Can't remove iso partition from USB.

Sqrly · Mar 9, 2024

I just bought 2 new MSI motherboards. They came with a USB to install hardware drivers.

I plug it in to my current system and It auto mounts an ISO and a second empty 25GB volume. Not sure how this is done with atuoplay disabled system wide.

I can manipulate the second partition with no problems, it's the ISO I can not get rid of.

Disk Managment shows both partitions. Both before and after I eject the Virtual Disk Drive.

Diskpart does not see the system partition.

Minitool Partion Wizard (free) does not see it either.

The USBs are 30GB and I want to use one on the car for music. The problem is the car only sees the system partion (unreadable) I can't get rid of.

Anibor_11 · Mar 9, 2024

Try Rufus. Boot selection > Non bootable.

Also: InitDisk, GRC | InitDisk.

glasskuter · Mar 9, 2024

I had someone give me a handful of usb drives the OEM sent with their systems. I thought I could reuse them. I never was able to get them wiped completely so they ended up in the trash. Formatting, dism, you name it I tried it. I even tried to overwrite using Rufus thinking it would delete all the data but Rufus said the drive was not writeable..
Didn't make any sense they would be different than any old usb drive but I finally chalked it up to be something proprietary about the drives.

Your's may be different. Right click on the partition, select properties, Security tab. See if there's anything in the partition's permissions/owner you can change

steveg · Mar 9, 2024

Try Macrium or EaseUS, they usually work for me when others don't show partitions.

NavyLCDR · Mar 9, 2024

Have you tried the diskpart clean command?

Or, you can really solve your problem for $7.50:

Bree · Mar 9, 2024

glasskuter said:
I had someone give me a handful of usb drives the OEM sent with their systems. I thought I could reuse them.

The official Windows USBs supplied by Microsoft in their retail boxes were well known as being permanently read-only. No possible way to reuse one of those.

ThrashZone · Mar 9, 2024

Hi,
Linux probably could.
But flash drives are pretty cheap to so is it really worth messing with.

NavyLCDR · Mar 9, 2024

ThrashZone said:
Hi,
Linux probably could.
But flash drives are pretty cheap to so is it really worth messing with.

It does amaze me the amount of time and effort that some people will expend to try to fix something that costs less than $10 to replace.

ThrashZone · Mar 9, 2024

NavyLCDR said:
It does amaze me the amount of time and effort that some people will expend to try to fix something that costs less than $10 to replace.

Hi,
Hell at one time seems people "including myself" were complaining oem's don't include installation dvd's anymore and this op wants to use a oem install flash media for images instead lol

Well op you have 10gb's you can use for that be thankful, dvd's didn't back in the day oem's used them, darn them I had a movie I wanted put on it hehe

Berton · Mar 9, 2024

I use the GPARTED program included on Linux Mint Live USB or the same program installed on my Linux Mint desktop to manipulate difficult drives.

SIW2 · Mar 9, 2024

NavyLCDR said:
It does amaze me the amount of time and effort that some people will expend to try to fix something that costs less than $10 to replace.

The fun of the challenge.

Sqrly · Mar 9, 2024

SIW2 said:
The fun of the challenge.

Bingo!

Well that and pinching pennies makes for having more pennies. I have a bunch of flash drives. This one just happens to be short enough to fit in the usb port in the Accord with the door closed but long enough to easily remove.

I don't exactly have a Linux system ATM but, I do have a Raspberry Pi. I'll take a look at it on that.

SIW2 · Mar 9, 2024

you could first try the GRT thing that was linked earlier.

SIW2 · Mar 9, 2024

Probably the geeks at usbstor/dev can do it

or have a look here

Sqrly · Mar 9, 2024

SIW2 said:
Probably the geeks at usbstor/dev can do it

or have a look here

FFS! Ok, the challenge is no longer fun LOL

Thanks for the reply though. Now I know why I can't do it.

Berton · Mar 9, 2024

Sqrly said:
I don't exactly have a Linux system ATM

As long as a computer has 2 USB ports a bootable Linux LiveUSB can come in handy at times.

SIW2 · Mar 9, 2024

It looks quite easy as long as you can id the controller.

BamaInArk · Mar 9, 2024

Use Diskpart in windows. Once the correct drive is selected run the "Clean" command. It will wipe all the partitions.

NavyLCDR · Mar 9, 2024

BamaInArk said:
Use Diskpart in windows. Once the correct drive is selected run the "Clean" command. It will wipe all the partitions.

Not if the USB flash drive has hardware read-only protection such as the retail USB flash drives in the Windows full box retail version from Microsoft.

Winuser · Mar 9, 2024

NavyLCDR said:
Not if the USB flash drive has hardware read-only protection such as the retail USB flash drives in the Windows full box retail version from Microsoft.

Not exactly the same thing but this has me thinking about all of the free AOL floppy disk I use to reuse.