I'm running Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, and my ADATA 64GB USB drive suddenly won't connect properly. The system log repeatedly reports that the device is not responding to setup requests, refuses several assigned USB addresses, attempts a power cycle, and eventually says it was unable to enumerate the device. It also mentions that the drive's cache data could not be read and is assuming write-through caching. The drive worked normally before. What could be causing this, and how can I troubleshoot or repair it?
3 Answers
The cache warning is probably not the main problem. The important part is “unable to enumerate USB device” with error -71, which usually points to a USB communication, power, cable/connector, port, or failing-drive problem. Try the drive on another computer and, if possible, test a different USB device in the same port. If it works elsewhere, check the original system’s ports, hubs, and power management.
A failed or interrupted file transfer can corrupt the filesystem, but these messages happen before Ubuntu can properly communicate with the device. Since the USB drive used to work, it could be damaged or developing a hardware fault. Test it without a hub, try every available port, and check whether it behaves the same way on another computer. If it fails everywhere, replacing the drive is likely safer.
If the drive appears in GNOME Disks, you can select it and use the filesystem repair option. That may fix filesystem corruption, but it won’t repair a device that cannot enumerate at the USB hardware level. If the data is important, avoid formatting it and try copying or recovering the files first.
If filesystem repair does not help and the drive is detected reliably, reformatting could make it usable again, but that erases everything on it. Back up or recover the data before doing that.