You can simply use the dd command to overwrite the thing with zeros<br>dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX (where x is the relevant letter)<br>Leave that for as long as you think it would take to do the whole thing (I'd give it about 10 minutes)<br>
Then open a partition editor like gparted, and let that take care of redoing the partition table.<br><br>Bear in mind however, that when a little bit of the flash drive repeatedly fails, the actual firmware on the stick itsself marks it as not to be written to,<br>
I don't think there are any utilities that let you get round this, and besides, there would be no point to them!<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 12 February 2010 20:13, Martin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:martin@ml1.co.uk">martin@ml1.co.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">Folks,<br>
<br>
First some questions, especially for anyone that has a new and *unused*<br>
usb memory stick to try:<br>
<br>
On a "blank" unused usb memory stick, which way are the bits set for the<br>
blank flash? All '1's or all '0's?<br>
<br>
Are there any utilities to let you completely (low level) erase the<br>
memory stick so that it is back to its unfragmented erased state as when<br>
first manufactured?<br>
<br>
<br>
I've an 8GB memory stick that survived a mere 3 months being used as a<br>
linux system root (including /var), alongside a second memory stick that<br>
is still ok. I used them as a RAID1 mirror pair with 128kByte chunks<br>
set. I also used ext4 with the options "noatime,commit=60,nouser_xattr".<br>
<br>
I can read from the entire memory stick without problem. Trying to write<br>
to it fails after about 1Gbyte from the start.<br>
<br>
So... Have I got a dodgy 1GByte memory stick out of the original 8GBytes?<br>
<br>
(And yes it is a real 8GBytes and not a resized fake.)<br>
<br>
Or can I try some clever reset/reformat trick on it?<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Martin<br>
<br>
<br>
The gory log for an attempted write is attached!<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
----------------<br>
Martin Lomas<br>
<a href="mailto:martin@ml1.co.uk">martin@ml1.co.uk</a><br>
----------------<br>
</font><br>klogd: usb 3-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 16<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: New USB device found, idVendor=090c, idProduct=1000<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: Product: USB DISK<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: Manufacturer: SMI Corporation<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: SerialNumber: AA04012700021479<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice<br>
klogd: scsi15 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices<br>
klogd: scsi 15:0:0:0: Direct-Access Flash Drive SM_USB20 1100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg6 type 0<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] 15858688 512-byte logical blocks: (8.11 GB/7.56 GiB)<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Write Protect is off<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through<br>
klogd: sdf: sdf1 sdf2 sdf3<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Attached SCSI removable disk<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 16<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 16<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 16<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device not accepting address 16, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 16<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device not accepting address 16, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: USB disconnect, address 16<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Unhandled error code<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Result: hostbyte=DID_NO_CONNECT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK<br>
klogd: end_request: I/O error, dev sdf, sector 0<br>
klogd: __ratelimit: 51 callbacks suppressed<br>
klogd: Buffer I/O error on device sdf, logical block 0<br>
klogd: lost page write due to I/O error on sdf<br>
klogd: Buffer I/O error on device sdf, logical block 1<br>
klogd: lost page write due to I/O error on sdf<br>
klogd: Buffer I/O error on device sdf, logical block 2<br>
klogd: lost page write due to I/O error on sdf<br>
klogd: Buffer I/O error on device sdf, logical block 3<br>
klogd: lost page write due to I/O error on sdf<br>
klogd: Buffer I/O error on device sdf, logical block 4<br>
klogd: lost page write due to I/O error on sdf<br>
klogd: Buffer I/O error on device sdf, logical block 5<br>
klogd: lost page write due to I/O error on sdf<br>
klogd: Buffer I/O error on device sdf, logical block 6<br>
klogd: lost page write due to I/O error on sdf<br>
klogd: Buffer I/O error on device sdf, logical block 7<br>
klogd: lost page write due to I/O error on sdf<br>
klogd: Buffer I/O error on device sdf, logical block 8<br>
klogd: lost page write due to I/O error on sdf<br>
klogd: Buffer I/O error on device sdf, logical block 9<br>
klogd: lost page write due to I/O error on sdf<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Unhandled error code<br>
klogd: sd 15:0:0:0: [sdf] Result: hostbyte=DID_NO_CONNECT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK<br>
klogd: end_request: I/O error, dev sdf, sector 240<br>
klogd: sdf: detected capacity change from 8119648256 to 0<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 17<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 18<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device descriptor read/64, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 19<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device not accepting address 19, error -110<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 20<br>
klogd: usb 3-3: device not accepting address 20, error -110<br>
klogd: hub 3-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 3<br>
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