Undo Write Protect.

Is there a tab on the side of the drive? slide it opposite to where it is :)

If there isn't a tab on your pen drive?
Have a look at the tips here http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/storage/how-erase-write-protected-usb-drive-or-sd-card-3456666/ and let us know if you find a fix

Cheers

Thank you Branny and John for your postings.

There is no tab for on/off protection - as on SD cards,

Have tried the link for hours John, using both Vista and Windows 7.

Sorry to say, no success

Are you saying the link doesn't work or the fixes suggested in the link don't work?

Cheers

Have you tried other formatting utilities like this Lexar one? 

The use of a search engine gives many possible solutions, but the most likely is this:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/how-can-i-remove-the-write-protected-of-my-usb/565b7801-d1eb-4347-a35a-728fa77fd45b

John: I meant I could not make the fixes work.

Tibor: I want to transfer files from the Lexar pen drive to an external drive, Not just format the Pen drive.

Alan. Will try your suggestion tomorrow and post results.

Many thanks for all the postings.

Hi Les

I think Alan's MS registry fix link is the same as the first PC Advisor link fix without the pictures.

I  now understand that you can't copy your data which may point to a different problem

Please tell us:

Where you bought the USB pen drive (as there are fakes out there) and has it ever worked with less or more data on the drive?

http://www.pendriveapps.com/test-for-fake-usb-flash-drives-h2testw/
This test won't be suitable as you have data on the drive, Out of interest, can you add more data?

Has the drive been dropped or damaged?

Is there any built in security software involved?

Have you contacted the manufacturer?

Cheers

The PC Adviser link produces a blank page for me, John, using IE11.  From #3, I suspect it does the same for Les.

I have checked using Firefox, and the link is fine there.  it is another IE11 thing.

Hi Alan

I specifically asked Les "Are you saying the link doesn't work or the fixes suggested in the link don't work? "

His reply "John: I meant I could not make the fixes work."

I tried the IE11 browser and found a blank page for a short while, then I had to cancel a long running script? The second time it worked fine after a nano second delay
Google Chrome worked fine  

Back to the topic 

    Trying to answer questions asked:

1. As far as remembered it has always worked fine. Never deleted anything, only added.

2. Can data be added - No. Tried.
    Made folder on desktop. Could not put on Lexar pen drive.

3. Dropped or damaged. No.

4. Security inbuilt? No. Not to my knowledge.
. 
5. Contacted manufacturer, Lexar. No.

6. Bought at: My Memory - online. Long time ago.

7. Could read folder FROM pen drive - sent to and displayed on desktop. Still remained on Lexar pen drive.

8. Deleted desktop folder (from the Lexar pen drive) but not folder ON Lexar pen drive.

I have seen pen drives go wrong and used a recovery programme,  I can't recall which programme I used  but I managed to save the day, have a search and see if you can find some freeware to try

Are your files on the pen drive the only copies you have?

I only use pen drives to transport copies myself, I've seen students use them as the only copy and coming unstuck. 

I'm not understanding your need to make a desktop folder shortcut, it shouldn't have messed things up, unless you managed to set the pendrive read only, even if you did you should be able to reverse the instruction.

Do you know anyone with a Apple Mac? They may be able to recover the files if you are lucky.

Try Lexar if all else fails.

Personally, I would copy over all the files to a computer and buy a new Pen Drive.

Hi John

I understood that Les couldn't even copy the files, see post #7, if he can copy them your advice is spot on as pen drives are cheap  

Any updates for us Les?

Cheers

I went in remotely yesterday to Les's laptop and also did a bit of googling.

My conclusion was that the USB stick is faulty and that the best strategy would be to buy a new one.

I didn't get the impression from Les that he was unable to copy stuff from the stick drive (and I didn't try doing that while I was connected).

But if that turns out to be an issue then, there are lots of apps out there that let you read data from misbehaving USB sticks and camera memory cards (as well as hard disks).

The comment made by johnpr98 made me think that it might be worth downloading Ubuntu, burning it to optical disc and then booting from that optical disc - and choosing to run Ubuntu from the optical disc..

I reckon there is a half-decent chance that data could be read that way and that, maybe, the stick could be reformatted.

Get V 14.03.2 from here. It's an ISO of 996MB in size and needs to be burnt to a blank DVD-R or +R disc.

Watch out for the download page - you have to zero all the donation sliders before you can download it for free.

Of course, if it works, you might want to make a donation.

Bob C

If Bob cannot do it, the no one can. Now await a Lexar reply. Not much hope, so abandon.

Thank you all for trying

If only!

Cheers

Bob