Can't mount ext4-formatted USB

772 Views Asked by At

I have recently bought a USB, which is initially formatted using exFAT. Then I tried wiping it off and format it with ext4. But then, Linux Mint 20 doesn't seem to be able to mount it. When I checked the "disks" utility, the USB appeared, but it just displayed the loading loop. I tried to cancel the mount job, no luck either. Then I tried a live Linux Mint 19, also can't open the USB, so this is clearly not a problem with my existing computer.

Then I booted up my Windows copy (dual boot with Mint 20), plugged the USB in, formatted it to exFAT, and Windows can then open it. Then I boot up Mint 20 and live Mint 19 and both can open it. So my question is, do USB manufacturers restrict the type of filesystems a USB can have? I have never heard of this phenomenon, and can you give me some source to read more?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

4
On BEST ANSWER

So I have dug into this a whole lot for the past few days and I think I know what's wrong. I tried to create an ext4 partition, didn't work. I then tried to fix it using fsck, also no dice. Then I tried to create an ext4 partition with less size (60GB), and then it works, with no corruption. It turns out that I just got scammed by the manufacturer.