[Cialug] Modifying a read-only flash drive

[Matt Breitbach]

My little brother gave me a little 2GB USB key that he got from a vendor and
it only has one little problem - there is a 4MB read-only drive full of
vendor crapola on it.

I'd like to remove that partition and merge it into the main system, or just
fry it completely.  It's currently read-only, and I can't seem to find a way
to disable it.  There's no external switch, and upon dis-assembly there
doesn't seem to be anything on the circuit board that would indicate a
read-only switch.

I've tried using DBAN to just wipe the entire thing, but it actually sees
two physical disks on the USB key.  Is there any way to remove the read-only
switch on this, or am I stuck with 4MB of vendor crap popping up every time
I insert the stick?