Saving files on a USB device is not possible

[kasia8811]

Hi dear Comunity,

I have a problem: I can't save anything on a USB device. I don't know how to solve the problem. Anyone can help?

[austin.texas]

With the USB drive connected, post the result of

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

[songhuijohn]

As Austin.texas has requested, we need more information before we can help you. I would think the additional information need is as follows:
What kind of USB device are you using - USB memory stick, external disk drive, ????
Has the USB device been initialized?
Does this USB device appear on your desktop when inserted? If yes, please describe what appears on your desktop.
What are you trying to save to the USB device?
How are you trying to save to the USB device?

Before anyone can help you, as you can see, we need a full understanding of what you are trying to do and how you are trying to do the saving that fails - including any error messages you are receiving.

[turtlebay]

I read the question as them running a live session from a USB, so not being able to save changes. But I could be wrong.

[kasia8811]

Sure,

as austin.texas said, here are the results:

System: Host: kasia-AMILO-Li3710 Kernel: 4.4.0-53-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.2.6 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.1)
Distro: Linux Mint 18.1 Serena
Machine: System: FUJITSU SIEMENS product: AMILO Li3710 v: Rev 1.0
Mobo: FUJITSU SIEMENS model: EF7 v: D3A
Bios: Phoenix v: 1.09 date: 03/27/2009
CPU: Dual core Pentium T4200 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 7979
clock speeds: max: 2000 MHz 1: 1600 MHz 2: 1600 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Mobile 4 Series Integrated Graphics Controller
bus-ID: 00:02.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1366x768@59.97hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel GM45 Express x86/MMX/SSE2
GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card Intel 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-53-generic
Network: Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
driver: ath5k bus-ID: 06:00.0
IF: wlp6s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Card-2: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller
driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 bus-ID: 07:00.0
IF: enp7s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 563.0GB (79.4% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD5000BEVT size: 500.1GB
ID-2: USB /dev/sdc model: Rainbow_Line size: 62.9GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 455G used: 413G (96%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.12GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 57.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 180 Uptime: 1:54 Memory: 1273.0/3879.0MB
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
Client: Shell (bash 4.3.461) inxi: 2.2.35

[kasia8811]

What kind of USB device are you using - USB memory stick, external disk drive, ????
Has the USB device been initialized?
Does this USB device appear on your desktop when inserted? If yes, please describe what appears on your desktop.
What are you trying to save to the USB device?
How are you trying to save to the USB device?

Here are my answeres:

I use a USB memory stick.
I can open the data that is stored on it but I can not save any data on it not.
If I try to save something, there apears a error saying, that my device is only in the read-only mode.
I was trying to save OpenOffice Dokuments.
First I tried to pull them over froom the desktop, then I tried to save froom OpenOffice. Both is not working.

[Mattyboy]

Try right clicking on the drive from your home folder. It should be listed on the left under devices. Select properties and then Permissions.
Change all the Folder access options to "Create and Delete files" and finally click "Apply Permissions to Enclosed Files"

See if that fixes it.

[trytip]

backup any data you need on this USB devide THEN open gparted and be sure you select your USB device and not other drives
once the usb device selected go to tab Device/Create partition table >>> msdos
when step above is done RIGHT CLICK on the now blank partition >>> Format to ext4 or fat32

[pjmcq]

same problem
tried suggestion from songhuijohn but no joy
haven't tried 2nd suggestion as can't really follow it
any other possibilities in simpler terms
thanks

[JR86]

If you don't care about loosing any of the data on it you could reformat it. If you are not comfortable with using the command line I suggest opening the program 'Disks' which is installed by default.

Then top right there is a button with three horizontal lines. Click on it and select format disk (make sure you have selected the right disk first!) A window pops up, select overwrite existing data in the first tab and MBR/DOS in the second, then click format. This will take a few minutes as it completely wipes the drive and installs a partition. After that click on the cog button in the middle of screen, and select quick as the first option, FAT as the second, and name the device if you wish(default name used otherwise).

Fresh new working disk after that. There is probably easier options, either you just need to change the read write access permissions in properties of the disk(right click), or maybe you are using a USB you formatted as a live USB for a linux iso and it has no persistence mode so you cannot write to it easily. If this is the case you can reformat or get another disk for re writing too and keep this as your install disk.

[pjmcq]

Thanks. Will give it a go.
Is there any reason why it should have gone to read only so suddenly? And not just 1 memory stick but the 2 others I use as well? I’ve been using all 3 for months as a manual back up with no problems.

[Mute Ant]

Linux can switch any mounted file-system to read-only access if it detects a problem. With more than one device affected... possibly the USB 5V supply has gone limp-----> the USB chip can read okay but can't get enough current to do a successful write?

There's a command sequence which will test the hardware-writability of any drive without damaging what's already there...
lsblk ### Display the block devices that Linux has detected.
X="/dev/sdc" ### Choose one of the displayed devices for testing.
sudo dd if="$X" of="$X" bs=512 count=1 ### Read-then-write one block.
You should get something like...

• lsblk
  NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
  sda 8:0 1 57.9G 0 disk
  ├─sda1 8:1 1 665M 0 part
  └─sda2 8:2 1 57.2G 0 part /
  sdb 8:16 0 931.5G 0 disk

• X="/dev/sda"

• sudo dd if="$X" of="$X" bs=512 count=1
  1+0 records in
  1+0 records out
  512 bytes (512 B) copied, 0.0039762 s, 129 kB/s

[pjmcq]

Thanks again. 2 of them seem to have readjusted themselves of their own accord. Thank goodness for robots. All the best.