Ubuntu
gnome-disk-utility package

My USB pen is write-protected. How do I un-write-protect it, so that I can write to, or format it?

Asked by Roger Ramjet

When I start Disk Utility, it sees and mounts the USB pen. It will also un-mount the USB pen. But it will not format the unmounted pen, will not format the unmounted partition, and will not delete the unmounted partition. Below are the error messages Disk Utility throws:

Format Drive:
Error creating partition table: helper exited with exit code 1: Error calling fsync(2) on /dev/sdb: Input/output error

Format Partition:
Error creating file system: helper exited with exit code 1: Error calling fsync(2) on /dev/sdb1: Input/output error

Delete Partition:
Error erasing: helper exited with exit code 1: In part_del_partition: device_file=/dev/sdb, offset=17408
-------------------------------------------
gparted does not see USB pens at all, even ones that are not write-protected.

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Roger Ramjet (editor-6) said : 		#1

My version is Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

IO errors usually indicate a bad device and that the storage is not healthy. You may be able to use dban to write from the start of the drive to the end and reset it.

If all else fails grab a strong magnet (if you play guitar, your speaker has one) and put it on one side for 10 seconds then on the other side.

If this doesn't help then all I can suggest is a new UAB storage. Either way I don't suggest you rely on this device to provide backup storage

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Roger Ramjet (editor-6) said : 		#3

I have no clue what dban is. Terminal says:

foo@bar:/media/ISH$ dban --help
No command 'dban' found, did you mean:
 Command 'dan' from package 'emboss' (universe)
 Command 'dman' from package 'bikeshed' (universe)
 Command 'dbar' from package 'dbar' (universe)
dban: command not found

Synaptic does not list dban. List is:
...
deballe-common
dbar
...

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#4

http://www.dban.org/

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