Help formatting corrupted USB Flash Drive

My USB flash drive is now unreadable by my mac after neglecting to safely eject it. In disk utility I do not have the option to verify disk or repair disk. When trying to erase everything on it, an error message comes up saying "Unable to write to the last block of the device". Write status is still showing read/write. Can anyone tell me how to fix this? Do I really have to go out and buy a new flash drive?

Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

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Satellite L670 - Windows 7 cannot format a USB flash drive

Hello
Can anybody help? I am trying too format a USB flash drive on my Toshiba Satellite L670 Windows 7 but it keeps saying windows cannot format.

Hi thanks for answer the flash drive is brand it showed ok when first installed but my laptop asked me too format and when i did thats when it gave problem tred on vista and xp machines

Formatting a USB flash drive for Mac OS X Leopard & Windows XP

I'm pretty new to Mac, so forgive me if this seems a very basic question.
How do I format a USB flash drive so that it can be seen by both an Imac running Mac OS X Leopard and a PC running Windows XP?
If one or other machine can't see the drive it makes transferring files really frustrating.
Your advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

You can either use Windows or OSx to format the flash drive to FAT32. This will allow you to read and write from OSx and Windows. If you just bought the flash drive then double check before you format as it may already be formatted to FAT32.
Use Disk Utility from OSx to format your flash drive OR from windows, click on *My Computer* and then highlight the drive letter and choose File from the top menu and then Format.
Axel F.

Formating a USB flash drive question

Hello,
If I format a USB flash drive with MS Dos option. would Mac and Windows be able to read/write to it?
Thanks
Oscar A.

If I format a USB flash drive with MS Dos option. would Mac and Windows be able to read/write to it?
Yes.
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When to format a USB flash drive to Mac O?

I use thumb drives to transfer files from on computer/location to another, and never had a problem with drives that formatted FAT-32. Should I have been formatting these drives to Mac OS? Under what circumstances should a USB flash drive be formatted to Mac OS? What's the rule of thumb (no pun intended)?

File formats aren't compatible based on filesystem. It's just data to the filesystem. Compatibility is at the application level, which is where the files are opened and read. Any file can be put onto any drive, assuming it is within the filesystems limitations (i.e. FAT32's 4GB size limit).

Errors in dmesg when trying to format a usb flash drive

I'm trying to format it using `mkfs.ntfs /dev/sdb1`, the progress freezes after some seconds and dmesg starts to print a bunch of errors. Aparently at a certain point the device gets removed from the system (not listed in /dev anymore).
Here is dmesg log from the point where I plug the flash drive and start the command up to when /dev/sdb disappears:
http://pastie.org/9932469
I tried this: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=149384 but it didn't help.

File formats aren't compatible based on filesystem. It's just data to the filesystem. Compatibility is at the application level, which is where the files are opened and read. Any file can be put onto any drive, assuming it is within the filesystems limitations (i.e. FAT32's 4GB size limit).

How to format a usb flash drive to 'Mac OS Extended-Journaled' format in windows pc?

Hello,
I have a Mac OS X - Mountain Lion ISO file.
I want to install Mac OS X on my Windows PC.
So I want to format my pen drive in windows to Mac OS X Extended.
Is there any software or other way to do this.
Any helpful suggestions will surely be appreciated. :)

Hi,
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Help with USB Flash Drive

I am new to Arch and need some help with a usb flash drive. I have program the base system setup three times and I have got the same error message each time. Everything boots ok until it gets to mount the root device and that is when the error comes up. And yes I have done my homework and found that I need to change a file but I do not know which one and not sure how to.
I have learn more about Linux today than using it at work for over 5 years. Arch users have my highest respect for now I know why they love it so much. The reason I am working with the usb flash drive is I can not setup a hard drive right now for a couple of weeks and want to learn as much as possible before then.

