[Coco] off-topic: USB drives scam?

[mike delyea]

You might try gparted to repartition and reformat the drive.  Bootable
.iso available here:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 8:10 PM, Aaron Wolfe <aawolfe at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 7:24 PM, Roger Taylor <operator at coco3.com> wrote:
>> At 01:00 PM 10/15/2009, you wrote:
>>>
>>> Never even heard of this problem before.  The results from Google seem
>>> very limited, it doesn't appear to be a rampant problem.
>>>
>>> I did run across this possible solution using regedit:
>>> http://pressf1.co.nz/showthread.php?t=88972
>>>
>>> I'd just stop sticking them in your DVD player. :)
>>
>>
>> Exactly.
>>
>> Limited Google results? That's because nobody is calling the darn things by
>> the same name.  Memory stick, usb stick, flash drive, flash stick, usb
>> flash, memory drive, usb drive... you get the idea.  Some people are saying
>> it's a virus or worm, along with whatever they think their usb drive is
>> called.  :)  So the words you used to find posts on this subject might not
>> be turning up what I found.
>>
>> The regedit thing doesn't work.  I tried that months ago.
>>
>
> I got interested and bit a bit of googling here :)
>
> If you look for simply "usb write-protect" you will find 1.8 million results.
>
> It seems that Windows uses "device is write-protected" to describe
> many different situations, this is part of the confusion.
>
> I'm sure you're already seen this Roger, but the thread found here is
> a good example of how many different problems will lead to this
> message:  http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/35725/
> Most people on this thread report success with one technique or
> another.  A few report that nothing works.
>
> Most issues boil down to:
>
> 1. The user actually has toggled a write protect switch without
> knowing they've done it (these switches can be very tiny)
> 2. The usb device uses some form of software write protect, in which
> case the remedy involves editing the registry or special program from
> the manufacture
> 3.  The partition table on the device has become corrupt, this is
> fixed with the HP format tool I mentioned earlier or similar programs,
> or by using a non Windows computer to access the device.
> 4.  The thing is just broke.  No remedy :(
>
> It is very difficult to say how many users fall into the final
> category, since  Windows reports the same error message for a range of
> issues.  A failed device does seem to be the minority based on the
> number of success stories.  Not sure there is any kind of evil scheme
> here.
>
> Have you considered that your DVD player may itself be broken?
> Sending way to much voltage to the port or something like this?
>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ~ Roger Taylor
>>
>>
>>
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