Re: [ubuntu-uk] Missing write-protect tab on Secure Digital SD card causing read-only?

2009-05-20 Thread Andrew Oakley
Matthew Daubney wrote:
 On Wed, 2009-05-20 at 10:06 +0100, Andrew Oakley wrote:
  I understand that the write-protect tab on SD cards is optional:
  However, when I use an SD card without a tab (no tab at all) on my
  Linux Ubuntu 8.04 LTS server, it mounts it as read-only (ro) and
  absolutely refuses to mount read-write (rw) even if the 
 When you insert it into your ubuntu machine can you produce a dmesg
 output? I've had one or two that wouldn't mount rw because of
 inconsistances in the filesystem. They mounted fine after an fsck.

Thanks. I tried the fsck, even after unmounting it failed as the device
was considered read-only. Ditto unmounting then attempting to reformat
on the Linux box, fails as read-only. I even reformated it cleanly on
the MS-Windows machine. Still Linux box complains read-only.

Therefore I'm reasonably sure that it is the notch or the lack of tab
which is causing the problem. The question is, which machine is correct;
should an SD card which has a notch, but has no tab, be considered
read-only? I'm wondering whether the card is faulty by design, since it
has a notch but no tab (ie. if the card has a notch, it should have a
tab). Or whether my card reader is faulty by design for insisting on a
tab that need not be there.

Andrew Oakley
Head of Software Development
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
95 Promenade, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 1HZ
T 01242 211460  F 01242 211122  W www.hesa.ac.uk

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Re: [ubuntu-uk] Missing write-protect tab on Secure Digital SD card causing read-only?

2009-05-20 Thread Matthew Daubney
On Wed, 2009-05-20 at 11:39 +0100, Andrew Oakley wrote:
snip
 Thanks. I tried the fsck, even after unmounting it failed as the device
 was considered read-only. Ditto unmounting then attempting to reformat
 on the Linux box, fails as read-only. I even reformated it cleanly on
 the MS-Windows machine. Still Linux box complains read-only.
 
 Therefore I'm reasonably sure that it is the notch or the lack of tab
 which is causing the problem. The question is, which machine is correct;
 should an SD card which has a notch, but has no tab, be considered
 read-only? I'm wondering whether the card is faulty by design, since it
 has a notch but no tab (ie. if the card has a notch, it should have a
 tab). Or whether my card reader is faulty by design for insisting on a
 tab that need not be there.
snip

Do you have another linux machine to try it on? Or a live cd to try it
on another machine with a different card reader? Whats the make/model of
the SD card? Worth finding whether it's the card or the reader that's at
fault.

-Matt Daubney


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