Hello,
I currently have installed Portable apps on a flash drive. I want to delete it off my current flash drive and install it on a different flash that has more storage. Unfortunately, whenever I try to delete it I always get an error message. This also happens with other files on the same flash. I have even tried reformatting my flash to completely wipe the memory, but this also gives me an error message. All of my data is backed up, but I need the additional storage space.
I am using Windows 10 if it helps.
Thanks for your assistance.
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If your drive has a read-write mode switch, it sounds like you might have turned it on accidentally.
Otherwise you have a physical issue with the drive itself. The only way to fix it would be to replace it before it dies completely.
My Drive does not have a read-write mode switch, so unfortunately that is not the problem.
Personally, I am not sure how, but I believe that downloading the PortableApps platform messed up my flash drive. Right before installation, the was fine, but now it won't let me delete. I don't know if this is supposed to happen, but my drive's name got changed to PortableApps, and it bears the logo. When I tried to use the platform, it was very slow, and everything on the computer was near frozen. I installed it on a computer where I do not have admin rights, which may or may not be causing the problem.
I did think of what could be causing the problem. Immediately before this, I was trying to install java portably following this procedure: https://www.whitebyte.info/programming/java/how-to-install-a-portable-jd...
This involves unzipping and tinkering with the program in order to bypass admin rights.
I don't know if this could be the cause, but it may have taken away my admin rights for the USB, which would be why I cannot delete anything. This may be getting too complicated, but if there any solutions you could propose it would be appreciated.
While the Platform does rename the drive and set the logo as you've seen, it definitely doesn't do anything that could change permissions on the drive.
Those instructions for a portable JDK also don't do anything to permissions.
To check your drive permissions you can follow the instruction on this page. Ignore the first part and scroll down about two pages to the bit on manually setting drive permissions.
You can possibly boot your computer up with a live cd version of gparted and format your usb drive. It temporarily boots your system up in Linux, unlocking any Windows programs tying up your drive. But be extremely careful and make sure to choose the correct drive as it can/will wipe your Windows install.