I just got a Kingston DataTraveler 100 G3 USB pen drive, and it comes pre-formatted with FAT32. When I try to format it to Ext4, it disconnects during the writing of superblocks and filesystem accounting info. Formatting to FAT32 goes smoothly, though. This is the first time I've experienced something like this. I used GParted and the `mkfs.ext4` command, and the partition table type is msdos. Anyone know what might be going on?
5 Answers
If you suspect it’s counterfeit, there's a tool called Validrive that can test it. Just a heads up, it's Windows only, but you can find some Linux alternatives too!
Maybe you’ve got a counterfeit drive? Some reviews have mentioned similar issues with that particular model. I’d double-check where you bought it from. If it’s from something like Amazon, it could be faulty.
It might be because FAT32 does a quicker format compared to Ext4, which requires more intensive processes. You can check the output with `sudo dmesg -w` while formatting to see if any errors pop up.
Have you tried creating a new partition table before formatting? Sometimes that can resolve issues like this.
Consider switching the partition table to GPT. It could perform better for this type of formatting issue.
Yeah, it seems legit but I did see some reviews saying it's tricky. Most are positive, though.