Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

jhsu · Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 100

I have a 1GB USB drive that refused to accept a Debian Lenny netinstall ISO (150 MB), even when I had nothing on it. Even running GParted on it to make it a FAT32 drive couldn't fix it. Even using Eraser (in Windows 98, which was my USB drive alternative to Boot and Nuke) couldn't fix the USB drive.

Is this USB drive done for, or is there a way to revive it? If this USB drive has been corrupted, is there a way I can verify this? If I have confirmed that the USB drive is bad, can I have it recycled?

timremy · Joined: 27 Jun 2009 Posts: 106

hello jhsu

i am not one of the experts at puppy, but when i had a

bad usb stick, i was told when a usb stick is bad, you

can not write to it but still read from it.

i hope this helps.

timremy

cthisbear · Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1286 Location: Sydney Australia

jhsu :

See my second reply....re usbantivirus.
Still working.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=48350

Format with the
HPUSBFW.zip >>>>>>>>>>>> 368.2 KB

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?mode=attach&id=15098

Try NTFS etc...full format.
Sometimes thaey just play up.
Then format again with FAT32.

Chris.

puppyite

disciple · Posted: Tue 03 Nov 2009, 15:45 Post subject:

Apparently some usb drives arent' bootable... but from your description I don't think this is your problem. Perhabs you could describe how it "refused to accept" it.

chrome307 · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 110

Here's a flash drive program that might be useful

Check Flash ( freeware - single exe ) :

http://mikelab.kiev.ua/PROGRAMS/ChkFlsh.zip

puppyite · Posted: Wed 04 Nov 2009, 08:19 Post subject:

chrome307 · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 110

It will run in WINE, however I'm using a flash drive running Puppy and it does not recognise the drive I'm using. I don't have a 2nd drive to hand to mount and see if that would work.

puppyite · Posted: Wed 04 Nov 2009, 09:04 Post subject:

That Russian site is shakey. Here is the English version for Check Flash 1.09

Edit: That site is overloaded. I will post a link shortly for another download location.

puppyite · Posted: Wed 04 Nov 2009, 09:20 Post subject:

Reliable download site for Check Flash 1.10

I will test this utility and report my observations shortly.

puppyite · Posted: Wed 04 Nov 2009, 10:24 Post subject: My Review of Check Flash 1.10

My Review of Check Flash 1.10
It will start with WINE in Puppy 4.2.1 but it couldn’t find my 8GB Flash drive. I pressed “refresh” button on the right of “drive” drop down selection field but no joy, only drive A: was available (regardless of whether or not the flash drive was mounted). I started a scan anyway but it tried to scan drive C: which I quickly aborted as soon as I realized what was going on (HD light illuminated).

WARNING:
Anyone who tries this utility in WINE should exercise extreme caution. If it can’t find the flash drive and you set it to format you may lose your data (wipe your hard drive)!

I was able to run this software successfully in WIN98SE. After pressing the drive refresh button it found drive E:, however upon pressing the scan button I got a warning which said that due to the current format type (FAT32) it could only scan 4GB of the drive capacity. I started the scan which appeared to run properly (flash drive light flashed). The time indicated to do a full scan was estimated at 2 hours so after a few minutes I aborted the test.

Conclusion: It works but has limitations as stated above.

Final Point: Depending on the capabilities of the software you should always exercise extreme caution when using any disc utility with WINE in Linux. Windows disc utilities may not properly recognize drives when used with WINE.

EDIT:
I have good news to report. I was able to configure WINE to recognize my flash drive and thus successfully run Check Flash 1.10 with WINE in Puppy 4.2.1. Here's how:

Insert flash drive in USB slot.
Mount flash drive.
Click winecfg in /usr/bin
Select "Drives" tab.
Click "Browse" button to right of "Path" field.
In the "Browse for Folder" dialog browse to /mnt/sdb1
- Note: My flash drive is sdb1. Depending on the number of drives you have installed yours may have a different name.
Click "Add" button.
- Note: Upon clicking the "Add" button the flash drive became drive A: therefore making my floppy which was drive A: become drive B:
Click "Apply" then "OK".

Start Check Flash 1.10

Press drive refresh button.
Select drive A: [FAT32]
Carefully review settings before you proceed with scan.
Start scan and test flash drive .

Test should now begin.

disciple · Posted: Wed 04 Nov 2009, 15:40 Post subject:

..
Just in case people missed your edit.

puppyite · Posted: Wed 04 Nov 2009, 16:02 Post subject:

ITAmember · Posted: Wed 04 Nov 2009, 22:27 Post subject:

For the record if a flash drive is ruined you can still read from it, you just get error messages from the console if you try to write to it.

puppyite · Posted: Mon 09 Nov 2009, 12:05 Post subject:

For the record if a Flash drive has totally failed it can neither be read from nor written too.