[SOLVED] frequent USB flash drive error

I've noticed that a flash drive frequently ends up giving me "Input/Output Error" messages and making its contents read-only even though I confirm that I have permissions. Happens after around a dozen uses. Doesn't matter whether I format as FAT, ext or NTFS. Then I have to reformat the drive to be able to use it. Could be that the drive is bad but this has happened with at least one other drive, before.

Not sure if this info helps but I tend not to "eject" it from the system tray and simply unplug it from the USB when I'm done transferring. I haven't used a larger external USB drive yet but I want to make sure it doesn't have the same freakout like the pen drives have been having. Messing up the data on those will be a lot more of a pain than a few GB.

carmar wrote:Not sure if this info helps but I tend not to "eject" it from the system tray and simply unplug it from the USB when I'm done transferring.

This is the cause, actually. You must always eject. Interrupting the read/write process of the USB can create pretty massive errors that can render it unusable.

Thanks. Is that only a Linux thing? I ask because I've never experienced this problem in Windows.

In Zorin I have found that (and I am talking Core but I think Lite also has 'Disks') the safest thing is to keep a shortcut of Disks in the Panel (in Core), launch it (you will identify easily which is the USB drive), select it then click on the Power button at the top of Disks - this will make the entry of your USB stick disappear on the left - and if you have a stick with an LED, that should be out - it is now safe to remove your drive. KDE offers a more Windows Like experience (speaking of my use of Feren OS) which has a nice little separate icon, similar to that other OS.

carmar wrote:Thanks. Is that only a Linux thing? I ask because I've never experienced this problem in Windows.

The simple answer is yes. The complex answer is no.
It used to be this way for both. However, in more recent times, as Windows is more geared toward user convenience (at a cost of user knowledge and control), Windows has developed a different way of handling a USB stick. It automatically unmounts the USB stick after a period of time that it goes without being accessed. This way, if the user yanks it, it is already unmounted. If the user moves to access it, it auto-remounts.
Linux does not currently do this.

Swarfendor437 wrote:In Zorin I have found that (and I am talking Core but I think Lite also has 'Disks') the safest thing is to keep a shortcut of Disks in the Panel (in Core), launch it (you will identify easily which is the USB drive), select it then click on the Power button at the top of Disks - this will make the entry of your USB stick disappear on the left - and if you have a stick with an LED, that should be out - it is now safe to remove your drive. KDE offers a more Windows Like experience (speaking of my use of Feren OS) which has a nice little separate icon, similar to that other OS.

Thanks. In the attached pic, if I click the little triangle to the right of "alcor", I should be fine? This one happens to have an LED but it stayed on even though Zorin (Core) confirmed I could remove the drive as well as the mount symbol going away.

Aravisian wrote:

carmar wrote:Thanks. Is that only a Linux thing? I ask because I've never experienced this problem in Windows.

The simple answer is yes. The complex answer is no.
It used to be this way for both. However, in more recent times, as Windows is more geared toward user convenience (at a cost of user knowledge and control), Windows has developed a different way of handling a USB stick. It automatically unmounts the USB stick after a period of time that it goes without being accessed. This way, if the user yanks it, it is already unmounted. If the user moves to access it, it auto-remounts.
Linux does not currently do this.

Thank you. That is what I was looking for.

Having attended a recent 'virtual meeting' of the local City Linux User Group it was mentioned that M$ has contributed bad USB code to the Linux kernel and perhaps that is why I never use the method you show in your screenshot!

This is what I do:

Thanks. That is what I will do.