cinque8 Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Hi, I have a flash drive, that I have plugged into my USB port, and it has a FAT 32 format. When I try to delete the files that are currently on the drive, I get a "Drive is write protected" warning. As far as I know, this drive is not being used by any program or application. So how do I unwrite protect this drive? I am running Windows Vista. Thanks! -cinque8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 There is a small switch on the USB Flash Drive that allows write only in one position, and Read / Write in the other position. Check it and make sure that it is set for Read / Write. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 A little winded but if the FD does not have a switch, try the commands (as admin) below with the drive connected: It does work. DISKPART> list disk Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 233 GB 0 B Disk 1 Online 112 GB 0 B DISKPART> select disk 1 Disk 1 is now the selected disk. DISKPART> list volume Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info ---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- -------- Volume 0 D DVD-ROM 0 B No Media Volume 1 C NTFS Partition 233 GB Healthy System Volume 2 E UNTITLED FAT32 Partition 112 GB Healthy DISKPART> select volume 2 Volume 2 is the selected volume. DISKPART> detail disk Maxtor OneTouch III USB Device Disk ID: BA52D44C Type : USB Bus : 0 Target : 0 LUN ID : 0 Read-only : Yes Boot Disk : No Pagefile Disk : No Hibernation File Disk : No Crashdump Disk : No Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info ---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- -------- * Volume 2 E UNTITLED FAT32 Partition 112 GB Healthy DISKPART> detail volume Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- --- * Disk 1 Online 112 GB 0 B Read-only : Yes Hidden : No No Default Drive Letter: No Shadow Copy : No Dismounted : No BitLocker Encrypted : No Volume Capacity : 112 GB Volume Free Space : 75 GB DISKPART> attr disk clear readonly Disk attributes cleared successfully. DISKPART> attr volume clear readonly Volume attributes cleared successfully. DISKPART> detail disk Maxtor OneTouch III USB Device Disk ID: BA52D44C Type : USB Bus : 0 Target : 0 LUN ID : 0 Read-only : No Boot Disk : No Pagefile Disk : No Hibernation File Disk : No Crashdump Disk : No Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info ---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- -------- * Volume 2 E UNTITLED FAT32 Partition 112 GB Healthy DISKPART> detail volume Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- --- * Disk 1 Online 112 GB 0 B Read-only : No Hidden : No No Default Drive Letter: No Shadow Copy : No Dismounted : No BitLocker Encrypted : No Volume Capacity : 112 GB Volume Free Space : 75 GB DISKPART> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinque8 Posted November 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 I do not have a switch on my flash drive. I am running Windows Vista, how do I get to diskpart at the command prompt? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/e/elevated.htm :DEdit: I suggest one back-up ALL drives before endeavoring. Edit: Type diskpart > enter > offyou go.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinque8 Posted November 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Thanks Bludgard, I learned something here. I printed out your instructions and saved them for next time. Thanks! cinque8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 So it did work? LOLBully for you, ol' sport! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinque8 Posted November 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 So it did work? LOL Bully for you, ol' sport! Well,,,,,, not quite. First of all, I had never heard of diskpart before, so thank u for taking me to school on that. But this disk seems to have a mind of its own, it doesn't function the way that all of my other disk have. If you look at diskpart below, Read Only is "no". But I can't delete anything from this disk or format the disk. When I try to format the disk, I get a message that says the disk is currently in use, but I have no applications open. And when I tried to format the disk, notice that it says read only, while diskpart says: Read only-no Thanks! -cinque8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 1) Was the command (diskpart) window open when this was tried? 2) Is the drive read only in another machine? Maybe GPE is in effect on the target machine? 3) Have you tried manipulating the drive with a bootable OS and/or tool such as Puppy Linux or Parted Magic?I do not expect much but one never knows.... 4) Are there any disk related errors in Event Viewer corresponding to times the drive is connected? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinque8 Posted November 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Bludgard, thank you for all of your help and information! What is GPE, and how do I pull up the screen above with the yellow highligts? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted November 19, 2013 Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 What is GPE ? Group Policy Editor Local Group Policy Editor is only available in Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterpise editions. Not available with Vista Home Basic and Home Premium editions. http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/222866-local-group-policy-editor-open.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinque8 Posted November 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 Thanks again Bludgard, I have opened GPE and I am studying it, I will get back to you with results later. I have a book put out by Microsoft called: "Introducing Windows Vista" and it doesn't mention diskpart or GPE. I guess they wrote it for rookies. So I guess that makes me a rookie-1st class. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinque8 Posted November 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 oops! Thanks Boris! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted November 19, 2013 Report Share Posted November 19, 2013 .... So I guess that makes me a rookie-1st class. :P One should take a gander at my posts when I started kickin' it 'round these parts: Atrocious! Dumber than a box o' rocks I was/am but kept an image or three of my setup. BTW: GPE is a decent way to prevent most encrypting malware from taking ones back-ups hostage when stored on external media. Maybe it is a bit bothersome to go through GPE to enhance existing and/or create new back-ups, but I guess it would depend on what that data is worth. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinque8 Posted November 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2013 Hey guys, just an update. I tried to format this drive with HP USB formatter http://hp-usb-disk-s...ool.soft32.com/ and got the error message: Drive write protected. Then I tried to format the drive with Partition Wizard, and PW came to the conclusion that this was a "bad disk", and I agree. I have never had a disk act like this before. I turned it over and spanked its little bottom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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