How To Turn Off Write Protection on a USB Drive in Ubuntu

In this article, we will explore multiple methods to disable write protection on a USB drive in Ubuntu. Write protection is a safety feature that prevents unauthorized users from altering the content of your USB drive. However, there are times when you might need to disable this feature.

Check for a Hardware Switch

The first thing you should do is check if your USB drive has a physical write protection switch. This is common in many USB drives as a safety feature. If your USB drive has one, simply toggle the switch to the off position to disable write protection.

Format the USB Drive

If there’s no physical switch or the switch didn’t solve the problem, you can try formatting the USB drive. Please note that formatting will erase all data on the drive, so ensure you have a backup if necessary.

In Ubuntu, you can use the Disk Utility tool to format the USB drive. Here’s how:

1. Open the Disk Utility tool by searching for it in the Ubuntu dashboard.
2. Select your USB drive from the list of devices.
3. Click on the gear icon and select ‘Format…’.
4. Choose a compatible file system (like FAT32 for maximum compatibility) and click ‘Format…’.

Use the fsck Command

The fsck command in Linux is used to check the integrity of a file system. Running this command can help identify and correct any issues with the USB drive.

Open the terminal and type the following command:

sudo fsck /dev/sdx

Replace /dev/sdx with the appropriate device name for your USB drive. You can find this by using the lsblk command.

Use the hdparm Command

The hdparm command provides a command-line interface to various hard disk ioctls supported by the stock Linux ATA/IDE device driver subsystem. You can use it to disable write protection on your USB drive.

First, you need to install hdparm if it’s not already installed. Use the following command to install it:

sudo apt-get install hdparm

After installing hdparm, use the following command to disable write protection:

sudo hdparm -r0 /dev/sdx

Here, -r is used to get or set the read-only status of the device, and 0 is used to set the status to off.

Override USB Quirks

If the USB device still appears as read-only, you can override the detection of the write-only flag using USB quirks. Here’s how:

1. Identify the idVendor and idProduct of the USB drive using the lsusb command.
2. Remove the usb_storage kernel module using the following command:

sudo modprobe -r usb_storage

3. Reload the usb_storage module with the quirks mode setting using the following command:

sudo modprobe usb_storage quirks=idVendor:idProduct:w

Replace idVendor and idProduct with the appropriate values. This should override the write protection and make the device writable.

Conclusion

If none of these solutions work, your USB device may be faulty. Consider replacing it if necessary. We hope this guide has been helpful in showing you how to disable write protection on a USB drive in Ubuntu. Remember to always handle your data with care to avoid any loss or corruption.