SanDisk FAT32 usb drive went read-only overnight?

Hello,

I have a 32.0 GB Sandisk cruzer that I've been using without problems for awhile. Yesterday it worked fine to transfer small files from a PC to my Mac. Today,it went to "read-only" on my 2008 macbook pro (running OS10.9.5).

Under "Get info" I see it is in FAT32 format, but under "Sharing & Permissions" it says "read-only" with no options or locks to change it.

I have tried using disk utility to erase/reformat, but all of the options are greyed out.


I tried to reformat on a PC, and was unable to due to the read-only permissions.

Can any one help me or is this a lost cause?

Welcome to the Mac-Forums.

The SanDisk is probably defective if it suddenly went to read only and is locked. You should be able to format it on your Mac or a PC. Probably not worth messing with. If you just recently purchased it, it may still be under warranty. Also, your images were not formatted correctly and had to be removed.

Agreed with chscag. A brief perusal of SanDisk's forums shows that this is a known issue.
Sandisk cruzer 16GB became read-only. - Page 2 - SanDisk Forums

Thanks for replying/helping! Sorry about the image formatting- defintely new to the whole forum thing.
I figured it was the drive, since I couldn't format it. At least I was able to save the data Yay backups!

Lifeisabeach said:

Agreed with chscag. A brief perusal of SanDisk's forums shows that this is a known issue.
Sandisk cruzer 16GB became read-only. - Page 2 - SanDisk Forums

Click to expand...

Yikes, not just their forums, all over the 'net according to a google search:
https://www.google.ca/search?client...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=J-AtVbSPIKuAmALe8YCgBQ

I was interested in this as I have several SanDisk Flash drives, but haven't had any troubles — yet, but they are Mac formatted if that makes any difference.

There's a long but somewhat interesting article as to possibilities:
SanDisk Cruzer Blade 16GB write protected error - Page 19 - SanDisk Forums

Bottom line seems to be to keep the sales slip for any return. Hmmm…???

I might just reconsider my purchase brand.