External HD: partition and format?
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From: Hans Georg Schaathun on 24 Dec 2006 16:02 I have an external USB harddrive�. Ubuntu mounts it automatically, but from the factory it is --not surprisingly-- vfat. I would like to reformat it. Before formatting, I thought I'd better check the partition table, but this did not make sense at all (see �). Partitions overlap, have unknown ID-s, and do not fill the disk. (The mounted volume has approximately the right size too.) Isn't the partition table used at all for USB volumes? Is it a bad idea to partition and format the disk from scratch? Any bad things which are likely to happen if I try? Thanks for any advice. � Rather anonymous-looking, but apparently a Samsung. � (from fdisk) Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1p1 ? 120513 235786 925929529+ 68 Unknown Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sdb1p2 ? 82801 116350 269488144 79 Unknown Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sdb1p3 ? 33551 120595 699181456 53 OnTrack DM6 Aux3 Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sdb1p4 ? 86812 86813 10668+ 49 Unknown Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary. -- :-- Hans Georg http://www.ii.uib.no/~georg/ `This Universe never did make sense; I suspect that it was built on government contract.' (Heinlein)
From: Darren Salt on 24 Dec 2006 16:35 I demand that Hans Georg Schaathun may or may not have written... [snip] > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System > /dev/sdb1p1 ? 120513 235786 925929529+ 68 Unknown > Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. That looks like output from 'fdisk -l /dev/sdb1'. You want /dev/sdb. [snip] -- | Darren Salt | linux or ds at | nr. Ashington, | Toon | RISC OS, Linux | youmustbejoking,demon,co,uk | Northumberland | Army | + Output less CO2 => avoid massive flooding. TIME IS RUNNING OUT *FAST*. You humans are all alike.
From: Hans Georg Schaathun on 24 Dec 2006 17:01 On Sun, 24 Dec 2006 21:35:37 +0000, Darren Salt <news(a)youmustbejoking.demon.cu.invalid> wrote: : I demand that Hans Georg Schaathun may or may not have written... : : [snip] : > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System : > /dev/sdb1p1 ? 120513 235786 925929529+ 68 Unknown : > Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. : : That looks like output from 'fdisk -l /dev/sdb1'. You want /dev/sdb. You are perfectly right. Thanks a lot. Apparantly I do not do this often enough to be less than completely confused. So, then I reckon repartitioning and reformating should be safe... -- :-- Hans Georg http://www.ii.uib.no/~georg/ `This Universe never did make sense; I suspect that it was built on government contract.' (Heinlein)
From: Paul Cooke on 26 Dec 2006 11:03 Hans Georg Schaathun wrote: > On Sun, 24 Dec 2006 21:35:37 +0000, Darren Salt > <news(a)youmustbejoking.demon.cu.invalid> wrote: > : I demand that Hans Georg Schaathun may or may not have written... > : > : [snip] > : > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System > : > /dev/sdb1p1 ? 120513 235786 925929529+ 68 Unknown > : > Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. > : > : That looks like output from 'fdisk -l /dev/sdb1'. You want /dev/sdb. > > You are perfectly right. Thanks a lot. > Apparantly I do not do this often enough to be less than completely > confused. > > So, then I reckon repartitioning and reformating should be safe... > you do realise that repartitioning and reformatting it will make it unreadable on windows boxes. -- XP, unsafe on the information highway at any speed
From: Stephen Chadfield on 27 Dec 2006 04:34
Paul Cooke <paul.cooke100(a)nospamblueyonder.co.uk> wrote: > you do realise that repartitioning and reformatting it will make it > unreadable on windows boxes. There are drivers for EXT2 that you can install on WinXP. My backup drive is formatted with EXT3. This (obviously) works great with my Linux machine and the wife's Windows box is backed up using Acronis True Image which uses a Linux based rescue disk that will restore off EXT3 just fine. -- Stephen Chadfield |