what to do with a usb-stick that has gone 'read-only', i.e. half dead and contains confidential data?

[elgato2024]

so I got this sandisk usb-stick, solid metal, that after a few years of heavy use seems to be giving up the ghost...
it is still readable but no more writeable... also, I cannot erase / partition it no more in diskutility.
I guess it's a goner... ?
but the data on it is still readable. and physical destruction is not that simple as it would be with a plastic stick,
it's remarkably solid hardware. so how do I undo this stick? mordor is kinda far...

 

[Fishrrman]

Copy what you need from it.
Then...
Sledgehammer + anvil ought to do the job.

 

[Basic75]

Don't tell me the data is not encrypted?

 

[elgato2024]

yeah, I bet, but I left my anvil at the forge...

 

[xraydoc]

but the data on it is still readable. and physical destruction is not that simple as it would be with a plastic stick,
it's remarkably solid hardware. so how do I undo this stick?

One 9mm ought to do the trick.

 

[elgato2024]

yeah i left that at work, too 🤣
dudes, wtf, i am neither a blacksmith nor a mercenary...
i was looking for a software kinda solution, really... which also excludes the flamethrower approach...
has the stick not been switched to read-only by some process? if so, that must be reversible, no?

 

[Fishrrman]

"i was looking for a software kinda solution, really... which also excludes the flamethrower approach..."

IF there is data on it you want "gone"
and
IF the drive no longer will respond to commands to erase it
then
Your only option will be to physically destroy it.

(what more can be said?)

 

[elgato2024]

like i said, as far as i understand, the drive got turned read-only by some process after it was deemed unreliable, unresponsive or some such thing... to 'prevent dataloss'.. and make you go buy new stuff ... and if that is so, there should be a way to remove that readonly-flag...

 

[Nermal]

yeah i left that at work, too 🤣
dudes, wtf, i am neither a blacksmith nor a mercenary...

You don't need to be a mercenary to own a 9mm drill bit... says this non-American

I suspect that there's no "read-only flag", but rather that the "writing circuitry" has failed. You can't just tell it to un-fail.

 

[Bigwaff]

like i said, as far as i understand, the drive got turned read-only by some process after it was deemed unreliable, unresponsive or some such thing... to 'prevent dataloss'.. and make you go buy new stuff ... and if that is so, there should be a way to remove that readonly-flag...

Search.. and ye shall find.. support document on fixing read-only drives

SanDisk SSDs, Memory Cards, and Flash Drives for Your Digital Life | SanDisk

Find detailed answers to your support questions for your SanDisk or WD_BLACK products.

support-en.sandisk.com

 

[elgato2024]

You don't need to be a mercenary to own a 9mm drill bit... says this non-American

true that, but I only got a thermonuclear grenade launcher with me right now, and that may get complaints...

 

[elgato2024]

Search.. and ye shall find.. support document on fixing read-only drives

SanDisk SSDs, Memory Cards, and Flash Drives for Your Digital Life | SanDisk

Find detailed answers to your support questions for your SanDisk or WD_BLACK products.

support-en.sandisk.com

oh, interesting. may I ask with what search input you came to find that page?

but it's a windoze only solution... and I can't seem to find no equivalent for macos...

 

[Bigwaff]

may I ask with what search input you came to find that page?

Search term used ... "read only", of course.

but it's a windoze only solution... and I can't seem to find no equivalent for macos...

Perhaps there is not. But I imagine the solution should work using a Windows virtual machine.

 

[elgato2024]

Search term used ... "read only", of course.


Perhaps there is not. But I imagine the solution should work using a Windows virtual machine.

oh yeah? you typed in 'read only' and that sandisk support page came up? astounding. on what search engine?

 

[PaulD-UK]

“But I imagine the solution should work using a Windows virtual machine.”

That might be so, but I understand the reason disk storage manufacturers can’t write utilities to do low level alterations at the hardware level is that Apple has blocked access for better security….

 

[Allen_Wentz]

so I got this sandisk usb-stick, solid metal, that after a few years of heavy use seems to be giving up the ghost...
it is still readable but no more writeable... also, I cannot erase / partition it no more in diskutility.
I guess it's a goner... ?
but the data on it is still readable. and physical destruction is not that simple as it would be with a plastic stick,
it's remarkably solid hardware. so how do I undo this stick? mordor is kinda far...

IMO when any form of mass storage presents flaky behavior:
• Copy the data to a new mass storage device.
• Stop using the flaky device and either
A) Store the flaky device unused in the same pail as all the old unused cables saved for a rainy day, or
B) Take a hammer to the flaky device to secure the now redundant data.

Personally I generally prefer choice B. Any hammer works but larger hammers are more satisfying. ;~) Eye protection required when using any hammer.
This is 2025 and mass storage is cheap; our data remains valuable.

 

[NewOldStock]

(low level format is what your looking for)
change structure to>>
MS-DOS (FAT32) or ExFAT.
Then bring it back to APFS.
-------------------
Sometimes i have had good luck with using Linux Live disk and use partition manager to straighten things out but you need a windows machine for that.
You will "destroy all files" using these methods.

 

[NewOldStock]

Save headache buy a new drive as others said. Only so much you can do.
What if it gets flaky and does it again?
Trust is hard to come by with portable drives.
Usually when drives mess up its hard to repair to normal and in the future not have some kind of issue.

Backup backup backups.

 

[NewOldStock]

 

[NewOldStock]

And change format back to APFS.

 

[Parowdy]

Copy what you need from it.
Then...
Sledgehammer + anvil ought to do the job.

And to make anything that could, somehow, still be „useable“ completely useless they can put it in a glass with a saturated salt solution. That has to kill anything with enough time. Put a coin and some other metal inside for good measure.

 

[Bigwaff]

oh yeah? you typed in 'read only' and that sandisk support page came up? astounding. on what search engine?

On the SanDisk support web site... of course.

 

[Mrbobb]

if u don't own any of those mentioned tools, maybe use the carjack against the undercarriage of your car?

I know u prefer that magic button.

 

[G4RHL]

so I got this sandisk usb-stick, solid metal, that after a few years of heavy use seems to be giving up the ghost...
it is still readable but no more writeable... also, I cannot erase / partition it no more in diskutility.
I guess it's a goner... ?
but the data on it is still readable. and physical destruction is not that simple as it would be with a plastic stick,
it's remarkably solid hardware. so how do I undo this stick? mordor is kinda far...

I have usually had no problem forcing it apart with a small screwdriver and then smash it up.

 

[Flowstates]

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