Hoping someone Linux-savvy can help me. Corrupted filesystem issue with bootable USB

[SleepyWeasel]

Hey there all, As the title says... I was hoping to get some advice from someone more computer savvy than myself. I'm trying to make a LinuxMint 17 bootable USB stick with a persistence of more than 4gb. I've found a couple articles on the Google machine which describe how to do this and one seemed to work, see:http://www.pendrivelinux.com/create-a-larger-than-4gb-casper-partition/. My issue is that before I found this article there was a long series of failed attempts to figure it out on my own which included several re-formats and several different attempts to partition the USB stick using Windows 8.1, IOS, and LinuxMint booted from a smaller live USB. Now, after I found this article I wiped and reformatted the intended USB stick(a PNY 16gb low-profile model) one last time using Windows, Installed LinuxMint as a live boot thingy, and performed the steps in the above article using LinuxMint booted live on a different USB stick. All went well and seemed to be fine so I rebooted the computer with just the new, larger partitioned Linux live USB. It got about halfway through the boot sequence, and right after it displayed the LinuxMint logo it flashed to a black screen with a box made of strange variations of the letter U and overlayed was the following message:

"(initramfs) mount: mounting /dev/loop0 on //filesystem.squashfs failed: no such device

can not mount /dev/loop0 (/cdrom/casper/filesystem.squashfs) on //filesystem.squashfs"

Right below the message I can enter normal Linux Terminal commands but the boot sequence won't work. After encountering this I booted back into my other Linux USB and wiped the broken one and formatted it again. Then I installed Linux on it as before only without the partitioning steps and extra stuff just to see if it would work in the default live bootable setup and when I tried to boot with it I got the same message. Now no matter how I format it or wipe it or partition it, that particular USB stick always returns the same message at the same point in the boot sequence if I try to make it a bootable Linux drive.

This is my first ever experience with Linux of any kind and I have had some help from a developer friend but he is at a loss with this one so I thought I'd bring it here. Is there any way to repair the corruption on this USB stick or is it just hosed? I've tried a few "how to repair a corrupted USB stick" things I found on google, but no luck.

Any help or insight from the many computer-savvy folks on here would be immensely appreciated as I'd like to try and salvage the USB stick, and/or avoid ruining the new one I ordered when I try to do this again.

Thanks!!!

Edited September 26, 2014 by SleepyWeasel

[cantab]

What you describe makes me suspect a corrupted CD or iso file. For an iso, check the md5sum.

[SleepyWeasel]

Well I actually don't know how to do that, but what I decided to do instead was just delete my ISO file and get a new one. I went ahead and formatted the drive again and installed the new ISO file and it did the same thing. If you could tell me how to check the md5sum and tell me what I'm checking for I would be extremely grateful.

Edit: I just made exactly the same drive with a different USB stick, assigning the same persistent file size and using the same ISO file and the same USB maker (UUI) and it booted perfectly so I'm fairly sure that my 16gb stick got ruined by all the partitioning and formatting. Anybody know how to repair it?

Edited September 27, 2014 by SleepyWeasel

[robopilot99]

Not sure about repairing it. I did something to my brother's USB stick and I have no idea how to fix that either. My hypothesis is that some USB sticks have an inate dislike of being used as a boot device.

[SleepyWeasel]

Yeah I'm thinking that all the formatting and partitioning with all different operating systems that we did prior to finding the step-by-step process for what we were attempting is what ruined it because prior to that shennanigans it was perfectly happy operating as a boot device with a 4.1gb persistent file. I booted 2 different computers into linux with it and even played KSP on them through it. Then I decided it was a waste to have a 16gb drive with only 4gb of space to actually use(and I had filled it up in no time). I have confirmed that the device is the problem though because I used the same ISO and writer to make 3 other bootable drives while testing theories tonight and they all work fine. During my searching for a solution I have come up with a lot of people saying bad things about PNY devices so maybe they're just hyper-sensitive to excess formatting/partitioning. I've ordered a new SanDisk 32gb drive to play with from amazon but I would still love to recover this one if possible.

