Why won't ubuntu recognize my usb flash drive?

[iamleaf]

I've got a transcend 4GB usb drive. But Ubuntu doesn't even recognize it. It shows up on 'Computer' but when I click properties, it doesn't read it at all. I can't even mount it because it shows me an error message.
I've tried running lsusb and this is what I got:

Bus 004 Device 005: ID 058f:6387 Alcor Micro Corp. Transcend JetFlash 110 USB 2.0 Flash Drive (2GB)
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:c00c Logitech, Inc. Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000


Someone please help

[llamabr]

plug it in and post the last 10 or so lines of dmesg.

Has this device recently been plugged into a windows box?

[mikechant]

Is this a new drive or have you already used it?
If it's new you may need to format it.
You can use gparted (found under system-->admin-->partition editor, install with synaptic etc. if not present) to look at what partitions are on the device if any, and what filesystems they are formatted as.

[tarps87]

Do you have any other usb devices plugged in. Can you post the output of

fdisk -l

(l = lower case L)

This will give you the last 10 lines of dmesg

tail dmesg

It is possible it one of those 'silly' usb drives (I can't remember the name), they have a special program that makes windows think it is a cd. This program tends to mess up mounting in GNU/Linux

[anjilslaire]

It is possible it one of those 'silly' usb drives (I can't remember the name), they have a special program that makes windows think it is a cd. This program tends to mess up mounting in GNU/Linux

Yes, I have a SanDisk cruzer micro like that. Even zeroing the thing wouldn't remove it. I had to download their removal app & run it from a windows system to get it to behave as a plain usb stick.

[iamleaf]

plug it in and post the last 10 or so lines of dmesg.

Has this device recently been plugged into a windows box?

[19364.188554] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access     JetFlash TS4GJFV30        8.07 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[19364.201433] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] 8028158 512-byte hardware sectors (4110 MB)
[19364.202273] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[19364.202280] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[19364.202283] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[19364.207611] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] 8028158 512-byte hardware sectors (4110 MB)
[19364.208218] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[19364.208224] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[19364.208227] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[19364.208237]  sdc: sdc1
[19364.209259] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[19364.209327] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0

Yeah, I've plugged it into a laptop that has Windows Vista recently.

fdisk -l doesn't return anything.

No its not a silly device.

And I couldn't find partition manager?

[tarps87]

[19364.188554] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access     JetFlash TS4GJFV30        8.07 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[19364.201433] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] 8028158 512-byte hardware sectors (4110 MB)
[19364.202273] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[19364.202280] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[19364.202283] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[19364.207611] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] 8028158 512-byte hardware sectors (4110 MB)
[19364.208218] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[19364.208224] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[19364.208227] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[19364.208237]  sdc: sdc1
[19364.209259] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[19364.209327] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0

Yeah, I've plugged it into a laptop that has Windows Vista recently.

fdisk -l doesn't return anything.

No its not a silly device.

And I couldn't find partition manager?

That's the silly thing 'U3 Launchpad'

try

sudo fdisk -l

without sudo it should have just listed the removable drives.
You will probably need to install the partitioner, it is called gparted.

Did you just plug the usb stick in? It appears to have seen it.
Also how many usb devices have you got connected or to be more precise to you have a 2GB stick plugged in?

Oh and it must be silly other wise Ubuntu would see it

[taurus]

Or you can try to mount it from a terminal with

sudo mkdir /media/sdc1
sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdc1 /media/sdc1 -o umask=000
df -h

[iamleaf]

Okay I got it to start working. I just formatted the thing from a Windows platform. I've tried using transferring data between ubuntu and windows and it works. I think the laptop that I used was infected or something. It had two folders which I just couldn't delete that kept popping up: 'New Folder' and 'regvsr'

Thing is, I'll have to keep formatting it if I want to exchange data between this ubuntu and other windows platforms.

[wsonar]

If a drive is not cleanly unmounted in either OS and then inserted into the other OS it will not be recognized properly

You have to always stop drives before removing them even usb sticks otherwise you can loose data