Oolite Bulletins

...sounds simple...

BUT...

This is the stick that I mentioned some time ago that one of my wife's colleagues got hold of and possibly did something unmentionable to it in a Mac.

Having given up trying to get anything useful off it, I have discovered I can't reformat it either!

Linux (Ubuntu KK) just ignores it completely and Windows 7 tells me it needs to be reformatted but when I tell it to continue it tells me the stick is read-only - however, this stick doesn't have a lock on it to make it read-only - so I'm stumped.

Anybody know a way of making Windows (7) force a format on a stick that can't be (physically) read-only - Google throws up lots of hits, none of which seem to be particularly useful.

Cheers,

DH

I suggest using a Mac to format it as FAT. :-)

Step 1: Grab a really big magnet.

Step 2: Stroke magnet against USB stick in 1 direction for about 5 or 6 times.

Tada, all the information on the USB stick is gone

Thargoid wrote:

Sadly not - USB sticks are flash memory, nothing magnetic there...

Right forgot... hmm anyone know how to create a small Electro-Magnetic Pulse, that'll fry even a flash drive

ADCK wrote:

hmm anyone know how to create a small Electro-Magnetic Pulse, that'll fry even a flash drive

Detonate a small Thermonuclear device. Works a treat

Smivs wrote:

ADCK wrote:

hmm anyone know how to create a small Electro-Magnetic Pulse, that'll fry even a flash drive

Detonate a small Thermonuclear device. Works a treat

You never know, DH may have one at work....!

I've not had access to any Plutonium since I stopped working at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. (and that was a pretty small amount - only 236GBq source).

Anyway, this is all over the top for a £10 memory stick...

drive over it once or twice with your canteen tank!

Griff wrote:

drive over it once or twice with your canteen tank!

They usually survive that, well seem to remember seeing that on Click a couple of years ago!

Anyway, this is all over the top for a £10 memory stick...

not this one :

Ahruman wrote:

I suggest using a Mac to format it as FAT.

snork wrote:

Anyway, this is all over the top for a £10 memory stick...

not this one :

Ahruman wrote:

I suggest using a Mac to format it as FAT.

I don't have access to a mac and I'm not giving it back to the person who screwed it up in the first place...

I suspect it’s actually broken anyway. Breaking it is easier than accidentally reformatting it.

Ahruman wrote:

I suspect it’s actually broken anyway. Breaking it is easier than accidentally reformatting it.

Alas, I suspect you're correct.

if it's got nowt recoverable on, why all the effort to reformat it? you'd get a decent one off ebay etc for a few quid. personally, i'm not sure i'd trust it anyways, i've been bitten like that before where i've decided to give something one last try and lost summat.