formatting protected USB memory sticks

[Karl Larsen]

Colin Rowat wrote:
> I was recently given a 1GB USB memory stick, formatted as drives E: and
> F: for Windows.  One of the drives (/dev/sdb1, or /media/DISK_IMG) is
> formatted as a fat16 blank disc.  The other is loaded with promotional
> material that I would like to remove.  However, I cannot get gparted to
> even recognise this partition (/media/Autorun).  It has also been
> protected against reformatting by standard Windows XP administrative
> tools.
>
> Is there any way to completely clear the memory stick, creating a
> single, 1GB partition?
>
> Thank you in advance,
>
> Colin Rowat
>
>
>
>   
    Try to use fdisk and it will let you do what you want. I unmount the 
medium first and when umount you can put the file system on. I have some 
of my 4 GB medium in VFAT and the rest is ext3.

    To format use mkfs.ext3 -L name /dev/sdf1 and for the other use 
mkfs.vfat -n name /dev/sdf2.

You will love it.

Karl


-- 

	Karl F. Larsen, AKA K5DI
	Linux User
	#450462   http://counter.li.org.
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