USB Flash drive suddenly being recognized as a "removable disk"

[rootyb]

Okay, here's my problem of the day.

In the past, I've used my PNY Attache 4GB flash drive as a USB hard
disk. I've had multiple partitions on it in windows xp, specifically.

Recently, though, it's started acting more like a USB floppy drive.
Windows won't let me add more than one partition to it, and in Computer
Management, it's showing up as "removable" (though, I'm not sure what
it used to show up as).

I'm guessing that somewhere along the way, I did... something... to the
drive to make it act this way.

This problem is not isolated to my computer. Roomie's computer does the
same.

I've been googling for about two hours now, trying to find a helpful
answer, but to no avail.

What would cause this, and how can I let my USB drive know that it's
not a floppy (or some other run-of-the-mill removable media)?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Guest]

Did you assign drive letters such as "E", "F", etc. to the partitions
on the USB device? That is not recommended for you cannot boot a
PC from a USB drive. Create different folders/directories for storage
of your files on a flash drive. No matter how you look at it, it is still a
"run-of-the-mill removable media".
--
XP - WNP
Today is the first day of the
rest of your life.
If you find this response helpful,
rate it below.

 

[rootyb]

No matter how you look at it, it is still a

"run-of-the-mill removable media".

That's the thing, though, it didn't used to be. I've created multiple
partitions on this drive in Windows XP (which it wouldn't allow if it
had always been just a "Run-of-the-mill removable media", because it
doesn't allow anything but a single primary partition on removable
media.

I don't remember if I specifically assigned drive letters to the
partitions. I think it was done automatically. And, for the record, you
CAN boot from USB pen drives.

I've seen at least a couple of articles talking about USB flash drives
being recognized as floppy-type drives instead of hard disk-type.
Nothing about how to resolve this problem, though.


Thanks for the reply.

 

[Guest]

I find it odd that your computer ever thought of a flash drive as anything
but a removable drive, but maybe that's because you have a 4 GB drive.

I don't have a solution either, but maybe an explanation. My external USB hd
can be set up either as a hd, or as a removable drive. The only difference
seems to be that the latter lacks the "System Volume Information" folder. So
maybe you deleted that folder.

 

[rootyb]

It's kind of hard to explain. It's always seen it as a "removable"
drive, but as far as I can tell, there are different levels of
"removable".

Looking into the "System volume information" folder.

Thanks!

 

[rootyb]

On second thought, even when the drive is completely unpartitioned (as
far as I can tell).

MBR problem?

*shrug*

 

[rootyb]

Think this is the problem:

"Hard disk drives shouldn't report themselves as removable media drives
because Windows will not put a page file on a removable media device.
The only storage devices that should report themselves as removable
media devices are those devices that are capable of ejecting media
while the drive stays connected to the system. USB hard disk drives and
UFD drives should report themselves as fixed disk drives or removable
disk drives."

Pretty sure it's being recognized as "removable media device", when it
should be recognized as a "removable disk drive".

 

[rootyb]

Also, in DISKPART, it shows up as a "Volume", not a "Disk", if that
helps.

 

[rootyb]

I really wish I could edit my old posts.

What about the possibility of needing to update the firmware? (Do they
HAVE firmware?)

I *may* have installed another brand's firmware accidentally while
trying to set it up as a bootable drive.

Where could I get firmware for a PNY Attache usb drive?

 

[Guest]

My 256k MB flash drive is a "removable disk drive", so even if yours were
called that it wouldn't change anything.
Besides, removable media devices are CD and DVD players and burners, so I'm
pretty sure your flash drive won't be called that.

Oh, and I'm also fairly certain that flash drives are sold with a file
system installed - typically FAT - so they can't really be "unpartitioned".
But who knows what you did to yours...

 

[Guest]

I would try the PNY website.

 

[rootyb]

I'm pretty sure it would change something. WIndows treats "removable
media" differently than "removable disk drives".

Ah well, still looking.

 

[Guest]

Hm, I found this interesting site:

http://www.hackaday.com/2006/06/14/usb-drive-hacking/

There, post #7 mentions that some guy's flash drive is reporting itself as a
fixed disk. Sadly, he doesn't mention the tools. So I guess they are out
there, the trick is to find them.