Also, what homework led you to the conclusion that you needed to change a file. If you tell us where you learned this, we may be able to help with the process. If you want us to guess .... My guess would be that you should open /boot/vmlinuz-linux in a text editor and delete all the "7"'s.
(Kidding, hopefully obviously, don't do that).

How to install USB flash drive in windows 7

Could anyone please help to install USB flash drive to Windows 7. This will enable me to hook up keyboard and mouse to my laptop. Thank you so very much for any assistance.

Hi,
Could you please help us to know what is your computer, Please use the following instructions for find out the model/product of your machine:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00033108
Regards.
BH
**Click the KUDOS thumb up on the left to say 'Thanks'**
Make it easier for other people to find solutions by marking a Reply 'Accept as Solution' if it solves your problem.

USB Flash Drive: Read-only filesystem

Hi
I'm trying to format a usb flash drive using various tools but they all say that it's a read-only file system. The drive is not mounted and I'm running as root. If I try to mount the drive like so with the command
sudo mount -o rw,users /dev/sdc1 /media/myflashdrive
I don't get any errors and when I go to /media/myflashdrive I can see and edit all the files (only as root however). However, any changes are not persistent. For example, if I delete any files or run
sudo rm -rf /media/myflashdrive/*
it seems to work and ls doesn't show anything, but then if a reopen the drive, the files are back.
I've tried this on other computers and even in Windows but nothing can put a scratch on it. I heard something about there being a certain bit in the first sector which can be flipped to make a drive read-only but I think it only applied to Windows.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, but if I can't format the drive I'll probably use some thermite to toast the data on it.

Hmm. I wasn't very clear: my drive was usable originally but it stopped working while I was using Windows (I just plugged it in one day and it was read-only) and now that I use Linux I thought I'd try to fix it (I have been told that linux can do anything but I'm not so sure). I suppose it could just be a physical error on the drive but it's not got any marks or anything.
Just a thought here, if it was a physical problem, would it be possible to 'reset' it with an electromagnet or by shorting it out or would this just frazzle the chip? Maybe not the right forums for that kind of question.
Last edited by JJ.Eastwood (2011-05-26 19:50:56)

Boot camp install from USB Flash Drive

Hi Folks,
I recently purchased a new Macbook Air. It has 10.8.3.
I used the Boot Camp Assistant to set up the computer for Boot Camp. It went through all the steps: First, it formatted my USB Flash Drive. Next, it copied Windows installer crap from the my ISO to the USB Drive. Next, it downloaded the Apple Drivers and put them on the USB drive. Next, it restarted in order to boot from the USB drive.
This is where I hit a wall. The computer will not bpt from the Flash Drive. It is as if the control panel has set the startup disk to "BOOTCAMP" instead of the flash drive. So when the computer restarts, it just says "No bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key."
How can I get it to boot from the flash drive?
Thanks In Advance
Andy
Corrected the error message to exact phrase.

Hmmm... interesting... My sites I found suggested otherwise. I tried three diferent brands of jump drives and none of them actually booted the Macbook Air. The Boot Camp Assistant used them all just fine, but booting was the issue. Glad you got it to work. Would you mind posting what brand you used so other reading this thread in the future could learn?
Also, were you just using the BCA or, did you do some other process to make it bootable first? Since the BCA formats the drive, I would think any process done ahead of time would be thwarted (as mine were).
Thanks!

Installing Leopard from USB flash drive

Basically i need to install Leopard from a USB flash drive on my Macbook, but i will sum up my issue: (I'm afraid i'm not a computer-"geek", so bear with me when i try to explain the issue :-))
My macbook hdd recently died on me, so put in a new, clean hdd. I now need to install Leopard on the new hdd from a DMG-file.
So, i have an 8GB USB flash drive and DMG-file of Leopard.
I formatted the USB flash drive to NTFS, and copied the 6+GB DMG-file onto the flash drive.
I tried booting from the flash drive by holding down the option key, but a blank screen shows up with a mouse pointer. There is no Flash drive or install icon to select.
Can anyone tell me, what i'm doing wrong?

