Le 03/01/2017 à 00:42, sdm a écrit :

2048 is the correct default starting sector. I noticed your disk label says "gpt", and fdisk is not recommended for creating a GPT partition.

t(hat's wrong on openSUSE, fdisk was patched to be able to format gpt and I use it often. however, on openSUSE, better use YaST, you can even change partition table from GPT to DOS and vice-versa (expert options) jdd -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

Le 03/01/2017 à 16:00, sdm a écrit :

Someone else in this thread said that fdisk doesn't wipe gpt partition information at the end of the disk (only at the beginning), but I have a feeling this is incorrect as technically fdisk can manage gpt partitions. I just got used to using gdisk as fdisk used to warn that formatting a disk as gpt is experimental. I don't know if it still gives the same warning or not.

there are several fdisk around... openSUSE specific default one was patched by openSUSE to allow GPT. I guess this is also upstream now, but my be not on every version. anyway, better use taST when you have openSUSE, there may be other protections against errors jdd -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 02/01/17 23:42, sdm wrote:

You need to specify mkfs to format a partition, not a block device. For instance:|`mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc1` NOT |||`mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc`. btrfs can handle formatting an entire block device without having first created a partition. Ext4 can't. Example: `mkfs.btrfs /dev/sdc` would create one large partition on a hard drive.| |

That's wrong. If you give the command mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc it will work fine. Which means it's **** dangerous :-) because if you've gone and partitioned your disk etc etc it will simply stomp all over it quite happily, including any data you may have put in other partitions. (I haven't played with it - hopfully it requires a -f option by default, but I doubt it :-( All mkfs expects is a block device, and I doubt it cares whether it's sdc or sdc1. It probably can't even tell! Although running mkfs on a bare drive such is sdc is a pretty stupid idea. Not because you shouldn't, but because nobody else does. And leaving nasty surprises like that for the next guy is exactly what will cause a catastrophic failure, as they do what they think should be safe and it does something nasty on your non-standard setup :-( Somebody modified a system of mine to do that, and every time I went there afterwards I had to watch out to make sure I didn't cause a disaster. Cheers, Wol -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On Wednesday 2017-01-04 20:35, Wols Lists wrote:

On 02/01/17 23:42, sdm wrote:

...

You need to specify mkfs to format a partition, not a block device. For instance:|`mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc1` NOT |||`mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc`. btrfs can handle formatting an entire block device without having first created a partition. Ext4 can't. Example: `mkfs.btrfs /dev/sdc` would create one large partition on a hard drive.| |

That's wrong. If you give the command

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc

it will work fine. Which means it's **** dangerous :-) because if you've gone and partitioned your disk etc etc it will simply stomp all over it quite happily, including any data you may have put in other partitions. (I haven't played with it - hopfully it requires a -f option by default, but I doubt it :-( All mkfs expects is a block device, and I doubt it cares whether it's sdc or sdc1. It probably can't even tell!

Although running mkfs on a bare drive such is sdc is a pretty stupid idea. Not because you shouldn't, but because nobody else does. And

I do regularly. Exactly for /dev/sdc. It's my (scsi) floppy drive. never saw a partitioned floppy. ;)

leaving nasty surprises like that for the next guy is exactly what will cause a catastrophic failure, as they do what they think should be safe and it does something nasty on your non-standard setup :-( Somebody modified a system of mine to do that, and every time I went there afterwards I had to watch out to make sure I didn't cause a disaster.

-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 04/01/17 20:56, Lew Wolfgang wrote:

I never did like Red Hat, it's why I originally picked up SuSE 5.2. But that's another story.

ditto. Except iirc it was SuSE 5.4 for me :-) Cheers, Wol -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

Paul Neuwirth wrote:

On Wednesday 2017-01-04 20:35, Wols Lists wrote:

...

On 02/01/17 23:42, sdm wrote:

...

You need to specify mkfs to format a partition, not a block device. For instance:|`mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc1` NOT |||`mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc`. btrfs can handle formatting an entire block device without having first created a partition. Ext4 can't. Example: `mkfs.btrfs /dev/sdc` would create one large partition on a hard drive.| |

That's wrong. If you give the command

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc

it will work fine. Which means it's **** dangerous :-) because if you've gone and partitioned your disk etc etc it will simply stomp all over it quite happily, including any data you may have put in other partitions. (I haven't played with it - hopfully it requires a -f option by default, but I doubt it :-( All mkfs expects is a block device, and I doubt it cares whether it's sdc or sdc1. It probably can't even tell!

Although running mkfs on a bare drive such is sdc is a pretty stupid idea. Not because you shouldn't, but because nobody else does. And

I do regularly. Exactly for /dev/sdc. It's my (scsi) floppy drive. never saw a partitioned floppy. ;)

Wow, a SCSI floppy drive. Wow. As for formatting an entire drive, we do it all the time - mdraid devices. -- Per Jessen, Zürich (-1.4°C) http://www.dns24.ch/ - your free DNS host, made in Switzerland. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

Dave Howorth wrote:

On Thu, 05 Jan 2017 09:20:56 +0100 Per Jessen wrote:

...

As for formatting an entire drive, we do it all the time - mdraid devices.

I don't recommend that, myself. Too easy to accidentally overwrite the start with something else. I was bitten a couple of times and after that I started putting a small empty partition at the start of the disk, and at the end, to guard against such accidents.

