Mkusb, restore damaged USB drives or cards to their original state

about mkusb

In the next article we are going to take a look at mkusb. This is a tool that was developed to make it simpler and safer create bootable drives with the method of flashing or cloning an iso image or a compressed image file. Also, in cases where our storage devices such as SD cards and Pen drives are damaged due to one reason or another, we will be able to return the device to its original working state.

The fastest way to start create and repair bootable drives USB is to install mkusb using its corresponding PPA. We will only have to install and update the mkusb package like all other programs. With mkusb we can select the correct device and avoid overwriting other devices that we have plugged in.

This tool works with dd and it has a high success rate. It is particularly good for preliminary tests and new versions, when standard tools such as UNetbootin they do not give the desired result.

If we need to know more about this tool we can consult the help that they offer in the Ubuntu website. In it we can find manuals about all the possibilities of this tool, which are not limited to what is described in this article.

Warning: Using the following procedure the device will be formatted on which we want to work. This will delete all data that can be found on the device. This format will allow us to provide a solution for restoring a damaged USB drive or SD card to its original working state, without the need for great knowledge on the matter.

usb skewer

Install MKUSB on Ubuntu 17.10

When we have a damaged device, most of the time a simple format through the file browser solves the problem. In some cases, when the file manager is not useful, we will be able to use this little tool that this article is about for this purpose. To begin we will start with the installation through its corresponding PPA.

We start by opening a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and add the MKUSB repository by typing:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa

Now, we continue to update our package list by typing in the same terminal:

sudo apt update

Once the update is finished, we can install mkusb by typing in the same terminal:

sudo apt install mkusb

Restore a storage device

Once the installation is complete, we can launch mkusb. The program will show us a message like the following one, to which we will have to answer 'Yes'.

mkusb message

The next screen that will be shown will be the one that gives us the possibility of select unit on which to work.

select usb mkusb

Next, the program will show us the different possibilities that this tool will provide us. To restore the unit to default values, we will have to select "r". It is always interesting to take a look at the other two options.

mkusb shares

In the next screen mkusb will ask us for the last time if we want continue with data format. The 'Stop' option will be selected by default. For the purpose of this article we are going to select 'Go'.

ahead mkusb

The window will close and the terminal will open which will look like this.

restore usb mkusb

In a few seconds, the process will be completed. Once the whole process is finished, we will need unmount the device from the system and reconnect it. We can see that the device will be mounted as a normal device and that it will work correctly as before the "breakdown".

refurbished skewer usb

Now i know that all of this could have been done via terminal commands, gparted or some other software. This would require a certain level of knowledge about partition management, but this program makes it a bit easier for us. So it's always good to have a little tool like this to automate these kinds of jobs.

Uninstall mkusb

To eliminate this program from our operating system we will only have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and write in it:

sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:mkusb/ppa
sudo apt remove mkusb && sudo apt autoremove

Although this tool is not the only option to do this type of work. You can help us to repair our USB storage devices and SD cards that are damaged (as long as they are not major breakdowns, of course). All operations on MKUSB will require superuser permissions.


4 comments, leave yours

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  1.   Peter Aguilera said

    excellent thanks, it is a great help for those of us who started using UBUNTU.

  2.   Federico Parra said

    Good afternoon, thank you very much for the contribution. But it did not help me, there will be any other tool that can help to restore the micro sd
    Greetings.

  3.   Leo said

    It was very useful for me to repair a 4GB usb flash drive, since with Gparted it was not possible due to the errors that the flash drive had. Thanks!

  4.   Ricardo said

    Thank you very much, very easy to install this effective tool with which I was able to solve my problem,

    I am immensely grateful