SanDisk Cruzer Blade 16GB write protected error

So I was hit by this “feature” too. My 16 GB Cruzer Edge is now a 10GB r/o device and it is already the second SanDisk key that went broke within a year. I don’t care about a replacement. I simply won’t buy SanDisk USB keys any more. I did so because I had very good experience with SanDisk CF and SD cards and because of the Edge design which fully protects the USB plug when it is retracted. But they found a pretty good way to ruin their reputation.

Why doesn’t SanDisk fix this issue? Do they have a contract with the FBI or CIA to spy on the data people store on their flash drives?

There are just devices that breaks down for unknown reasons. But I think Sandisk is exerting their best efforts in preventing this.

i had just purchased a Sandisk CruzerFit 32gb flash drive to use as a USB troubleshooting/system repair boot disk - all I did was insert the drive and was about to format it and start setting it up when I noticed that there were files on the disk - some sort of Sandisk “Safe” utility, so I decided to copy that file on to my hard drive and was about to format the drive and I immediately got the write protect error.

so i sent the drive in, recieved the replacement, went through the format process, and it fails midway through with the write protect error.

I’m sorry but I have purchased dozens of other brand name USB flash drives and never had a problem like this, so the simplest solution is to just buy a different, less problematic brand.

I just bought a Cruzer flash drive from Walmart for $15 and was able to use it for about five minutes tops, having written something like 200MB to it before it went into write protected status and now it will not let me do anything with the drive.

Now there are personal files on there that I cannot remove by either deleting them or even reformatting the drive, so no chance of taking it back to Walmart for a refund and letting some clerk have access to my personal information.

You people are criminals for knowingly putting a defective product on the market.

I believe there are reports of people who have contacted SanDisk about similar situations being allowed to destroy their drive before returning it to SanDisk for a free replacement.

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5232/~/return-material-authorization-(rma)-process

I believe there was also a report of someone who was able to reformat their write protected drive using an Android system.

Eu concordo luciano, tenho kingston sempre compro ele é melhor cluster, mas problema sandisk q eu ganhei presente do trabalho e mais 4 mês é deu problema ahahah… q porcaria! Mas nunca comprei sandisk.

Tentei pular pra gravar cluster sem inicio é disse ERROR I/O, isso dizendo defeito de flash e melhor desistir, comprar outro rsrss.

Solution follows:

  1. Smash device with hammer to remove any confidential data

  2. Put pieces in bin

  3. Buy USB key from a different vendor

  4. Vow never to buy a SANdisk product ever again

I have SanDisk Cruzer Edge 16GBMade in ChinaSDCZ51-016GBL131224494B.                        

Done reading all comments, there is still no fix for " The disk is write protected" error.

Also, I have many friends using SanDisk products similar to this problem.

There solution is threw it away, buy a new brand.

How sad. :frowning:

I found this problem ScanDisk Cruzer Orbit 16GB too. I did serveral solutions but could not fix it.  I did not found this probem on Kingston, Toshiba, Apacer and HP.   I will not buy ScanDisk any more in future.

Happened twice to me with Kingston’s DataTraveller series so this issue is not unique to SanDisk.

*Edit: I had to doublecheck that this was Sandisk’s official forum with the amount of moronic replies in this thread.

I’m glad sandisk’s policy is “throw it away and ask for a new one.”

This is laughable.

This is a waste of money, time, and effort.

I cant believe that there are 20 pages in this thread and the “expert” is responding with a bunch of smartass comments about how your data is PROTECTED PERMANENTLY and stuff.

Rediculous. Poor support quality and representation.

Dissapointed in this company now.

Hopefully WD will fix these issues since they bought SanDisk now since apparently they’re too incomptetent to take care of their customers themselves.

How hard is it to say “We don’t know the cause, we’ll exchange it, just put in an RMA request.” ???

1 Like

forum with the amount of moronic replies in this thread.

So you just had to add another one.  Nice.

This Pen Drive has an average write speed of about 6 Mbps and reading speed of about 18-20 Mbps running on FAT32 . As few other reviewers have told please DONT format your pen drive to NTFS as this will effect the Cruzer Blade’s performance in a negative way! Previously I had the same pen drive (Cruzer Blade 16GB itself) which i had purchased from SP Road but after reading the misleading reviews out here i formatted it and the magnificent pen drive became ridiculous. The write speed became 3.5 Mbps but the read speed was not affected. Even after reformatting it to its original FAT32 format from NTFS, the read and write speed remained horribly the same.So kindly DON’T format it to NTFS. Pen Drive is very good in this budget, it works faster and no any problem yet, delivery was very fast at http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Blade-Flash-Drive/dp/B002U1ZBG0/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1447591826&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=Sandisk+Cruzer+Blade+16+GB+Utility+Pendriv%28Multicolor%29

avkdoctor wrote: DONT format your pen drive to NTFS as this will effect the Cruzer Blade’s performance in a negative way!


I don’t understand.It doesn’t work,Sandisk has known this for years yet they keep selling a known defective product.In what can it become more negative?Does it turn into a snake and bite you?

sandisk cruzer facet 16gb write protected how to replace my pendrive.

What the funny answer perdrive going to ‘SELF PROTECTION MODE’ then why users are here.

  how to replace my pendrive

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5232/~/return-material-authorization-(rma)-process

This might interest you also:  http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/54—how-to-fix-write-protected-disks

i buy a usb stick to transfer my files not have them stuck on a usb forever what a rubbish product and to think i bought the 64gb should of used my money to wipe where the sun doesnt shine. no method on various operating systems have worked to remove the write protection.EVERYONE ITS TIME TO MOVE TO KINGSTON they accually make reliable products. so any suggestions how i should destoy this piece of ****

couldnt of put it better myself i bought it to transfer stuff not have it stuck on there forever. i bought a 64 gb too what a waste of money my money is going to kingston from now on 

To disable write protection on a SanDisk 32GB flash drive –

After much research, I have stumbled across something that actually worked!

Click on ‘Start’ –> ‘Run’ –> type in ‘regedit’ and press enter.
Search for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Scroll down the list and click on SYSTEM
Click on CurrentControlSet
Click on Policies
Click on Microsoft
Click on FVE
In the panel on the right side, if the values for either FDVDenyWriteAccess OR RDVDenyWriteAccess are anything other than ‘0x00000000 (0)’, right click and then click on ‘Modify’, then enter ‘0’ and press Enter.
Remove the flash drive and reinsert. You can now copy to or write to the flash drive.

I am using Windows 7 Professional SP-1 64-bit.

so any suggestions how i should destoy this piece of ****

If you work with the SanDisk RMA process http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5232/~/return-material-authorization-(rma)-process I believe they will allow you to destroy the Blade with a hammer and still be able to return it for a free replacement.

I don’t know if Kingston offers that kind of warrantee.  But we will find out soon enough.

As for editting the Registry to fix the problem. that might be awkward if the drive is used on multiple machines, and could be impossible if the machines are the property of someone else.