Ubuntu

pendrive not recognised by Nautilus

Asked by Stefank

I have two pendrives which I formatted using the Disks utility in Ubuntu 16.04. (One had been used as a start up disk, the other suddenly refused to allow writing to it, probably because I didn't eject the pendrive.)
Nautilus doesn't recognise either, so I can't write to them. This is happening with any USB drive and on both my desktop and laptop computers. 'Disks' recognises both pendrives still. They were formatted using the options "Don't overwrite existing data (quick)" and "Compatible with all systems and devices" (MBR?DOS)"
They are 30+GB each and I would like to re-use them if possible. The original data was backed up, so I can lose it.

Thanks for your help.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Manfred Hampl
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#1

Have you tried full formatting (instead of "Don't overwrite existing data (quick)")?

Revision history for this message
Stefank (stefankarpik) said : 		#2

Dear Manfred,

Thank you for your response. I'm afraid I had no success, no combination of formatting produced a pendrive recognised by Launcher or Nautilus:

  1. For pendrive Generic Flash Disk (8.00) 6F7958A2 (33 GB), I used the options, "Overwriting existing data with zeroes (Slow)" and "No partitioning". I received this message: "Error erasing device: Error writing 1048576 bytes to /dev/sda: Input/output error (udisks-error-quark, 0)". I then tried ""Overwriting existing data with zeroes (Slow)" and "Compatible with all systems and devices" and got no error message and no recognition from Nautilus.
  2. For thumbdrive Kingston DataTraveler 3.0 (PMAP) 08606E6D41B3BF80F7013357 (31GB) I used the options, "Overwriting existing data with zeroes (Slow)" and "No partitioning". The thumbdrive was not recognised. Similarly for "Overwriting existing data with zeroes (Slow)" and "Compatible with all systems and devices".

Yours sincerely,

Stefan Karpik

________________________________
From: <email address hidden> <email address hidden> on behalf of Manfred Hampl <email address hidden>
Sent: 03 June 2019 07:32
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #681197]: pendrive not recognised by Nautilus

Your question #681197 on Ubuntu changed:
https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fanswers.launchpad.net%2Fubuntu%2F%2Bquestion%2F681197&amp;data=02%7C01%7C%7C9f32952d61ed43153d0a08d6e7f5b343%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636951439804101342&amp;sdata=wjgazBgKiuC6QqgRo%2BhZEJ2ZYuiYGXxYze44vx4M5xk%3D&amp;reserved=0

    Status: Open => Needs information

Manfred Hampl requested more information:
Have you tried full formatting (instead of "Don't overwrite existing
data (quick)")?

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fanswers.launchpad.net%2Fubuntu%2F%2Bquestion%2F681197&amp;data=02%7C01%7C%7C9f32952d61ed43153d0a08d6e7f5b343%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636951439804101342&amp;sdata=wjgazBgKiuC6QqgRo%2BhZEJ2ZYuiYGXxYze44vx4M5xk%3D&amp;reserved=0

You received this question notification because you asked the question.

Revision history for this message
Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#3

For diagnostic purposes, what output do you receive for the following actions:

insert the stick, wait half a minute, and issue the commands

dmesg | tail
uname -a
lsb_release -crid
sudo fdisk -l

Revision history for this message
Stefank (stefankarpik) said : 		#4

Dear Manfred,

For the Kingston Data Traveller (31GB) the output is:

To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$ dmesg | tail
[278893.219266] scsi host6: usb-storage 2-1:1.0
[278894.313338] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access Kingston DataTraveler 3.0 PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[278894.314609] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[278895.578816] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] 61457664 512-byte logical blocks: (31.5 GB/29.3 GiB)
[278895.579304] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[278895.579309] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[278895.579788] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] No Caching mode page found
[278895.579797] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[278895.607371] sda:
[278895.610327] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$ uname -a
Linux stefan-System-Product-Name 4.15.0-50-generic #54~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 8 15:55:19 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$ lsb_release -crid
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
Release: 16.04
Codename: xenial
stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for stefan:
Sorry, try again.
[sudo] password for stefan:
Disk /dev/loop0: 53.7 MiB, 56315904 bytes, 109992 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop1: 19.7 MiB, 20676608 bytes, 40384 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop2: 18.5 MiB, 19341312 bytes, 37776 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop3: 53.7 MiB, 56328192 bytes, 110016 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop4: 265.4 MiB, 278261760 bytes, 543480 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop5: 125.6 MiB, 131727360 bytes, 257280 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop6: 89.4 MiB, 93720576 bytes, 183048 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop7: 238.6 MiB, 250220544 bytes, 488712 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 238.5 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: F76D77B5-C36F-49FB-8D49-4439B5CFCDCA

