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When I plug-in my 16GB Alcor Micro Corp. Flash Drive into my openSUSE 13.2 (Linux 3.16.7-35-desktop x86_64 GNU/Linux) system, I get the following from journalctl -f:

kernel: scsi 25:0:0:0: Direct-Access  Generic USB Flash Disk 7.76 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
kernel: sd 25:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
kernel: sd 25:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

but fdisk -l only shows /dev/sda1 through /dev/sda7 - no /dev/sdbX; and it can't find /dev/sdb, either:

jsn-dev:/home/jan # /usr/sbin/fdisk /dev/sdb

Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.25.1).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

fdisk: cannot open /dev/sdb: No medium found

The USB subsystem does seem to find it, however:

jsn-dev:/home/jan # lsusb
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0451:8044 Texas Instruments, Inc. 
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0451:8044 Texas Instruments, Inc. 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0451:8046 Texas Instruments, Inc. 
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 046d:c326 Logitech, Inc. 
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0451:8044 Texas Instruments, Inc. 
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 04ca:0061 Lite-On Technology Corp. 
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 058f:1234 Alcor Micro Corp. Flash Drive               <-- 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

I can't write over the partition table with dd also fails:

jsn-dev:/home/jan # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb
dd: failed to open ‘/dev/sdb’: No medium found

I have tried all the USB ports in my Dell T7610 system with the same results.

Any ideas how I can debug this further?

Raystafarian
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Jan Nielsen
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1 Answers1

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The stick is mostly dead.

No Medium Found basically means that the controller cannot "get in touch" with the storage memory. One of the cases is, for example, a card reader without a card inside it.

If you're "lucky" enough, the stick you got can actually be a "fake" flash drive that is actually a microSD + reader:

enter image description here

You can see that the solid half of the type-A USB plug has two layers, and the thicker layer is actually a microSD.

In this case, you can try to "pick" the card out with, for example, a "thin" slotted screwdriver:

enter image description here

Then you might get in return a working microSD with all the data intact.

But of course, you do not want to do this if it still got warranty and you prefer a replacement than the data.

Tom Yan
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