[cantab]

Is the drive one that touted any special "features"? Things like encryption, or some sort of fancy movies/music stuff. That might cause attempts to partition it to throw issues.

Other than that, you could try the option in GParted to make a new partition table, perhaps that will help if it's got messed up somehow.

[Seret]

I would go post the same question somewhere like askubuntu.com (I'm assuming you're using the standard version of mint based on Ubuntu). I suspect there might be some technical limitation of the persistence file that limits the size. You'll need to find some people with in depth specific knowledge about the system. You're more likely to get that there than here.

Could your problem be this for example?

[sal_vager]

The stick may be recoverable, I've had a few go bad on me and I've had to delete the entire partition, laving nothing but raw space, then making a new primary partition and formatting that (not a quick format)

Are you going to run KSP on this stick? The trouble with that is that you'll need to install graphics drivers and that will really eat into your persistent file, as Mint will likely need to update a bunch of other things.

All updates are applied to the persistent file and not the original OS files, so you can very quickly run out of space.

Another method is to install Linux to the stick as if it were a regular HD, then updates, drivers and installed software will install normally, this does take more room overall though.

A really savvy Linux guy could make their own distro with everything they need already there, that's a bit beyond me though.

[SleepyWeasel]

Cantab: I don't think the stick was a special one as it was just an $8 cheaply deal I found at the local electronics store.

Seret: That link is exactly what I was trying to do, however I didn't know about fat32 being the reason for the limitation until after I tried a bunch of things myself. The part about making a new partition and all that went find and it reported no errors. After further tests I'm fairly sure the stick was corrupted before I got that far. You may have a point about the Linux specific forum I just wasn't positive this was actually a Linux issue so much as a broken USB stick issue.

Sal_vager: I am, in fact, trying to run KSP on this stick and actually I did it successfully once. The first time I had ever used this stick was when I first found out about the idea of a bootable drive and the reason I picked Linux(which I know absolutely nothing about) is because a friend of mine is a developer and suggested that it was the easiest way due to its simplicity and small memory footprint. I downloaded a Linux mint ISO and UUI for windows and just followed the on screen instructions then when it was done I booted it on my laptop and it worked perfectly but could only have 4gb usable space which was quickly used up by Steam and KSP. That's when I started down this path of things that are far beyond my skill level and here I am :/

[Camacha]

Cantab: I don't think the stick was a special one as it was just an $8 cheaply deal I found at the local electronics store.

That is probably you problem right there. Cheap sticks use cheap memory. I can advise you that if you ever want to do something intensive with a stick, like running an OS from it, you buy a good USB stick. Emphasis on good, which is generally revealed by properly fast read and write times, not necessarily price. These sticks use way more robust types of memory that can not only handle more abuse, but also will be a lot faster. All the things you want and need when using a stick as a hard drive. Some memory sticks are even equipped with proper SSD controllers, making them ideal for throwing around lots of data, rather than storing a Word file once a month. The sticks are of course somewhat more expensive, but if you pick the right one you do not have to go too crazy and it will save you a lot of trouble down the line.

Edited September 28, 2014 by Camacha

[pxi]

On the chance that you might appreciate an alternate method of doing it, you could try using unetbootin. I've yet to run into an issue using it.

EDIT: Herp derp, installing it doesn't seem to be the issue, my bad.

Edited September 28, 2014 by pxi

[Danielweb]

Try using this article for installing with kali Linux  https://youprogrammer.com/install-kali-linux-usb/ and try again with linux mint, it its not working, i will prefer use another USB with minimum 8GB free space on it.

[radonek]

On 27. 9. 2014 at 9:02 PM, sal_vager said:

A really savvy Linux guy could make their own distro with everything they need already there, that's a bit beyond me though.

Savvy linux guy just install stuff on disk and does not waste time with several layers of legacy crap invoved with USB bootables. Seriously, this is about most complicated boot process one can have.

Anyway, is it really really necessary to use Mint? There are specialized distros for this. 

[Snark]

Folks, the person who had this problem had it nearly four years ago.  I think it's pretty safe to say that the problem is long since resolved and that everyone involved has moved on.  Additional "help" at this point is probably a little... superfluous. 

Locking the thread to prevent further confusion.