[IAEP] Reformat USB stick, How?

[Peter Robinson]

Hi Caryl,

> In my experiments trying to create usable SoaS sticks, I have had a few
> flops.  Unfortunately these USB sticks now have a severe "identity crisis."
> They believe they are actually CDs.  You can't write to them.  You can't
> rename them (at least not in a way a mere mortal like me knows how to do).
> Do I have to just junk them (like throwing away money... not good).  Or, is
> there an easy way to reformat them and start all over?  Maybe even a hard
> way?

No need to throw them away. They will be recoverable one way or
another. This sort of thing happens when you happen to write an ISO to
the key.

On a device running a linux GUI (say gnome) plug in the device and
then run 'dmesg' from the command prompt to see what device its
assigned. If it automounts the 'CD' you'll need to unmount it (but
don't eject it). Once you know the device name run 'gparted /dev/sdd'
(replacing sdd with what ever the device name is).

Make sure the right device is showing in the drop down box in the top
right hand corner.