I cannot format my Transcend 4 Gb Pen Drive.. When i try to format with the following command :

richy@richy-desktop:~$ sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n richy /dev/sdc
[sudo] password for richy:
mkfs.vfat 3.0.1 (23 Nov 2008)
mkfs.vfat: unable to open /dev/sdc
richy@richy-desktop:~$


I'm not able to format it...

dmesg gives:

[ 4745.338019] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[ 4745.338674] scsi6 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[ 4745.339274] usb-storage: device found at 2
[ 4745.339278] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[ 4745.339325] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 4745.339336] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[ 4750.336301] usb-storage: device scan complete
[ 4750.337010] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access JetFlash Transcend 4GB 8.07 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[ 4750.339867] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] 7843840 512-byte hardware sectors: (4.01 GB/3.74 GiB)
[ 4750.341398] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[ 4750.341405] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[ 4750.341410] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 4750.359260] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] 7843840 512-byte hardware sectors: (4.01 GB/3.74 GiB)
[ 4750.360529] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[ 4750.360536] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[ 4750.360541] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 4750.360553] sdc: sdc1
[ 4750.744644] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 4750.744800] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[ 5068.591301] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[ 5106.639868] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[ 5106.639881] Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 0
[ 5144.682939] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[ 5144.682951] Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 0
[ 5182.719187] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0

Right. You're trying to format the entire device, not the partition that's ON the device.

First, make sure the device is not mounted. Then, you have two options: either run
and blow away the old partition(s), and make new ones. You can even make multiples at this stage, so you'll wind up with /dev/sdc1, /dev/sdc2, etc.

Once you make the partitions, you have to make the file systems. Replace the /dev/sdc in your command above, with the partition name, like /dev/sdc1, etc.

U3...

Does it have U3 on it? Formatting will not usually remove U3, it needs a special removal program that runs under windows.

http://www.u3.com/support/default.aspx#CQ1

Have you tried sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n richy /dev/sdc1?