This site talks about formatting flash drives in hard disk mode, so maybe
that'll help you: http://www.marlow.dk/site.php/tech/usbkeys

And this board is discussing formatting flash drives as well. Maybe you'll
find a way there to format your drive so that it's seen ad a fixed disk:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic17341-2.html

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa940915.aspx - discusses booting
embedded WinXP from USB flash drives. May or may not be helpful to you.

 

[Mike Gasson]

Hm, I found this interesting site:

http://www.hackaday.com/2006/06/14/usb-drive-hacking/

There, post #7 mentions that some guy's flash drive is reporting itself as a
fixed disk. Sadly, he doesn't mention the tools. So I guess they are out
there, the trick is to find them.

This site talks about formatting flash drives in hard disk mode, so maybe
that'll help you: http://www.marlow.dk/site.php/tech/usbkeys

And this board is discussing formatting flash drives as well. Maybe you'll
find a way there to format your drive so that it's seen ad a fixed disk:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic17341-2.html

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa940915.aspx - discusses booting
embedded WinXP from USB flash drives. May or may not be helpful to you.

Have a look at this - just received from Uwe.
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbstick_e.html
HTH

 

[Guest]

Wow, cool stuff.
Thank you, Mike.

 

[Mike Gasson]

Wow, cool stuff.
Thank you, Mike.

I'm just the messenger, Uwe is 'yer man'!

 

[Chris Applegate]

Recently, though, it's started acting more like a USB floppy drive.
Windows won't let me add more than one partition to it, and in Computer
Management, it's showing up as "removable" (though, I'm not sure what
it used to show up as).

I encountered a similar problem today. My primary OS is Linux, so my
initial steps pertain to that. I partitioned a new 1GiB PNY Attaché
drive with two partitions; a Luks encrypted partition, and a small
unencrypted partition to contain the Windows FreeOTFE program, which
mounts Luks partitions (among others). I can mount either partition on
Linux with no problem; the flash drive performs no differently than a
hard disk.

When I plugged the drive into a Windows XP Home machine, it only
recognized the unencrypted partition. After a few hours of hair-pulling
and muttering, I am very tempted to give up. There is no useful
information on the public Microsoft website about fixed and removable
drives, and Google is almost no help (or my Google-fu is weak). The most
I can determine is that flash drives (probably) report to the OS whether
they are fixed or removable, and it's up to the BIOS and the OS to
decide what they do with that information.

It's a kludge, but I can repartition the flash drive into one big
partition and store my encrypted volume as a file. Luks doesn't handle
volumes-in-files unless they've been associated with a loop device, so
it looks like I'm going to have to write a script to automate that. But
I guess having a filesystem in a file makes backups easier. And this
should work regardless of the flash drive type, the computer's BIOS, or
the OS, assuming it has something like cryptsetup or FreeOTFE.

Still, I'd like to know how to convince Windows that there are two
partitions....

 

[lilshari]

After researching some of the aforementioned links, I've learned that
on any given flash drive, there's a bit one of the sectors that tells
the OS whether it's a removable media drive or not.

At least some people are doing research on changing this setting:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//lofiversion/index.php?t15776.html

http://www.devhardware.com/forums/storage-devices-80/autorun-usb-flash-drive-80044.html

http://www.911cd.net/forums//lofiversion/index.php?t14292.html

Some great info/tools in those threads. Haven't had a chance to try
them all yet, though. Let me know if you find anything that works in
there. I'll do the same.

 

[Chris Applegate]

http://www.devhardware.com/forums/storage-devices-80/autorun-usb-flash-drive-80044.html

Some great info/tools in those threads. Haven't had a chance to try
them all yet, though. Let me know if you find anything that works in
there. I'll do the same.

From that link:

"The removable media device setting is a flag contained within the SCSI
Inquiry Data response to the SCSI Inquiry command. Bit 7 of byte 1
(indexed from 0) is the Removable Media Bit (RMB). A RMB set to zero
indicates that the device is not a removable media device. A RMB of one
indicates that the device is a removable media device. Drivers obtain
this information by using the StorageDeviceProperty request."

Are there any utilities for Windows -- or built-in options, preferably
-- that control the behavior of SCSI devices/controllers? If we could
have Windows assume a RMB of 0 when a USB drive was plugged in, that
would let one partition it, etc. I guess the only danger is you would
lose the Eject command, and might accidentally remove your drive before
the write buffer had been flushed.