I bought a Kingston 120 GB micro SD card today. Leap reports it is read-only and fdisk, gdisk and dd all respond the same. It works with Windows 10 which I truly hate to boot. I used the Gibson Reasearch utility InitDisk to wipe it clean and nothing changed. Is there now a Windows-only lock on hardware? Nothing on the package says that. This link reports the same problem.
# fdisk /dev/sdb
Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.37.4).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.
fdisk: cannot open /dev/sdb: Read-only file system
And…
# gdisk /dev/sdb
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.8
NOTE: Write test failed with error number 30. It will be impossible to save
changes to this disk's partition table!
Warning! Disk size is smaller than the main header indicates! Loading
secondary header from the last sector of the disk! You should use 'v' to
verify disk integrity, and perhaps options on the experts' menu to repair
the disk.
Caution: invalid backup GPT header, but valid main header; regenerating
backup header from main header.
Warning! One or more CRCs don't match. You should repair the disk!
Main header: OK
Backup header: ERROR
Main partition table: OK
Backup partition table: ERROR
Partition table scan:
MBR: MBR only
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: damaged
Found valid MBR and corrupt GPT. Which do you want to use? (Using the
GPT MAY permit recovery of GPT data.)
1 - MBR
2 - GPT
3 - Create blank GPT
Your answer: 2
Command (? for help): ?
b back up GPT data to a file
c change a partition's name
d delete a partition
i show detailed information on a partition
l list known partition types
n add a new partition
o create a new empty GUID partition table (GPT)
p print the partition table
q quit without saving changes
r recovery and transformation options (experts only)
s sort partitions
t change a partition's type code
v verify disk
w write table to disk and exit
x extra functionality (experts only)
? print this menu
Command (? for help): d
No partitions
Command (? for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1):
First sector (34-250069646, default = 2048) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Last sector (2048-250069646, default = 250069646) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Current type is 8300 (Linux filesystem)
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300):
Changed type of partition to 'Linux filesystem'
Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sdb: 244328448 sectors, 116.5 GiB
Model: USB SD Reader
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 94375FAF-72CB-45A0-AB11-E06C3F35867C
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 250069646
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 250069646 119.2 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
Command (? for help): w
Caution! Secondary header was placed beyond the disk's limits! Moving the
header, but other problems may occur!
Warning! Secondary partition table overlaps the last partition by
5741232 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.
Problem: partition 1 is too big for the disk.
Aborting write operation!
Aborting write of new partition table.
Command (? for help): q
ion-office:/home/ion #
I also tried…
Found valid MBR and corrupt GPT. Which do you want to use? (Using theGPT MAY permit recovery of GPT data.)
1 - MBR
2 - GPT
3 - Create blank GPT
Your answer: 1
Warning! Secondary partition table overlaps the last partition by
5736481 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.
Command (? for help): q
ion-office:/home/ion #
Bottom line…it still works in Windows and I gave up as it looks totally unusable in Linux. But I’ll be happy to try any new advice.
# gparted /dev/sdb
GParted 1.4.0
configuration --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize
libparted 3.5
(gpartedbin:3234): Gtk-WARNING **: 10:44:01.605: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:9228:21: Not using units is deprecated. Assuming 'px'.
Can't have a partition outside the disk!
A 120 GB SD card is larger than 32 GB and, therefore, it doesn’t use FAT32.
It’s an SDXC card which, uses exFAT
.
The exFAT support in the version 5.4 Kernel has been backported to the openSUSE version 5.3 Kernel –
The “exFAT
” driver should automatically load if, you plug in a USB device of more than 32 GB – here an example with a 64 GB SDXC card formatted by a digital camera –
Please check the files provided by your version of the default Kernel package.
[HR][/HR]BTW: You can also install the “exfatprogs” package from the main openSUSE repository.
But, the only way I’ve found to toggle the ReadOnly flag is, to move the physical “Write Protect” switch on the SD Card.
Most Card Readers have a simple physical pin which detects the state of the “Write Protect” switch on the SD Cards –
If that mechanical feature of the Card Reader is faulty then … >:)
All my SanDisk Adaptors have a physical Write Protect switch which, over time, can become loose and easily moveable – for example when inserting the Adaptor into a Card Reader …
# fsck.exfat --verbose /dev/sdb1
exfatprogs version : 1.1.3
failed to find exfat file system
boot region is corrupted. try to restore the region from backup. Fix (y/N)? n
ion-office:/home/ion #
In this convoluted epic of personal stupidity I have managed to destroy a properly licensed copy of Windows 10 and to have bought an expensive microSD card that I can’t use. I have learned something. My brain is no match for the multitude of system programmers at Microsoft. But on the plus side, I hardly ever use Windows and I now have a decent Fujitsu second hand notebook that runs 15.4.
Thanks to all for your help, and when I calm down I might try some more experimentation.
After I had cooled down a bit I booted the SD in question which was somewhat smaller than my original Win10 install size. I didn’t think it would boot properly being several GB’s smaller. But it did boot and after several updates and reboots, it runs. I have just backed it up to an old IDE drive via USB which took forever and will not be using it soon. I decided that since I hardly ever use Windows and it’s a small notebook SSD I would just have 15.4 Leap installed. While I am reasonably sure that Leap co-exists with Windows, I am never sure what tricks Microsoft will engage in killing all OS competition.