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I have an NVMe SSD that has been initialised, partitioned, and formatted using Ventoy. After doing this it became inaccesible from both Windows and Linux systems, but I can boot from it (as long as I attach it to the motherboard, not via a USB adapter), so I know it's not bricked.

Windows Device Manager won't allow me to initialise it (attached via USB: only one m.2 slot available), Linux doesn't show it as a device under /dev/sd* or parted.

Are there any other lower-level tools that might make it available for use again?

Tom Newton
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Ian
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  • What does `lsblk` display (on Linux) ? – Frédéric Loyer Apr 08 '23 at 22:25
  • This ^^^ and keep in mind a NVMe drive don't appear as sd*. More info at https://superuser.com/a/1449520/653259 . Also it *should* be obvious Ventoy isn't to be used like that, it's for USB sticks only! – ChanganAuto Apr 09 '23 at 01:13
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    Try free DiskGenius for Windows. It *might* be possible to remove all partitions (commit at each step), creating just free space, and then create one or more partition. Note that there is a limited number of writes an SSD can perform -- *if* Ventoy tried to zero all bytes, for example, the SSD may no longer be writable. – DrMoishe Pippik Apr 09 '23 at 01:51
  • @DrMoishePippik This worked, many thanks. Diskgenius was able to see the disk structure without any problems, even via the usb bridge. I deleted all partitions and then it was visible again in Windows Disk Manager. – Ian Apr 09 '23 at 08:21
  • @DrMoishePippik Curious: Can zeroing all bytes /really/ destroy an SSD? Seems an enormous security exposure, no? A dd from /dev/zero is common way to wipe a disk. – Ian Apr 09 '23 at 08:24
  • @ChanganAuto Thanks for that about sd*, interesting. Ventoy explicitly states that it /can/ be used on SSDs. (And an SSD in an external USB enclosure /is/ a USB stick :) ) – Ian Apr 09 '23 at 08:26
  • @Ian, a single overwriting should do little harm, and there are some protections in the SSD controller (https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/securely-erase-ssd-without-destroying/), but there *are* known issues (https://www.howtogeek.com/165472/6-things-you-shouldnt-do-with-solid-state-drives/, and https://www.laptopmag.com/news/windows-10-update-may-be-damaging-your-ssd-heres-how-to-stop-it) – DrMoishe Pippik Apr 09 '23 at 17:40

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