Re: The case of the read-only USB sticks.
On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 17:18:11 +, Hendrik Boom wrote: > On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 16:38:34 +0200, Andrei POPESCU wrote: > >> On Sb, 22 feb 14, 14:33:24, Hendrik Boom wrote: >>> I have a problem with my USB sticks mysteriously becoming read-only. >> >> You didn't provide any information about make, model, size, >> partitioning, file systems, etc. Also the relevant lines from syslog >> when you plug in the stick are very useful for diagnosing. >> >> Kind regards, >> Andrei > > Thank you. I will investigate and provide syslog data for the old read- > only sticks and the new writable ones when I get the chance. > > Of the old USB sticks -- the ones that turned read-only -- I currently > am in possession of only one, and it worked fine this morning if I am > root when I mount it and write it. It's labelled Lexar USB3.0 64G. I > haven't tried it on my wife's Mac since. > > If I have to be root, perhaps it's some mount permission problem I'm > getting. > > Of course it could be that I missed this one stick when I was trying the > old failing sticks last week and it's been OK all along. Im going to > have to keep careful records. > > The others I handed to a friend a few days ago, who said he wanted to > try them out on his equipment. I'll see them again next Wednesdays. > > -- hendrik I think I may have a solution. I suspect the problem is with improperly unmounted/ejected (teminology varies) USB sticks. On some systems it can be hard to figure out the proper unmounting protocol. But when I mount such a stick on Debian, it gets mounted at best as read- only. And often it does it automatically, and as root instead of as the user currently logged in (assuming there is only one) I have to check if it's mounted, and unmount it as root. Then to do an fsck -a -y so that it will indeed fix problems. Usually the only problem is that a flag has been said telling me it hadn't been properly unmounted last time it was used. -- hendrik -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/lp7pio$bke$1...@ger.gmane.org
Re: The case of the read-only USB sticks.
On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 15:40:01 +0100, Hendrik Boom wrote: > I have a problem with my USB sticks mysteriously becoming read-only. > > I decided to investigate. I bought three identical 8G USB sticks, > identical except for colour). None of them appear have any switches on > them. > > The first I used my Linux laptop to write a file into the top-level > directory of the first stick: I mounted it, wrote it, and unmounted it. > I handed it to my wife, who was to read it on her Mac. She told me it > failed to even notice there was a USB stick plugged in. But returned to > me, I could mount it and read it. > > I put the second into my Linux laptop, mounted it, listed the top-level > directory (it was empty), unmounted it. I passed it to my wife, who > plugged it into her Mac, and it immediately noticed the USB stick and > allowed her to look at its contents. It was, of course, empty. > > I'm running Debian testing on an ASUS netbook. > > Speculation: > > Now this doesn't tell me anything about how my USB sticks turn read- > only. But it does tell me that something weird is happening to them. > Perhaps the two OS's have different ieas as to how USB sticks are to be > written or read? Perhaps one of the other machined in the house it > writing the in such a was that Linux can't read them? > > What do I need to know to investigate this. > > Has anyone else had problems like this? > > Online all I found was some people on Windows with read-only USB sticks. > One of them said that some friend using Linux had "fixed" them. No one > else had any luck. I have no idea if their experience has any relevance. > > -- hendrik You said you wrote to the "top level directory". I'm guessing you were running as root and wrote to a section that you shouldn't have tampered with. For example, a drive might appears both as /dev/sdd and /dev/sdd1. You don't want to mess with /dev/sdd - loosely speaking, that's just for the partition table (i.e. use fdisk or one of its kin to alter if necessary). Read/write/mount only the /dev/sdd1. Of course the drive could have failed, but it seems unlikely. Have you tried to fsck the drive? HTH-- -F -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/leg008$p6k$1...@dont-email.me
Re: The case of the read-only USB sticks.
On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 16:38:34 +0200, Andrei POPESCU wrote: > On Sb, 22 feb 14, 14:33:24, Hendrik Boom wrote: >> I have a problem with my USB sticks mysteriously becoming read-only. > > You didn't provide any information about make, model, size, > partitioning, file systems, etc. Also the relevant lines from syslog > when you plug in the stick are very useful for diagnosing. > > Kind regards, > Andrei Thank you. I will investigate and provide syslog data for the old read- only sticks and the new writable ones when I get the chance. Of the old USB sticks -- the ones that turned read-only -- I currently am in possession of only one, and it worked fine this morning if I am root when I mount it and write it. It's labelled Lexar USB3.0 64G. I haven't tried it on my wife's Mac since. If I have to be root, perhaps it's some mount permission problem I'm getting. Of course it could be that I missed this one stick when I was trying the old failing sticks last week and it's been OK all along. Im going to have to keep careful records. The others I handed to a friend a few days ago, who said he wanted to try them out on his equipment. I'll see them again next Wednesdays. -- hendrik -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/leam4j$g51$2...@ger.gmane.org
Re: The case of the read-only USB sticks.
On Sb, 22 feb 14, 14:33:24, Hendrik Boom wrote: > I have a problem with my USB sticks mysteriously becoming read-only. You didn't provide any information about make, model, size, partitioning, file systems, etc. Also the relevant lines from syslog when you plug in the stick are very useful for diagnosing. Kind regards, Andrei -- http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser Offtopic discussions among Debian users and developers: http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/d-community-offtopic http://nuvreauspam.ro/gpg-transition.txt signature.asc Description: Digital signature
The case of the read-only USB sticks.
I have a problem with my USB sticks mysteriously becoming read-only. I decided to investigate. I bought three identical 8G USB sticks, identical except for colour). None of them appear have any switches on them. The first I used my Linux laptop to write a file into the top-level directory of the first stick: I mounted it, wrote it, and unmounted it. I handed it to my wife, who was to read it on her Mac. She told me it failed to even notice there was a USB stick plugged in. But returned to me, I could mount it and read it. I put the second into my Linux laptop, mounted it, listed the top-level directory (it was empty), unmounted it. I passed it to my wife, who plugged it into her Mac, and it immediately noticed the USB stick and allowed her to look at its contents. It was, of course, empty. I'm running Debian testing on an ASUS netbook. Speculation: Now this doesn't tell me anything about how my USB sticks turn read- only. But it does tell me that something weird is happening to them. Perhaps the two OS's have different ieas as to how USB sticks are to be written or read? Perhaps one of the other machined in the house it writing the in such a was that Linux can't read them? What do I need to know to investigate this. Has anyone else had problems like this? Online all I found was some people on Windows with read-only USB sticks. One of them said that some friend using Linux had "fixed" them. No one else had any luck. I have no idea if their experience has any relevance. -- hendrik -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/leacfk$g51$1...@ger.gmane.org
