Hi all

Well this question is both Linux and Windows. I have a TwinMOS Mobile USB disk that I was trying to get to work with Fedora Linux. After trying various ways, none of which worked I gave up with it. It had some data on which I had saved in Windows and I would have liked to keep. However, the key will no longer work with Windows either, it lights up and is recognised for what it is but won't read. I tried to reformat it using the Windows format command, here is a summary of what I get:

C:\>format e:
Response: The type of file system is RAW, plese use the /FS switch to specify the file system you wish to use on this volume.

C:\>format e:/fs:fat
Response: Insert new disk for drive E: and press ENTER when ready...
Response: The type of file system is RAW. The new fiel system is FAT
Verifying 0M
100 persent completed

The key is 64MB, looks like it's not formatting as still can't read it. I believe I have seen this RAW file system asscoiated with Linux. Anybody have any ideas how I can 'Repair' the disk to work with Linux or at least with Windows.

Thanks

Plug it into a running linux system, then run 'dmesg' in a console window. The last few lines should show the systems attempts to recognise the device. Typically it should appear as /dev/sda1 or /dev/sdb1. Then you can check the filesystem with (as root)

fdisk /dev/sda (or sdb or whatever)

I get

Disk /dev/sdb: 8 MB, 8224768 bytes
1 heads, 16 sectors/track, 1004 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16 * 512 = 8192 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 2 1004 8024 1 FAT12

You could try deleting and recreating the partition. Then maybe

mkdosfs -F FAT-12 /dev/sda1

to make a filesystem.

If you have valuable data on it you could try one of those Windows file recovery tools on it first. You can probably also make a 'disk image' of it using the linux 'dd' command before you delete everything.

Hi

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply to my problem. I'm away from my machine for a while but will try the fix soon as I get home.

Cheers