Ubuntu – Why can’t I copy a large number of files to the USB flash drive

Final Update:

So it turns out that the drive was indeed defective and I was able to get it replaced – the replacement works great!

What happens:

1. I insert the flash drive.
2. I try to copy 2GB of files.
3. About 600MB (but not always the same amount) in to the transfer, it aborts and forcefully dismounts the drive.
4. Plugging it in again mounts it as read only due to filesystem errors.

Information in /var/log/syslog:

Apr  4 20:19:09 my-laptop kernel: [10720.130076] usb 1-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
Apr  4 20:19:09 my-laptop kernel: [10720.284655] scsi6 : usb-storage 1-4:1.0
Apr  4 20:19:10 my-laptop kernel: [10721.280796] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Corsair  Survivor GTR     0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Apr  4 20:19:10 my-laptop kernel: [10721.281920] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
Apr  4 20:19:10 my-laptop kernel: [10721.284361] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] 63438848 512-byte logical blocks: (32.4 GB/30.2 GiB)
Apr  4 20:19:10 my-laptop kernel: [10721.284863] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
Apr  4 20:19:10 my-laptop kernel: [10721.284870] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
Apr  4 20:19:10 my-laptop kernel: [10721.284876] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
Apr  4 20:19:10 my-laptop kernel: [10721.287862] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
Apr  4 20:19:10 my-laptop kernel: [10721.287873]  sdc: sdc1
Apr  4 20:19:10 my-laptop kernel: [10721.301238] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
Apr  4 20:19:10 my-laptop kernel: [10721.301243] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
Apr  4 20:20:03 my-laptop kernel: [10774.494709] FAT: Filesystem error (dev sdc1)
Apr  4 20:20:03 my-laptop kernel: [10774.494714]     fat_free_clusters: deleting FAT entry beyond EOF
Apr  4 20:20:03 my-laptop kernel: [10774.494718] FAT: Filesystem has been set read-only
Apr  4 20:22:04 my-laptop kernel: [10895.160070] usb 1-4: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
Apr  4 20:22:04 my-laptop kernel: [10895.700029] usb 1-4: device not accepting address 2, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:04 my-laptop kernel: [10895.820047] usb 1-4: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
Apr  4 20:22:04 my-laptop kernel: [10895.950038] usb 1-4: device descriptor read/64, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:05 my-laptop kernel: [10896.191050] usb 1-4: device descriptor read/64, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:05 my-laptop kernel: [10896.420054] usb 1-4: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
Apr  4 20:22:05 my-laptop kernel: [10896.840042] usb 1-4: device not accepting address 2, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:05 my-laptop kernel: [10896.962678] usb 1-4: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.380047] usb 1-4: device not accepting address 2, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.380095] usb 1-4: USB disconnect, address 2
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.380122] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Unhandled error code
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.380125] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.380130] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] CDB: Write(10): 2a 00 00 12 9e 00 00 00 f0 00
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.380141] end_request: I/O error, dev sdc, sector 1220096
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.382530] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Unhandled error code
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.382534] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Result: hostbyte=DID_NO_CONNECT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.382539] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] CDB: Write(10): 2a 00 00 12 9e f0 00 00 f0 00
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.382549] end_request: I/O error, dev sdc, sector 1220336
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.385121] FAT: FAT read failed (blocknr 329)
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.385150] FAT: FAT read failed (blocknr 322)
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.385173] FAT: FAT read failed (blocknr 329)
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.385188] FAT: FAT read failed (blocknr 322)
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.390581] FAT: unable to read inode block for updating (i_pos 496133)
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.830055] usb 1-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
Apr  4 20:22:06 my-laptop kernel: [10897.962671] usb 1-4: device descriptor read/64, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:07 my-laptop kernel: [10898.200060] usb 1-4: device descriptor read/64, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:07 my-laptop kernel: [10898.432548] usb 1-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
Apr  4 20:22:07 my-laptop kernel: [10898.560068] usb 1-4: device descriptor read/64, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:07 my-laptop kernel: [10898.802603] usb 1-4: device descriptor read/64, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:07 my-laptop kernel: [10899.030075] usb 1-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
Apr  4 20:22:08 my-laptop kernel: [10899.460032] usb 1-4: device not accepting address 5, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:08 my-laptop kernel: [10899.580064] usb 1-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6
Apr  4 20:22:08 my-laptop kernel: [10900.000071] usb 1-4: device not accepting address 6, error -71
Apr  4 20:22:08 my-laptop kernel: [10900.000101] hub 1-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 4
Apr  4 20:22:09 my-laptop kernel: [10900.322588] usb 4-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
Apr  4 20:22:09 my-laptop kernel: [10900.466510] usb 4-2: not running at top speed; connect to a high speed hub
Apr  4 20:22:19 my-laptop kernel: [10910.471597] usb 4-2: string descriptor 0 read error: -110
Apr  4 20:22:24 my-laptop kernel: [10915.471643] usb 4-2: can't set config #1, error -110

Other steps taken:

• I tried plugging it into different USB ports.
• I tried plugging it into one of the root ports on the PC.
• I ran badblocks on the device and it came up clean.
• I tried wiping the partition table before formatting – no difference.
• I have an external USB 2.0 1TB hard drive that runs fine and can perform large transfers without incident.
• smartctl -T normal /dev/sdX fails, saying "Terminate command early due to bad response to IEC mode page. A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting."

Note: thanks to djeikyb for helping me with some of the steps.