Help! USB flash drive suddenly became write-protected

Hmmmm.... I never thought about asking a psychologist how I could fix my drive.

Nice story.................. it helps me how????

I helps you by pointing out that running CHKDSK or selecting "Check for errors" on the Tools section of the drive's properties (right-click on drive in computer browser window, properties, tools, check for errors) may fix your problem the same way it fixed my SD card. SD card readers are USB devices even when they are mounted to the case as an internal drive and as far as Windows is concerned, there is no difference between the SD card and your USB stick.

I get as far as "attr volume clear readonly" and then the response is "the operation is not supported on removable media".

So thanks anyhow but still no joy :-}

Cheers.

Must be a PAIN. going to all the "suggestions" . You have the patience of a saint. The message as far as "operation is not supported on removable media" has me baffled . There is a way to set attributes so the drive appears as fixed drive to enhanced performance.
The link below is more or less what I sent first but does give you a path to change removable to fixed.
http://windows7themes.net/solution-to-media-is-write-protected-error-cannot-write-to-disk-remove-read-only.html
IT IS dangerous because you're in the register tweaking a system wide branch as far as storage is concerned but it will make your USB fixed for the time being. Before I send this I took a risk on my own and tweaked the register and 2 USB drives I have (1 -1TB & 1 thumb drive) performed as fixed devices..
I've been telling clients to try to avoid the USB shuffled but their answer is very valid .."So wasn't THAT the advantage?) well it is but as you can see if you have more that 1 USB port people are not diligent as to what port the drive gets plugged in or if the drive has the same letter as it did on a previous PC. If you still have the energy .. check the URL .. sometime may crack open .. GOOD LUCK.

Thanks............. i guess. So you're voting for me to smash it then right?

You'll feel so much better!

This is NOT how they are designed - to fail in a few months. Even the cheapest memory should be good for around 10,000 writes. The better memory rates around 100,000+ ... Try this: go to the store and purchase a bulk model 1GB drive. Then, write a little app that will fill then delete the drive repeatedly until the drive fails. Be sure to include a counter mechanism so you can report back with the results of how many times and how long it took you to wear it out running this little proggie 24/7.

Password box???? What Password box? Manufacturer? Did you read my original post?

Interesting but.........., I'm not trying to recover any important data. I have double backups of all my important files. All I'm trying to do here is to fix the drive and make it usable again. Thanks anyways for your interest.

Yes, I concur that this problem happened to me some months ago and I was unable to save a document. On that occasion I put another memory stick into the computer in another USB port and the document was saved on that.
However, I have since been unable to "unlock" the affected memory stick and save anything to it using any means to do so even though when I go to "Properties" it shows 383MB of free space. I can still access all the information stored on it, be it documents, family pictures, pdf files, etc. So I have not wanted to do anything drastic that might delete information.
I use the Vista OS.
I have now discovered a method that allows me to save to the USB drive:
Go to the "Computer" page right click the device (your USB stick) and select Properties,
Select "Hardware" - which is the third tab across the top in my case
Under the heading "All disk drives:" highlight your USB stick by selecting it with your mouse
Now select the Properties button at bottom right of this page
The new page will say "Device is working properly" but select the Policies tab at the top (second along in my case)
Now select "Optimize" for Performance (Rather than the default "Optimize for quick removal")
... and you will find that you can save to the drive again (at least- I can - so I hope you can too!)

If you optimize for performance, you will be enabling write-back caching, which is something you probably don't want. What that does is stores the data to be written in cache so that it is written over time while the machine is doing other things instead of being busy writing the data to the drive, it speeds things up. The problem with this is that if you remove the drive before it is done writing, or if you lose power, you will lose data. In addition, I have my suspicions that this type of event could be the very cause of the issue - Windows is in the process of writing something and it takes "ownership" while engaged. If power is lost or the drive pulled out before the action is done, I suspect it may be being left in a locked state where it can't be written to by another process - it thinks it is in use but it isn't. I could be completely wrong, but I believe that something like this is the cause, that Windows changes rights/ownerships while doing its thing and if the process is interrupted for any reason and Windows isn't able to set the rights back to what they should be, you are left without write access.

Your cautionary remarks are fitting, tumbleweed and you make a sensible contribution.
My purpose is to identify how the problem of not being able to Save to the drive can be overcome. This should help us to focus attention on the prime cause I trust - in other words, I have managed to establish that the USB memory stick itself has not been rendered defective, hence this can now be ruled out. (So don't despair folks and don't put a hammer to your memory stick - it is innocent!) The fault obviously lies within the computer (yet is not specific to that computer or OS it seems).
On my particular memory stick are some files which are security sensitive and which are protected with a password. The program involved is a non-Windows or Microsoft one but it is made by a large well known company and I was wondering if this has a significance - yet it is highly unlikely that there are many who have to employ security safeguards to this extent I presume? Nevertheless, perhaps password use or even encryption use that stems from Freeware for example, could lead to the problem. Ideally, each possibility needs to be ruled out.
It also helps to know that the problem is not applied generally to all memory sticks - so it has to be caused by either something triggered on the particular memory stick or the manner in which the computer handles the particular device, which is always allocated the same letter notwithstanding which USB port is employed.

I think you may have hit the nail on the head. The drive became write protected after I had pulled it from a high def signal tv receiver. The receiver can be used as a PVR so long as you have a minimum 50 Gb drive plugged into it. When I pulled the flash I think the receiver was still on which according to you could explain how it got write protected.