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1 2048 1050623 1048576 512M EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2 1050624 483631103 482580480 230.1G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p3 483631104 500117503 16486400 7.9G Linux swap

Disk /dev/loop8: 88.4 MiB, 92733440 bytes, 181120 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop9: 266.9 MiB, 279814144 bytes, 546512 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop10: 53.7 MiB, 56315904 bytes, 109992 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop11: 19.6 MiB, 20578304 bytes, 40192 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop12: 89.3 MiB, 93581312 bytes, 182776 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop13: 125.6 MiB, 131686400 bytes, 257200 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop14: 236 MiB, 247422976 bytes, 483248 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop15: 125.6 MiB, 131727360 bytes, 257280 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/sda: 29.3 GiB, 31466323968 bytes, 61457664 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xfe25b993
stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$ ^C
stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$

FOR THE GENERIC PENDRIVE (33gb), THE OUTPUT IS:

stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$ dmesg | tail
[279877.859163] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 6F7958A2
[279877.859936] usb-storage 1-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[279877.860269] scsi host6: usb-storage 1-1:1.0
[279878.868373] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic Flash Disk 8.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[279878.869276] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[279878.870114] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] 63488000 512-byte logical blocks: (32.5 GB/30.3 GiB)
[279878.870844] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[279878.870849] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[279878.871576] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[279878.882513] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$ uname -a
Linux stefan-System-Product-Name 4.15.0-50-generic #54~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 8 15:55:19 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$ lsb_release -crid
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
Release: 16.04
Codename: xenial
stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for stefan:
Disk /dev/loop0: 53.7 MiB, 56315904 bytes, 109992 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop1: 19.7 MiB, 20676608 bytes, 40384 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop2: 18.5 MiB, 19341312 bytes, 37776 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop3: 53.7 MiB, 56328192 bytes, 110016 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop4: 265.4 MiB, 278261760 bytes, 543480 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop5: 125.6 MiB, 131727360 bytes, 257280 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop6: 89.4 MiB, 93720576 bytes, 183048 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop7: 238.6 MiB, 250220544 bytes, 488712 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 238.5 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: F76D77B5-C36F-49FB-8D49-4439B5CFCDCA

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1 2048 1050623 1048576 512M EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2 1050624 483631103 482580480 230.1G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p3 483631104 500117503 16486400 7.9G Linux swap

Disk /dev/loop8: 88.4 MiB, 92733440 bytes, 181120 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop9: 266.9 MiB, 279814144 bytes, 546512 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop10: 53.7 MiB, 56315904 bytes, 109992 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop11: 19.6 MiB, 20578304 bytes, 40192 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop12: 89.3 MiB, 93581312 bytes, 182776 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop13: 125.6 MiB, 131686400 bytes, 257200 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop14: 236 MiB, 247422976 bytes, 483248 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/loop15: 125.6 MiB, 131727360 bytes, 257280 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/sda: 30.3 GiB, 32505856000 bytes, 63488000 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
stefan@stefan-System-Product-Name:~$

Yours sincerely,

Stefan Karpik

________________________________
From: <email address hidden> <email address hidden> on behalf of Manfred Hampl <email address hidden>
Sent: 04 June 2019 07:23
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #681197]: pendrive not recognised by Nautilus

Your question #681197 on Ubuntu changed:
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fanswers.launchpad.net%2Fubuntu%2F%2Bquestion%2F681197&amp;data=02%7C01%7C%7C6e41075aec6f4dd3908508d6e8bd7cfd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636952297867661366&amp;sdata=1kze3lZrCYIITRuqPjNWxSW0EwIa1hnyq0sKkarD2Rw%3D&amp;reserved=0

    Status: Open => Needs information

Manfred Hampl requested more information:
For diagnostic purposes, what output do you receive for the following
actions:

insert the stick, wait half a minute, and issue the commands

dmesg | tail
uname -a
lsb_release -crid
sudo fdisk -l

--
To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
this email or enter your reply at the following page:
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fanswers.launchpad.net%2Fubuntu%2F%2Bquestion%2F681197&amp;data=02%7C01%7C%7C6e41075aec6f4dd3908508d6e8bd7cfd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636952297867661366&amp;sdata=1kze3lZrCYIITRuqPjNWxSW0EwIa1hnyq0sKkarD2Rw%3D&amp;reserved=0

You received this question notification because you asked the question.

Revision history for this message
Best Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#5

It seems to me that the two sticks are recognized, but they do not have a file system on them. You have to create a partirion on each of the sticks.

I suggest that you open the gparted program and create a partition on the sticks and format the new partition.

Revision history for this message
Stefank (stefankarpik) said : 		#6

The pendrives now work. Thank-you.
This raises the question of why 'Disks' is provided in Ubuntu. If it makes pendrives unusable, why have it?