Ask Ubuntu
Ask Ubuntu

Questions tagged [usb-drive]

A USB drive (or USB flash drive, or thumb drive, or memory stick, or pendrive) is a portable device for storing data that includes a flash memory and has and integrated USB interface, thus can be connected to USB ports. Use this tag for questions regarding storage drives that connect using a USB port.

A USB drive (or USB flash drive, or thumb drive, or memory stick, or pendrive) is a portable device for storing data. It includes a flash memory and has and integrated USB interface, thus can be connected to USB ports.

USB drives have small enough size to be easily carried around in a pocket or in a key chain and modern USB drives (as of 2023) range in storage capacity from 8 GB to 2 TB.

They are usually used for:

  • Transferring data
  • Storing and backing up data
  • Booting operating systems (Live USBs)
  • Installing operating systems

Related:

1594 questions
359
votes
13 answers

How to format a USB flash drive?

In Windows there is a straightforward "Format" option in a flash drive's right-click pop-up menu. Where's that in Ubuntu?
Ivan
  • 58,745
334
votes
7 answers

How to access a usb flash drive from the terminal?

I only have access to the command line. I need to backup my data (on the user folder) to a pen (USB DOK). How can I mount a flash drive manually? What should be the copy command?
MEM
  • 11,255
231
votes
6 answers

Detect and mount devices

I upgraded Ubuntu today and everything works smooth except that Ubuntu doesn't detect any other storage devices. My / and /home partitions work fine, but my other partitions are just not detected. I wouldn't mind, except the same problem goes with…
Calixte
  • 3,503
197
votes
5 answers

Disable auto-opening nautilus window after auto-mount

Every time I plug a USB stick in, nautilus opens a new window with the contents of the drive. I would like to disable this auto-opening of the nautilus window, but I would like the actual auto-mount to keep working. Is this possible?
Anton Cherkashyn
  • 4,064
  • 3
  • 21
  • 18
137
votes
10 answers

How to set up USB for Virtualbox?

I'm using Ubuntu Maverick and Virtual Box 3+. I have Windows 7 Ultimate. The problem is that it doesn't detect USB drives in Windows 7, but USB peripherals (mouse + keybord) are working. I followed these instructions, but I can't find the user group…
kst
  • 1,493
85
votes
2 answers

How to format a USB drive?

Possible Duplicate: How to format a USB flash drive? How do I clear everything (data, viruses) from a thumbdrive? How to format a pen drive in Ubuntu? I have this pen drive which I made bootable using some other system (OS). But I need to format…
Vipin Verma
  • 5,524
  • 15
  • 45
  • 64
78
votes
6 answers

What is the Command Line Equivalent of "Safely Remove Drive"?

What is the command line equivalent of the Nautilus feature called "Safely Remove Drive". Specifically, I am removing a USB flash drive.
H2ONaCl
  • 10,039
76
votes
6 answers

How do I rename a USB drive?

How exactly would I rename a USB drive? I've read that you can go into the Disk Utility, click on Edit Partition, and there is an option to rename the label but I can't click in the area to rename. Is there any other way?
Muhnamana
  • 1,880
74
votes
7 answers

How do I copy a file larger than 4GB to a USB flash drive?

I am trying to copy a 6GB file to a USB flash drive but it won't copy.
VJ Ranga
  • 1,539
64
votes
2 answers

How to encrypt external devices?

I've been a Windows power user/administrator and professional tech for years, I just made the decision to go Linux, and wow, what a difference. Is there any decently easy way to encrypt external volumes (i.e. USB keys, external hard drives,…
user307939
  • 641
63
votes
4 answers

Check real size of USB thumb drive

I recently read a lot about fake MicroSD card and USB thumb drives that claim to have a lot of space (even if you ask your computer), while physically offering way less. I recently bought a SanDisk USB drive (128 GB claimed) and want to test its…
verpfeilt
  • 2,962
60
votes
6 answers

Why is it that I am unable to format my pendrive in exfat using gparted?

When I go to Gparted and try to format my pendrive to exfat,the option is greyed out and I am not able to select it however I can choose other file systems such as ext4,ntfs,etc. Why is that ?
rohith
  • 1,450
59
votes
0 answers

How do I check the integrity of a storage medium (hard disk or flash drive)?

I've run across (personally or by proxy) a bunch of storage media that exhibited physical problems during their life. Hard disks, solid state drives and other flash storage media all fail after some time. The situation is worse with USB flash drives…
David Foerster
  • 36,890
  • 56
  • 97
  • 151
59
votes
5 answers

Mount USB drive with write permissions for everyone or specific user

I know there are similar questions but I get some specific problem I can't overcome. I have: HDD split into two partitions. /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdb2. sdb1 is NTFS and I don't need it. I need sdb2 which is fat32. Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS (server) I…
GeekSince1982
  • 693
59
votes
6 answers

How to edit label of USB drive?

How to edit label of USB drive easily without formatting it? I tried right clicking the device and go to the properties but cannot find anything to edit.
Namshum
  • 1,825
  • 4
  • 25
  • 32
1
2 3
…
99 100