So, I plugged it back to the receiver. It asked if I wanted to format. I said yes. Once done, the receiver shut itself off. I then unplugged the drive. I turned on receiver back on to confirm that it was ok. Then I plugged the drive back into my PC and after all that............... still no joy.... it's still write protected :-{

Any other "new" ideas (like this one) would be most welcome.

Cheers.

I think the fact it became write protected after being removed from a PVR is important information not in your original post. These types of video appliances typically run some form of Linux operating system.

Are you able to write to it using the PVR after the reformat?? At least there would still be a use for it.

Maybe you should explore the Linux option further. If you use a Linux live on CD distribution (there are a number of them now including Knoppix) and run the "fdisk" command I think that utility supports almost every known file system. If you run "man fdisk" at a command prompt it should give you more information than you ever wanted to know, about deleting partitions, etc. Nothing lost with the stick if you're already willing to smash it, but you should definitely back up the entire computer you attempt this on lest you accidentally delete a partition on your hard drive.

I've made note of your suggestion and will give it a shot as the last thing I try before smashing it. Thanks.

Will the high def. receiver, PVR, or whatever you want to call it, write to the stick as it's supposed to? I think that's the crux of your problem. If yes, it's still useful for saving files from the receiver and playing them on something else like a PC (if that's what it does when it's acting like a PVR). If not, it's probably permanently hosed and not good for anything.

The receiver putting a proprietary file system on the device is a reasonable explanation for everything you've reported. It could also be an imperfectly implemented exFAT file system. Reading up on exFAT in Wikipedia, it's fairly new (no doubt in response to the relatively new large sized USB drives) and a proprietary Microsoft thing. They don't release certain details apparently--as was the case for NTFS.

Until recently USB sticks typically came formatted FAT32. It is unsuitable, however, for file sizes larger than about 4GB, which single files of HD video greater than an hour in length typically are. So the receiver might be perfectly willing to reformat the USB but in a way the read-only attribute cannot be reset by a Microsoft OS.

I take it you've already looked for a place where you can set or unset write protection in the receiver. If you haven't, it would probably be in an on-screen menu somewhere.

I've tried in the past to format a flash drive with NTFS, but Windows wouldn't do it--perhaps because NTFS would quickly exhaust the maximum read-write cycles of a flash, which brings us back around to some of the original diagnoses.

Since flash drives more than 50GB in size used to be rare, it's possible the receiver used that criterion just to check whether it's a flash drive, then did something it shouldn't have to the flash. It wouldn't be the worst, most short-sighted thing a programmer has done, by a long shot. Or it's possible it got hosed just by being pulled out without being properly un-mounted.

I usually do un-mount them in Windows or Linux before pulling, unless I'm told another program is using it and I can't figure out what. I've only gotten in trouble once or twice doing that. I think it just deleted all the files, or at least made them unreadable. But your mileage may vary.

You never said whether, when you told the receiver to re-format it and it shut itself down, the original files were gone, indicating it really did format. Nor have you said yet whether you've tried writing to it with the receiver.

I understand where you're coming from, not wanting to let this beat you even though many more person hours than the thing is worth have probably been spent. Sooner or later, though, you'll either succeed or give up, putting an abrupt end to this thread.

That was an important piece of the equation to leave out (as the previous poster noted). That bit of info invalidates the vast majority of responses you have received. You aren't dealing with a computer OS or hardware issue, rather, you are dealing with a PROPRIETARY system for formatting/writing to the drive which is not compatible with Windows/Linux/Macs. Essentially, it sounds like the receiver is using a non-standard formatting method or implementation which allows normal PC OS's to see that it is there but unable to tell it how to write. I suggest taking a look at the documentation of the Hi-Def Receiver and and seeing if there is some help there. If you post the make and model, we might be of more help. If you check with the support staff for the receiver, they have probably run into this before and probably have some help for you.

It' a Bell 6131 High Def Receiver. It's not a PVR. It has a USB port to attach a minimum 50 GB drive in order to let it behave like a PVR.

It only dawned on me that this could be the cause of the problem when one of the replies suggested that pulling a drive prematurely from a PC while data was being written to it would cause the drive to be write protected. I wasn't actively recording a show when I pulled the drive however I forgot that regardless of active recording, the PVR is constantly writing anyway as that is what allows you to pause and even rewind live TV.

I have tried reinserting the drive to the receiver and letting it reformat. Once supposedly done, I made sure to turn the receiver off before pulling out the drive but unfortunately it's still write protected. I will follow your suggestion to call Bell support however I'll be amazed if they actually have a solution.

Thanks for your comments. Cheers.

I found an aricle which confirms, albeit not conclusively, that the file system of the receiver is NOT compatible with PCs. Please see: www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=1454479 (I am on the.road using my cell phone or I'd research.more extensively.)

Dear tumbleweed_biff,

Reading many of the posts on the site you proposed has convinced me that the receiver definitely caused the problem. I saw instances where even 1 and 2 TB external drives had problems with it. I really appreciate your assistance and at this point have decided that more than enough time has been spent on this issue. I believe the overall CNET Community experience was well worth the effort. I'm on my way now to smash the poor flash drive that got victimized by the receiver. Thanks again to you and all who have tried to help me crack this nut. Cheers!

But I still would have liked to know whether it was writable by the receiver.