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Re: The additional FAT32 partition on my USB stick is unusable

Hi there,

I've encountered that problem before and I have a solution :)

Actually the problem is that when you plug an USB stick with multiple partitions in a Windows machine, Windows will only show the first partition.

The solution is to make sure the partition you want to see in Windows is the first partition. Then the Debian Live partition will be the second partition. (Or, there may be yet more partitions, too).

The "trick" is that the first partition *in the partition table* is not necessarly the first partition *on the USB drive*
So basically you create partition 2 which is the Debian Live partition
And then the partition 1 which is the partition that will be mounted in Windows

Details:
* My USB device is:: /dev/sdc
[root@samsara] /home/pbn/debian-live>fdisk /dev/sdc
* I'm looking at the partitions
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 2004 MB, 2004876800 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00075233
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *           1         134     1076323+  83  Linux
* I can see one partition, it's DEBIAN_LIVE, it starts on cylinder 1 and ends on cylinder 134
* I'm deleteing partition 1
Command (m for help): d
Selected partition 1
* I'm creating a new partition 1 which goes from cylinder 135 till the end
Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-243, default 1): 135
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (135-243, default 243):
Using default value 243
* This partition is type 0x0b (FAT32)
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): 0b
Changed system type of partition 1 to b (W95 FAT32)
* I'm creating a new partition 2 which goes from cylinder 1 till 134
Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 2
First cylinder (1-243, default 1):
Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-134, default 134):
Using default value 134
* I'm setting partition 2 as bootable
Command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-4): 2
* I'm looking at the partition table
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 2004 MB, 2004876800 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00075233
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1             135         243      875542+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sdc2   *           1         134     1076323+  83  Linux
Partition table entries are not in disk order
* I'm writing the partition table
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Done !

All of that is on my blog, here: (sorry, it's not in English):
http://pierrebauduin.blogspot.com/2009/04/debian-live-sur-une-clef-usb-la.html

Cheers,
--
Pierre Bauduin
Linux enthusiast since 1996
Linux registered user #64711
Debian GNU/Linux user
website: http://pierre.baudu.in/


2009/4/1 Fredrik Israelsson <fredrik_is@hotmail.com>
Hi!
In the Debian Live manual (as of March 31, 2009), in section 3.3.3, "Using the space left on a USB stick", it says that filling the space left on the USB stick with a FAT32 partition (and corresponding file system) makes it possible to use this space with Windows.

I have done this, but Windows XP only shows me the first partition (the Debian Live one) when mounting the USB stick.
I have read that this has to do with the "removable bit". The removable bit needs to be flipped in order to make Windows XP and Vista recognize all the partitions on the USB stick.

Is there any tool in Linux that can be used for flipping the removable bit on a USB stick? I have googled a lot on this, but all I can find is a Windows tool from Lexar, that is said to be tested only for Lexar sticks.

Regards,
Fredrik

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