Ubuntu – Startup Disk Creator fails to erase disk

You can try to erase/format disk with: 1. Gparted or 2. Disk Utility

sudo apt-get install gparted

sudo apt-get install gnome-disk-utility

UPDATE: You will probably need to unmount all partition(s) in Gparted (or in Disk Utility) and then delete them all and create one. Also you can do a startup disk in Unetbootin http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Questions and answers

Question 1: Is the case that I have described here, same in all 16.04 distros of Ubuntu and derivative flavors? Or is it just Lubuntu that is having this issue? Or is it just my system that's doing this?

Answer 1: Yes, it is the same in standard Ubuntu and all Ubuntu community flavours, introduced with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

The old Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator was extracting the content of the iso file and trying to create a boot structure. It was notoriously buggy for years, because it was affected by modifications of the boot system between different versions of Ubuntu.

At the same time all the current Ubuntu iso files are hybrid iso files. It means that they can be used to burn DVD boot disks as well as to clone USB boot drives and memory cards. Cloning is a very simple and reliable process, where every single byte is copied as is from the source to the target.

So a new version of the Startup Disk Creator was developed and introduced with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. This version is a cloning tool. The resulting USB boot drive will have an iso9660 file partition table and file system, which is read-only. Therefore it is not possible to make a persistent live drive with this method in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and previous versions.

With Ubuntu 19.10 it is possible to clone a [slightly modified} iso file and add a partition for persistence behind it, because of a new feature alias squashed bug.

See How is it easier to make a persistent live drive with Ubuntu 19.10?.

Question 2: How do I fix this and get the older Startup Disk Creator back?

Answer 2: Don't try to get the old and buggy Startup Disk Creator back.

2.1. Standard case: Live-only

I would recommend that you use the current cloning Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator, when you want a live [live-only] Ubuntu USB drive or simply an installer (to install Ubuntu into another drive). This would be the standard case.

2.2. Persistent live drive

When you want a persistent live drive, you can use another tool, an extracting tool, that creates a partition table and file system(s), that can be mounted with read and write permissions. Or you can do it yourself rather manually, if you want to be independent of tools.

• mkusb is a cloning tool in the standard mode, but you can use it to create a persistent live drive. This works with all current Ubuntu and Ubuntu community flavour desktop iso files. The persistent data are stored in a casper-rw partition, limited only by the size of the drive size (available drive space).

  If you run standard Ubuntu, you need an extra instruction to get the repository Universe. (Kubuntu, Lubuntu ... Xubuntu have the repository Universe activated automatically.)

  sudo add-apt-repository universe  # only for standard Ubuntu
  
  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa  # and press Enter
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install mkusb mkusb-nox usb-pack-efi
  

  See the following links

  help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb

  help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/persistent

• Lili can also create a persistent live drive, but with a casper-rw file, maximum size 4 GB (limited by the FAT32 file system).

  See this link,

  www.linuxliveusb.com/

• There are several other tools, that can be used in a similar way as Lili, for example Unetbootin,

  unetbootin.github.io/

• 'Do it yourself'

  If you have a 64-bit (alias amd64) version of Ubuntu, you can use a simple extraction method manually. It is possible to add a casper-rw file, maximum size 4 GB (limited by the FAT32 file system).

  See these links,

  help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/iso2usb#Do_it_yourself

  help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/iso2usb/diy

Comments in response to 'Edit, 8.Oct.17'

• I have checked in my working environment, 16.04 LTS and a testing environment, Artful Aardvark, to become 17.10 during this month (October 2017).

  • The main partition of a cloned USB drive of Lubuntu 17.10 amd64 will be automounted in both systems.

    

    

  • But nothing will be automounted, when I plug in a corresponding cloned USB drive of Lubuntu 17.10 i386.

    $ sudo lsblk -o name,fstype,size,label,mountpoint
    NAME   FSTYPE   SIZE LABEL               MOUNTPOINT
    sda            55,9G                     
    ├─sda1 vfat     480M                     /boot/efi
    └─sda2 ext4    55,4G                     /
    sdb    iso9660  3,8G Lubuntu 17.10 amd64 
    ├─sdb1 iso9660  918M Lubuntu 17.10 amd64 /media/tester/Lubuntu 17.10 amd64
    └─sdb2 vfat     2,3M Lubuntu 17.10 amd64 
    sdc    iso9660  3,7G Lubuntu 17.10 i386  
    └─sdc1 iso9660  927M Lubuntu 17.10 i386  
    sr0            1024M                     
    

  I don't know why there is a difference between these two cases, but I know that Ubuntu's developers are focusing on the amd64 architecture. They will stop releasing i386 desktop iso files. But Lubuntu and other community flavours intend to continue to maintain and release i386 (32-bit) versions and release i386 iso files.

  See this link: What will happen to i386 software since Ubuntu will drop support to i386 ISOs?

• There are people (I am one of them), who have tried to make the developers add features or at least information text similar to what you suggest, but we have failed. (I have tried to make them add the feature to restore a USB drive to a standard storage device after using it as a USB boot/install drive, but without luck. Instead I provide it via mkusb and I try hard to make people aware of it.)

  I think the developer in charge of the Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator alias usb-creator-gtk wants it as simple as possible to avoid confusion by extra details.

  The standard way to communicate with the Ubuntu developers is via bug reports at Launchpad, where you should have (create) a user account,

  https://launchpad.net/

  You can create a bug report in a running system, that is affected by the bug (or feature request) with the following command

  ubuntu-bug <buggy-program-package>
  

  in this case

  ubuntu-bug usb-creator-gtk
  

  Please edit your question to add a link, when you have written your bug report. Good luck :-)

• Finally, you don't think the removal of previous buggy nature has led to a solution. You'd call this a taking a step back until the matter is resolved. I don't agree with you. Most linux distros provide hybrid iso files and recommend cloning as a standard method to create USB boot drives. So this is a standard method and well established.

  It is difficult to maintain extracting tools, that work between all possible combinations of old and new versions of Ubuntu, and I think it is better to make people aware of the cloning method and how to manage a cloned USB pendrive during and after its usage as a USB boot drive.