Hi Dweepe;
On top of everything else the other posters pointed out, I would suggest that formatting the USB flash drive to NTFS is not doing you any favors either. NTFS is a propriety file system from Microsoft which the Mac can only read with special software install.
My suggestion is to replace your optical drive. A new one can probably be purchased for much less then the problems you are creating for yourself in your attempts to work around replacing it.
Allan

Trying to format a new USB flash drive so it will work on both a Mac and PC

I have a brand new Sandisk USB flash drive that I am trying to copy movie files onto from my Mac's hard drive. For some reason I can copy one of the movie files but not the other, even though they are both Quicktime (.mov) files. In doing some research, it seems the one file will not copy/paste likely because it is over 4 GB in size and the FAT32 filing system on the USB drive prevents files in excess of this size to be copied and pasted.
My question to anyone who can help me is: How can I get files over 4 GB onto and off of this USB drive AND be able to use it for both Mac and PC computers?
Thanks for any advice.
Shaun

If I format the USB stick on my Mac as exFAT, will my client who´s most likely using a PC be able to screen it tomorrow morning...??
exFAT would only be an issue if they were running a version of Windows older than XP. If it is XP, they would need to install the free exFAT update before being able to access the drive.

USB Flash Drive Help

Hi gang,
I'm not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question, but it's the closest forum I could find.
I have an old iMac running Mac OS 8.6, and I need to transfer some files (Appleworks documents, and family pictures) from it to another iMac running OS 10.3.9. They are in different locations, with only dial-up internet access, so I can't transfer files over the internet (easily), or by an ethernet connection.
I have two USB flash drives. The first is an old 128 MB, USB 1.1 drive. The other is an 8 GB, USB 2.0 drive. Neither drive will work on the OS 8.6 machine. When I put the device in the USB port, I get a message:
+'The software needed to use the USB device "USB Drive" cannot be found. Please refer to the device documentation to install the necessary software.'+
The 128 MB drive is so old, I don't have any documentation. I tried looking on the website of the manufacturer for a drive, or something, (the flash drive says Fujifilm on it), but they don't have anything useful.
The 8 GB drive is newer, but didn't come with any instructions or installers (not that I was counting on it to work on this old machine). It's a Verbatim flash drive, and they didn't have any help there.
I tried re-formatting the 128 MB drive to Mac OS Standard. That didn't work. I tried formatting it in Mac OS Extended HFS+. That didn't work.
My question is this, is there a software extension that I could download, it can't be that large of a file for dial-up, that would allow me to use the flash drive on a computer using OS 8.6? I have an OS 9 CD, and I also have a back-up CD of OS 9.2.1. Is it possible there is a driver in the extensions folder there that I could transfer and use in OS 8.6?
I appreciate any and all help.
Thank you.
just a rambling joe

Hi, joe -
...I'm going to replace this iMac's 4GB hard drive with a slightly larger one...
If your iMac has a processor speed less than 350MHz, it is important that you partition the new drive if it is 8GB or larger -
Article #TA22193 - Gray or White Screen After Hard Drive Upgrade
Article #TA20420 - OSX: Disk Appears "Grayed Out" in Installer
...install OS 10.3.9 and OS 9.2...
Important - before attempting to install OSX be sure the firmware has been updated on the iMac; failure to do so can cause loss of video on early iMac models -
Article #HT1395 - Firmware Updates

As a new MacBook user I plug in my USB Flash Drive but don't know how to access its contents. Please help. Thanks.

as a new MacBook user, when inserting my USB Flash Drive, I do not know how to access its contents. Please help. Thanks.

Open a new Finder window, Finder > File > New Finder Window, and it should appear on the left under Devices.
If you don't see it there, or to get it to show up on the Desktop: Finder > Preferences... General tab, check External disks to have it show on the Desktop, Or Sidebar tab, check External disks under DEVICES.

Help formatting corrupted USB Flash Drive

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