My Flash Memory is Write-Protected (?)

[jamesjaddah1755]

I picked up a 16GB USB Toshiba flash memory stick.

I started copy some files to it and at about 2.60GB in I began to get a message that the drive was write-protected.

Now I cannot delete, add to, or edit the files on the drive, which hadn't been used before.

I searched the internet, but the instructions are complex and incomplete.
http://whatrevitwants.blogspot.com/2011/06/repurposing-autodesk-usb-media_20.html

IU see mention of the following: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

But where am I supposed to type this?

Since I know nothing except basic stuff with using windows when I get to the desktop, does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I picked up a 16GB USB Toshiba flash memory stick.

I started copy some files to it and at about 2.60GB in I began to get a message that the drive was write-protected.

Now I cannot delete, add to, or edit the files on the drive, which hadn't been used before.

I searched the internet, but the instructions are complex and incomplete.
http://whatrevitwants.blogspot.com/2011/06/repurposing-autodesk-usb-media_20.html

IU see mention of the following: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

But where am I supposed to type this?

Since I know nothing except basic stuff with using windows when I get to the desktop, does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

"I picked up a 16GB USB Toshiba flash memory stick."

I hope not from Ebay. As Ebay is filled with counterfeit
sticks where a "16GB" stick only contains 2GB of flash.

And I don't even know if there is a utility that can
probe past the controller, to find out whether it
is legit or not.

Paul

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

"I picked up a 16GB USB Toshiba flash memory stick."



I hope not from Ebay. As Ebay is filled with counterfeit

sticks where a "16GB" stick only contains 2GB of flash.



And I don't even know if there is a utility that can

probe past the controller, to find out whether it

is legit or not.



Paul

Actually I picked it up from a local via Craigslist.

It is a Toshiba 16GB stick.

On one of the many times I tried I managed to get the format drive to work, but not completely. I get the message that Windows could not complete the format.

So now the drive is effectively empty, but I still get the write-protect message when I tried to do anything.

I tried "Formatter", but it is unable to find the USB drive.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

Actually I picked it up from a local via Craigslist.

It is a Toshiba 16GB stick.

On one of the many times I tried I managed to get the format drive to work, but not completely. I get the message that Windows could not complete the format.

So now the drive is effectively empty, but I still get the write-protect message when I tried to do anything.

I tried "Formatter", but it is unable to find the USB drive.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Some of our software developers ran into a problem
like that at work. They managed to flip the write
protect bit on some of the flash memory they were using.
(Random blocks ended up write protected.)

I doubt your product has a similar problem. Yours
sounds like a counterfeit USB stick. You would need
a manufacturer utility to reset it. And even then,
would the attempt to format it work any better ?
Probably not, if it has been configured to
report the wrong amount of flash storage.

If there is no hope of getting your money
back, just tear it apart and read the number off
the top of the Flash memory chip. Then check
via Google to see whether it is a 2GB (16 gigabit)
flash chip.

Paul

 

[Paul]

If it is an older Toshiba design, it might have U3 Launchpad on it.
There is a removal tool here.

http://web.archive.org/web/20081227055542/http://www.u3.com/support/default.aspx#CQ3

http://web.archive.org/web/20110328153740/http://u3uninstall.s3.amazonaws.com/U3Uninstall.exe

This is the virustotal scan for the file. It's clean.

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/...f34da6c1d6b9731c94752a7eb697651b601/analysis/

The executable is Sandisk branded, because U3 belonged to them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3

I don't really think this has anything to do with it.
I tried the Toshiba site, and didn't see any utilities
they were hosting on their own page. Since Toshiba is
a big company, maybe I missed it.

If the drive was held together with a screw, it would
be easy to open and get the chip number. As then you'd
have some idea whether it was a counterfeit or not
(i.e. less capacity than advertised).

Paul

 

[Paul]

Another mechanism, which disables writing to all USB flash sticks.
But this doesn't leap up and do this on its own, in the middle
of a session.

http://www.ghacks.net/2011/03/18/how-to-enable-write-protection-of-usb-devices-under-windows/

Paul

 

[jamesjaddah1755]

I've still been working on this, and so far no instructions I've foundon the internet have helped.

First, when I use regedit there is not an entry for “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies.”

I also tried some instructions that required the use of command Prompt, butI got stuck at a point where it says to "Please use the /FS switch to specify the file system you wish to use on this volume." (I have no idea what that is).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

 

[Paul]

I've still been working on this, and so far no instructions I've foundon the internet have helped.

First, when I use regedit there is not an entry for “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies.”

I also tried some instructions that required the use of command Prompt, but I got stuck at a point where it says to "Please use the /FS switch to specify the file system you wish to use on this volume." (I have no idea what that is).

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

There is an example of a /FS switch here, but I
don't know what that has to do with what you're
working on. (Near the bottom of the page)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456984.aspx

convert D: /fs:ntfs

HTH,
Paul