[SGVLUG] FW: Hard drive question

Tue Mar 18 09:35:57 PST 2008

Hi Claude,

Thanks for the help.

You can find the fdisk output you asked for at the end of this post, but
seeing that this is a USB drive it probably won't be a lot of help. ;)

I did format it DOS on Linux, then take it back to Windoze, it failed format
again.

I tried to see the drive with the low level utilities, but as it is in a USB
case it was not recognized.

I guess the next thing to do is to remove it from the case and hook it up
direct to the DOS utilities.

Great question about comparable Linux utilities to Partition Magic, anyone
have thoughts?  Some day Linux will catch up with DOS... ;)

Matt

P.S.  I'm still confused after 20odd years of email about etiquette and top
posting vs. the other options.  What is the consensus on this group?

-----Original Message-----

From: sgvlug-bounces at sgvlug.net [mailto:sgvlug-bounces at sgvlug.net] On Behalf
Of Claude Felizardo

Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 11:50 AM

To: SGVLUG Discussion List.

Subject: Re: [SGVLUG] FW: Hard drive question

On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 11:03 AM, Matt Campbell <dvdmatt at gmail.com> wrote:

> 

> This was sent a couple of weeks ago, but was rejected by the server, 

> anyone have any suggestions?

> 

> Matt

> 

> From: Matthew Campbell

>  Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 1:02 AM

>  To: 'SGVLUG Discussion List.'

>  Subject: Hard drive question

> 

> I have an interesting problem I have been struggling with.

> 

> I have a 260G LaCie USB drive that I have been using under Windows for 

> some time.

> 

> I had a data error on it, so I tried to format the drive.  I get the 

> message "Format didn't complete successfully".  When I try and copy 

> data to the drive I get a "write failed" error around 11% of the way
through the copy.

> 

> I can fdisk, mkfs.exxt3 and copy 100Gig to it fine under Linux.

> 

> I can delete that partition under windows, but when I try and create a 

> new partition it fails immediately.

> 

> I would like to transfer some video files to a Windows user with this
drive.

> I could DOS format the drive, but then it couldn't handle the large 

> video files.

> 

> I don't think I can format the drive NTFS under Linux.

> 

> As far as I know there is no longer such a thing as a low level hard 

> drive format.

> 

> So, what are my options?

> 

> Is there a file system I can create under Linux which can handle large 

> files that the DOS user can read?

> 

> Is there a way to recover this drive so that it can be partitioned or 

> formatted under Windoze?  Would wiping the partition table allow 

> Windows to start fresh?

> 

> Is there a utility under Linux that can rescan the drive and mark any 

> new bad sectors?  Is this what could be tripping up the Windows format?

> 

> Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

> 

> Matt

I really don't like external USB drives because you can't check the status
of the drive.  It could be getting soft errors until it runs out of spare
sectors then it's toast.

First guess, I'd say windows doesn't like the partition table.  What does
fdisk -l /dev/sd? report?

Using Linux, you could delete all the partitions and then create one big
partition and format it and have it check for bad sectors.  Use FAT32.  On
my desktop here at work, I use partition id 0x0b which fdisk reports as "W95
FAT32".  Largest file size for FAT32 is 4 GB I think.

Otherwise, you could use Linux to wipe out the partition table or possibly
create the NTFS partition but let windows do the formatting.

However its sounds like the drive may have issues.  If possible, I'd put it
into a desktop and try and use spinrite to perform a low level format.
Catch is it requires DOS/windoze and you must have a valid partition table.
I've used it to bring a marginal disk back to life but the drive would
usually fail within a few years.

I also used to use partition magic 8 (yet another dos/windoze tool) and it
works fine for FAT32 and ext2/3 partitions but it has issues with NFTS.  I
really wish they'd update that tool but there's been no updates since
symantec/norton bought them out.

If anyone has used comparable Linux tools, I'd like to hear about it.

claude

No virus found in this incoming message.

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10:48 AM

root at scar:9# fdisk -l /dev/sd?

Disk /dev/sda: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00070acf

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda1   *           1          25      200781   83  Linux

/dev/sda2              26        1937    15358140   83  Linux

/dev/sda3            1938        2574     5116702+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sda4            2575       30515   224436082+   5  Extended

/dev/sda5            2575       30515   224436051   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00093692

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdb1   *           1       91201   732572001   fd  Linux raid
autodetect

Disk /dev/sdc: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0005e2ca

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdc1   *           1       91201   732572001   fd  Linux raid
autodetect

Disk /dev/sdd: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0000329e

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdd1   *           1       91201   732572001   fd  Linux raid
autodetect

Disk /dev/sde: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0008f5b0

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sde1   *           1       91201   732572001   fd  Linux raid
autodetect

Disk /dev/sdf: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x35f75ecd

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdf1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdg: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x933dd9ec

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdg1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdh: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x692b8694

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdh1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdi: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 *
512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0xd16d742e

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdi1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux

root at scar:10# 

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