We've been doing it since the beginning, around 2006. Sofar it has not caused any problems or accidents. Once in production, these systems are rarely touched. -- Per Jessen, Zürich (-0.6°C) http://www.hostsuisse.com/ - dedicated server rental in Switzerland. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

Wols Lists wrote:

On 05/01/17 12:07, Dave Howorth wrote:

...

On Thu, 05 Jan 2017 09:20:56 +0100 Per Jessen wrote:

...

As for formatting an entire drive, we do it all the time - mdraid devices.

I don't recommend that, myself. Too easy to accidentally overwrite the start with something else. I was bitten a couple of times and after that I started putting a small empty partition at the start of the disk, and at the end, to guard against such accidents.

You can't do it on your system disk(s), but any arrays that are data only, several high-profile raid kernel coders do it.

(In order to boot from a disk, you need either space to install grub at the start, or an EFI partition. The first will stomp over the raid array and the second will, obviously, force you to partition :-)

As an aside - I boot lilo from RAID1 arrays all the time, works very well. Seems to me grub ought to work too, but I'm not grub-literate. -- Per Jessen, Zürich (-5.6°C) http://www.dns24.ch/ - your free DNS host, made in Switzerland. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 01/02/2017 05:46 PM, Carl Hartung wrote:

On Mon, 2 Jan 2017 17:26:21 -0600 Terry Eck wrote:

...

Disklabel type: gpt This is the problem, Terry. fdisk isn't compatible with GPT (GUID Partition Table). Here's a good overview:

http://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-whe...

hth & regards,

Carl

Thanks Carl, but originally the Disklabel type: was DOS. I thought since my current system drive had a type of gpt I should change it. I could post the same information with Disklabel type : DOS and it would not change the problem. There is some other problem Terry -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 01/02/2017 06:32 PM, Carl Hartung wrote:

On Mon, 2 Jan 2017 17:58:00 -0600 Terry Eck wrote:

...

On 01/02/2017 05:46 PM, Carl Hartung wrote:

...

On Mon, 2 Jan 2017 17:26:21 -0600 Terry Eck wrote:

...

Disklabel type: gpt This is the problem, Terry. fdisk isn't compatible with GPT (GUID Partition Table). Here's a good overview:

http://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-whe...

hth & regards,

Carl

Thanks Carl, but originally the Disklabel type: was DOS. I thought since my current system drive had a type of gpt I should change it. I could post the same information with Disklabel type : DOS and it would not change the problem. There is some other problem

Terry

You don't appear to be using the right tools. 'fsck' is filesystem check and repair, not "format." I think Patrick's suggestion makes the most sense in this case.

I've tried to find the command which will format a HD. I believe fdformat is for floppy disks. Can you be more specific as to command name. Also, I not sure who Patrick is and what his suggestion was in this case. I've looked in /sbin /bin /usr/sbin and /usr/bin with little luck. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 01/02/2017 07:12 PM, Felix Miata wrote:

Terry Eck composed on 2017-01-02 18:58 (UTC-0600):

...

I've tried to find the command which will format a HD. I believe fdformat is for floppy disks. Can you be more specific as to command name. Also, I not sure who Patrick is and what his suggestion was in this case. I've looked in /sbin /bin /usr/sbin and /usr/bin with little luck.

"Format" means create (make, or mk) a filesystem (fs) on a partition or logical volume. So, mkfs is the tool you did not find. It has less than obvious variations, such as mkfs.ext4 and mkfs.vfat.

Thanks to all who replied, including Patrick who ended up in the spam folder. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 01/02/2017 07:13 PM, Carl Hartung wrote:

On Mon, 2 Jan 2017 18:58:13 -0600 Terry Eck wrote:

...

On 01/02/2017 06:32 PM, Carl Hartung wrote:

...

On Mon, 2 Jan 2017 17:58:00 -0600 Terry Eck wrote:

...

On 01/02/2017 05:46 PM, Carl Hartung wrote:

...

On Mon, 2 Jan 2017 17:26:21 -0600 Terry Eck wrote:

...

Disklabel type: gpt This is the problem, Terry. fdisk isn't compatible with GPT (GUID Partition Table). Here's a good overview:

http://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-whe...

hth & regards,

Carl

Thanks Carl, but originally the Disklabel type: was DOS. I thought since my current system drive had a type of gpt I should change it. I could post the same information with Disklabel type : DOS and it would not change the problem. There is some other problem

Terry

You don't appear to be using the right tools. 'fsck' is filesystem check and repair, not "format." I think Patrick's suggestion makes the most sense in this case.

I've tried to find the command which will format a HD. I believe fdformat is for floppy disks. Can you be more specific as to command name. Also, I not sure who Patrick is and what his suggestion was in this case. I've looked in /sbin /bin /usr/sbin and /usr/bin with little luck.

No sense recreating the wheel, so to speak. :) Patrick also responded to your question. The entire thread can be viewed here:

https://lists.opensuse.org/archive/opensuse/2017-01/msg00074.html

I hate to say it but for some reason his email ended up in the spam folder, don't know why. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org

On 01/02/2017 07:20 PM, Anton Aylward wrote:

On 01/02/2017 06:26 PM, Terry Eck wrote:

You don't format with fsck. FSCK is _F_ile _S_ystem _C_hec_K_

...

Any ideas how to format this drive for use and a data storage/backup drive? Use MKFS which is _M_a_K_e _F_file _S_ysttem

PS: you could have found all this with the command

apropos ext4

Thanks for the tip on apropos. I just "love" acronyms. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org