Unable to format usb pen drive

VHockey86 · June 9th, 2004, 01:02 AM

I have a 128mb Linkyo USB 2.0 pen drive.
Somehow the disk ended up getting corrupted, so I tried deleting the fat32 partition and reformatting.
It seemed to delete the partition, but now when I try to partition/reformat from windows disk manager it shows the whole drive as being in a RAW format. When I try to format it into FAT32 or even FAT, It gives me an error saying the drive is write-protected and format cannot continue. Is there any way to force this to format?

Out of desperation I tried formatting it from Mandrake 10, but the Diskdrake utility first gave me a "failed to format" error and then I tried a few more times and it ended up just hanging/freezing up with no activity on the drive at all.

I dont see any kind of write-protection switch on the drive that could have been bumped

Anyone have any ideas?

M_Six · June 9th, 2004, 01:08 AM

The write-protect switch on mine is tiny. Easy to miss.

But barring that, does the drive even show up as a drive letter? If so, can you right-click on it in Explorer and choose Format from there?

VHockey86 · June 9th, 2004, 01:10 AM

Ya, thats what I was attempting to do. I can see it both in my computer as well as the Disk Manager in windows XP (As a full RAW partition)
When I double click on it, it prompts me to format it. The formatting of course fails telling me its write protected.

I tried formatting from the command prompt as well, same thing, and of course in Mandrake linux as mentioned above

VHockey86 · June 9th, 2004, 01:24 AM

Lol, good ol' norton....
I decided to try the Norton Disk Doctor to repair the drive, so it gave me some BS about a corrupted partition table and I allowed it to try to fix it. Now it shows a RAW partition with a capcity of 986 GB rather than 124MB...
oh well

osprey4 · June 9th, 2004, 12:27 PM

986 GB!! Dude, sounds like one awesome pen drive.

sechs · June 9th, 2004, 01:52 PM

Perhaps the drive is malfunctioning.

rahul126 · March 26th, 2008, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VHockey86

I have a 128mb Linkyo USB 2.0 pen drive.
Somehow the disk ended up getting corrupted, so I tried deleting the fat32 partition and reformatting.
It seemed to delete the partition, but now when I try to partition/reformat from windows disk manager it shows the whole drive as being in a RAW format. When I try to format it into FAT32 or even FAT, It gives me an error saying the drive is write-protected and format cannot continue. Is there any way to force this to format?

Out of desperation I tried formatting it from Mandrake 10, but the Diskdrake utility first gave me a "failed to format" error and then I tried a few more times and it ended up just hanging/freezing up with no activity on the drive at all.

I dont see any kind of write-protection switch on the drive that could have been bumped

Anyone have any ideas?

rahul126 · March 26th, 2008, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VHockey86

I have a 128mb Linkyo USB 2.0 pen drive.
Somehow the disk ended up getting corrupted, so I tried deleting the fat32 partition and reformatting.
It seemed to delete the partition, but now when I try to partition/reformat from windows disk manager it shows the whole drive as being in a RAW format. When I try to format it into FAT32 or even FAT, It gives me an error saying the drive is write-protected and format cannot continue. Is there any way to force this to format?

Out of desperation I tried formatting it from Mandrake 10, but the Diskdrake utility first gave me a "failed to format" error and then I tried a few more times and it ended up just hanging/freezing up with no activity on the drive at all.

I dont see any kind of write-protection switch on the drive that could have been bumped

Anyone have any ideas?

rahul126 · March 26th, 2008, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VHockey86

I have a 2gb Kingston USB 2.0 pen drive.
Somehow the disk ended up getting corrupted, so I tried deleting the fat32 partition and reformatting.
It seemed to delete the partition, but now when I try to partition/reformat from windows disk manager it shows the whole drive as being in a RAW format. When I try to format it into FAT32 or even FAT, It gives me an error saying the drive is write-protected and format cannot continue. Is there any way to force this to format?

Out of desperation I tried formatting it from Mandrake 10, but the Diskdrake utility first gave me a "failed to format" error and then I tried a few more times and it ended up just hanging/freezing up with no activity on the drive at all.

I dont see any kind of write-protection switch on the drive that could have been bumped

Anyone have any ideas?

ShyguyXPC · March 26th, 2008, 08:31 AM

and what exactly are you asking for help with, after replying to the thread thats been dead for 3.5+ years, and had you decide to quote the initial post twice in a row, then a third time but by editing the brand/size of the USB drive in question? (Don't make repeat posts over & over)

if you have a question the least you could do is type it out, not copy someone elses post... but might be better if you start your own thread too...