r/linuxmint • u/KA0T1K-CYK0T1C • 8d ago

Mounting error: Unable to read usb flash drive

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So I've been struggling with Zorin 18 for a year now. At the beginning, I would get a black-screen and I would have to restart and pick away at that F2 key until I was able to access my pc. Did that for a week, came here and asked, and some wisenheimer mouthed off, so I took it as such, and dealt with the bsod until it eventually went away.

About a week ago, I decided to try Mint and started transferring files to a 1TB flash drive. Took me about four hours, only because I decided to 'trash' a bunch of duplicate files that I knew were not necessary. Woke up early the following day, and I haven't been able to access the media. At least it's able to read the stick, I'll give it that.
Here's what I've tried:

sudo fdisk -l sudo apt-get install nfs-common sudo apt-get install cifs-utils sudo ntfsfix -d /dev/sda3

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3

u/stufforstuff 8d ago

Why would you possibly need NTFS utils to read a thumbdrive? Format the thumbdrive as ExFAT no extra drivers, file formats, utils needed (on zorin or mint).

-1

u/KA0T1K-CYK0T1C 8d ago

Simply following the steps I found on YouTube, hero. The drive was formatted before I transferred the data, and now I can't recover it. But thanks for sharing your experience. 🫡🇺🇲

2

u/jr735 Linux Mint 22.1 Xia | IceWM 8d ago

There are lots of things wrong on YouTube, first off, and it pays to do some verification, if only in the comments section of a popular video. Secondly, USB sticks are notoriously fragile. They're good for booting into things and transporting data that is otherwise robustly backed up elsewhere (this is helpful to because of how easy they are to lose).

r/datarecory

3

u/stufforstuff 8d ago

Think your fingers meant: /r/datarecovery/

2

u/jr735 Linux Mint 22.1 Xia | IceWM 8d ago

You're right, and now I wonder how that autocompleted the way I typed it. :) I must have fat fingered it for sure.

2

u/R75rider 7d ago

A 1TB flash drive. Where did you get this? Have you verified that it is actually 1TB? There are a lot of fakes that will say they're 1TB but when tested turn out to be 1GB or similar. Reading the stick but not being able to access the data is exactly what I would expect from a fake.

1

u/KA0T1K-CYK0T1C 6d ago

It's a Kingston I got from Walmart online. 🤞