I had one of those a few years back. I had many of the same issues and it turned out that it had failed because there were no left over sectors that could be written after marking bad and choosing spare. Also, the flashing light after eject is an indication that the firmware has suffered a fatal error, resulting in a read only system on the device. However, this is not the only cause of the condition you describe.
Possible conditions:
1. USB drive infected with malware that attempted to overwrite firmware
2. Damaged USB port (try a new port?)
3. Old/outdated or corrupted USB driver/module
4. USB firmware failure resulting in read only FS access
5. Max write cycles reached (usually caused by bad memory locations on board.
Now, depending on the size, speed and other particulars of your USB device, it might just be easier to purchase a new one from amazon, Best Buy or other retail outlet. For most things, I use USB sticks in a write once, read many configuration scenario. Things like photos, documents and even a media library can be stored on these. So long as I don’t need to write very many times, the stick will perform very well over it’s useful life. I have a few of the older sub 4GB sticks around here that are at least 10 years old and still work nicely. Of course, I wrote my media collection to them and then only use them for playing my music or listening to my legally downloaded videos. :)
-Eric
From the Central Offices of the Technomage Guild, Media Services Dept.
> On Jan 16, 2023, at 12:34 PM, Michael via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>
> Ok, thanks. Funny thing is when I unmount it it keeps flashing. It even keeps flashing after I eject it..
>
> On Mon, Jan 16, 2023 at 2:24 PM Stephen Partington <cryptworks@gmail.com <mailto:cryptworks@gmail.com>> wrote:
> I know some USB devices when they reach a critical fault level will go read-only when there are no longer any write cycles that can be safely applied. like SSD's But I haven ever run into it to verify.
>
> On Mon, Jan 16, 2023 at 2:23 PM Michael via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org <mailto:plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org>> wrote:
> creating persistence means I want to use the drive as if it were the main drive.
> The verbose flag is a big v? I tried the little v!
> sudo fsck -V $usb
> [sudo] password for michael:
> fsck from util-linux 2.37.2
> Same thing.
> sudo fsck -Vf /dev/sdb ; echo $?
> fsck from util-linux 2.37.2
> 0
> I think the zero means there is nothing wrong with the drive.
>
> "You don't say what you booted on - the USB drive? And what device is that?"
> What do you mean? I'm trying to run thOS from the pen drive? THe device is /dev/sdb?
>
> On Mon, Jan 16, 2023 at 2:00 PM Rusty Carruth via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org <mailto:plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org>> wrote:
> I think it is probably too early to say if you need a new drive, and I
> don't know what you mean by 'create persistence', but I'll stick my foot
> in my mouth and ask a few questions.
>
> You don't say what you booted on - the USB drive? And what device is that?
>
> When you run fsck, I suggest you use the -V option (verbose). Also, what
> is the return code from fsck? that is:
>
> sudo fsck -Vf /dev/sdb ; echo $?
>
> what number is the last thing before your next prompt?
>
> Did you boot from device /dev/sda? Is anything mounted from /dev/sdb?
> (e.g. what does 'df -h' say (as one option))
>
> Finally, it is safer to do the fdisk commands manually and not use the
> 'printf' trick. This works for me on all my systems:
>
> echo $usb ; sudo fdisk $usb
>
> (then I enter the commands to fdisk to create a new partition, or whatever)
>
> Oh, the very first thing I should have asked is, what does 'ls -l
> /dev/sdb' say?
>
> On 1/16/23 11:34, Michael via PLUG-discuss wrote:
> > maybe that is why it ran out of space?
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 16, 2023 at 12:06 PM Michael <bmike1@gmail.com <mailto:bmike1@gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> >> HI. On my Kali Live USB drive I am trying to create persistence. I did it
> >> once but then something happened (it ran out of space when I tried to
> >> install snort) so I started over. But when I tried tpo create persistence I
> >> got the read-only error. YOu know in my search to get it out of read-only I
> >> discovered that it might mean my file system is corrupted.. But when I ran
> >> $ sudo fsck -f /dev/sdb
> >> it just responded
> >> fsck from util-linux 2.37.2
> >> then when I attempted to follow the directions (that worked before:
> >> sudo fdisk $usb <<< $(printf "n\np\n\n\n\nw")
> >> Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.37.2).
> >> Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
> >> Be careful before using the write command.
> >> fdisk: cannot open /dev/sdb: Read-only file system
> >> I'm thinking I need a new drive. Anything the gurus know that would be
> >> beneficial before I spend the money on a new drive??
> >> --
> >> :-)~MIKE~(-:
> >>
> >
> >
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>
> --
> :-)~MIKE~(-:
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>
> --
> A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
>
> Stephen
>
>
>
> --
> :-)~MIKE~(-:
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