Error Deleting from USB drive

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I have a 4GB USB drive (new, this Christmas), and I love it, but I now can’t change anything on it.

Whenever I try to delete a file from it, I get the message:

Error Deleting File or Folder
Cannot delete K:: The disk is write-protected.
Remove the write-protection or use another disk.

The drive doesn’t have a read-write toggle switch (it’s very basic) and other thumb-drives I’ve owned are still readable and writable. It seems to be particular to the thumb-drive, as I’ve tried changing files on it on three different computers, all with no effect. I’d be willing to format the thing, but that just returns a similar “The disk is write protected.”

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Hi Daniel, and welcome to the Lounge!

Take a look at this link. There is a tool referenced later in the post that some have used successfully to remove write protection from their memory stick. A link to the newest version of the software is almost at the end of the thread.

I downloaded the tool and ran an antivirus scan on the download to verify it to be clean. I have not installed the software as I have no problematic USB stick at this time. I plan to use it if I run into this problem. Several people responded it did remove the write protection from their USB stick. Keep in mind it may not help in your situation. Sometimes USB sticks just die.

From what I read, you may have to format the stick after using the tool before you can use the stick again.

Hope this helps. If so, let us know.

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Thanks for the reply. I downloaded from the link (confirmed myself that it’s virus-free), and it’s a very simple app, and when I run it, I get…

“Error – USB Flash Disk not found!”

Tried removing the stick and putting it into three different USB ports (each time confirming that the computer thinks that the stick is inserted and that the files are accessible), same results. Will plan on copying the app to a different computer and trying the same, but I’m not convinced it’ll help. It’s well possible that this really great deal of a USB stick (4 GB for $10, iirc) was just a short-lived thing, and isn’t worth my attempts to salvage any more from it…

I haven’t given up quite yet, though, so any other ideas would be well appreciated.

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Just wanted to update this post with some words from others on the Internet experiencing the same problems (who also haven’t yet found solutions). I’m hoping that if I can fix this one, I may be able to post the fix up for those others also.

The thumbdrive doesn’t have a read/write switch (a handy option, for sure, as I’d like to use it during anti-virus scans), and the drive loads and mounts fine, and all the data on the drive is accessible, except for one folder that has trash content in it (the filenames are garbage). I suspect that the drive may have been pulled from the USB port prior to being completely written to, causing the corruption.

The read-only state of the USB drive seems to be drive-dependent (no matter which machine I mount the drive on, the stick is read-only).

Would anyone know enough about USB drives to know the sorts of things to look for that could cause the OS to treat a functioning USB drive as read-only?

Thanks.

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Some potential solutions to look at…
How to disable write protection of USB flash drive
Simple, if not already tried: From windows explorer, right click-> properties->take the checkmark out of read-only box.

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Some potential solutions to look at…
How to disable write protection of USB flash drive
Simple, if not already tried: From windows explorer, right click-> properties->take the checkmark out of read-only box.

Clint, thanks for the input.

A couple of things: The soluzia.net link you provided offers three solutions. The first one (a manual registry edit) and the third one (the writeprotection tool) are in fact the same solution, the tool simply automates the process for those who are faint of heart The second solution is a utility that I’ve tried before, only a slightly older version. Both the older and newer versions report the same error “USB Flash Disk not found!”

I have tried setting the read-only flag off on all of the files and folders, clicking Apply, and asking it to apply the changes to all sub-folders as well. Each time it immediately comes back with:

Error Applying Attributes
An error occurred applying attributes to the file:
K:PHOTOSPHOTO1.JPG
The media is write protected.
[ Ignore ] [ Ignore All ] [ Retry ] [ Cancel ]

I choose Ignore All, and it chugs through each file, and when it’s done, the Properties box shows the Read-only box as being clear, but if I open the properties up for that folder again, it shows as a box (meaning that it isn’t read-only, but has files in it that are read-only).

My next step is to expose the device to a strong magnet, to see if I can shock it back to usefulness (at the expense of all of the files on the device).

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Probably should come as no surprise, but there are very few, if any, magnetic pieces in a USB thumbdrive. Ehhh, it was worth a shot. Parked the thing between two incredibly strong magnets overnight, not even a blip of difference in the (still read-only) contents of the drive.

I would really like to figure out what happened, because if it happened once, it’s likely to happen again, but this has now become a task beyond my capabilities.

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