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I have a USB flash drive that's become unrecognisable in Windows 7, as detailed in my question on SuperUser here. I was advised to try using Ubuntu, and was able to see the flash drive using it, although using Disks to zero-wipe, format it and create a new partition still didn't make it visible in Windows 7.

After using dd to zero-write the drive, and then using Disks to create a "FAT" partition, I started following this answer here, and did the command:

sudo mkfs.vfat -I /dev/sdc

I got the error:

Attribute "partition" not found

...and the command stopped running.

I tried again, this time formatting the drive in Disks and then using Gparted to create a "fat32" partition table, followed by a partition that I formatted as fat32, but still got the same error.

It seems to me that the error has something to do with the -I switch, but I'd rather not omit it because I feel like it may be a necessary step to getting my USB successfully recognised again. I've checked in Disks, and it does report the drive as having a (single, FAT) partition.

What exactly does the Attribute "partition" not found error mean, and how can I get rid of it?

Hashim Aziz
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  • You tried to format the entire device. You need to first create a partition e.g. with fdisk or gparted and then format that partition. – Tesseract Aug 16 '17 at 22:09
  • Sorry, I should have mentioned that I created a partition after formatting. I did this the first time using Disks to create a "FAT" partition, and then with the gparted GUI to create a fat32 partition. I always get the same error. Edited the post to reflect that. – Hashim Aziz Aug 16 '17 at 22:12
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    The fat32 partition you created should be `/dev/sdc1`. You only need `-I` to format a raw device but not for a partition. – Tesseract Aug 16 '17 at 22:23
  • So you're saying that the USB either needs to have no partition (i.e. be a raw drive) or, if it has a partition, run the `mkfs.vfat` command on `/dev/sdc1`, and without the `-I` switch? – Hashim Aziz Aug 16 '17 at 22:29
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    Yes, but you could also use gparted to format the partition. – Tesseract Aug 16 '17 at 22:32
  • btw. you can also try the [sd formatter](https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/). It's designed for sd cards but should also work fine on usb sticks. – Tesseract Aug 16 '17 at 22:36
  • Okay, that worked, and I was able to enter all those commands without error. However, I'm now unable to see the newly-partitioned USB in the launcher, and so I'm not sure how to remove it safely. Is it normal for the USB not to appear in the launcher when it was before? Will powering it off from Disks be equivalent to safely removing it? – Hashim Aziz Aug 16 '17 at 23:32

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