USB drive? And IIRC, there are drivers to allow your Windows PC to read the ext2. I believe I've used (using) something like ext2ifs on my laptop.... -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- AIM - woyciesjes --- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/ --- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/ Registered Linux user number 464583 "Computers have lots of memory but no imagination." "The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back." - from some guy in the internet. -- ubuntu-users mailing list ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users |
USB flash drive changes to read-only on the fly
On 9/28/2010 11:52 AM, Dave Woyciesjes wrote:
> Daniel Louw wrote: >> Regarding using NTFS, I can't. /snip/ So I'm stuck with the >> FAT32 for now! >> >> Thanks! >> >> > > What about using ext2 on the USB drive? And IIRC, there are drivers to > allow your Windows PC to read the ext2. I believe I've used (using) > something like ext2ifs on my laptop.... > There definitely is a program to let Windows read ext2. (I had such a routine almost 10 years ago.) Googling around, the first thing I found was http://www.fs-driver.org/ This doesn't say Win7, but if it supports Vista, it probably works OK with Win7 also. And it's free, so why not give it a try? --doug -- Blessed are the peacemakers...for they shall be shot at from both sides. --A.M. Greeley -- ubuntu-users mailing list ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users |
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