Re: Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table
lee wrote:
> Kamaraju S Kusumanchi <raju.mailinglists@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> I am trying to parition a new "Western Digital WD Scorpio Black 750 GB
>> SATA 3 GB/s 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Internal Bulk/OEM 2.5-Inch Mobile Hard
>> Drive" but with no success.
>>
>> $sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb
>>
>> Disk /dev/sdb: 750.2 GB, 750156372992 bytes
>> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149166 sectors
>> Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
>> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
>> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
>> Disk identifier: 0x00000000
>>
>> Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table
>
> That is to be expected for a new disk. IIRC, fdisk (or was that
> cfdisk?) has an option to start over with an empty partition table.
>
> Depending on which version of fdisk you have, there are options you can
> use to turn off msdos compatibility and to turn on something else --- I
> don't remember what these options were, and my version of fdisk doesn't
> have them anymore ("fdisk -n" or "fdisk -nc" maybe?), so I forgot about
> them.
There are some warnings when I tried to use fdisk to create a new empty DOS
partition table. Do you know how to eliminate the warning?
$fdisk -v
fdisk (util-linux 2.20.1)
$sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF
disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x14879ac2.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.
Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by
w(rite)
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdb: 750.2 GB, 750156372992 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149166 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x14879ac2
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
Command (m for help): m
Command action
a toggle a bootable flag
b edit bsd disklabel
c toggle the dos compatibility flag
d delete a partition
l list known partition types
m print this menu
n add a new partition
o create a new empty DOS partition table
p print the partition table
q quit without saving changes
s create a new empty Sun disklabel
t change a partition's system id
u change display/entry units
v verify the partition table
w write table to disk and exit
x extra functionality (experts only)
Command (m for help): o
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0xe3c60b5a.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.
Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by
w(rite)
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
So, I wrote the partition table but the warning keeps coming back if I run
fdisk again.
$sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF
disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x2c2ba04d.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.
Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by
w(rite)
Command (m for help): q
>
> Anyway, make a new empty partition table and create a partition and see
> if you can write that to disk. Always reboot after creating partitions;
> I've seen it going wrong when not rebooting and only re-reading
> partition tables.
>
What do you mean reboot after creating partitions? This is an external hard
drive that does not have any OS. So how can I reboot from it? Do you mean
disconnect and reconnect?
>> 2) Is "msdos" a valid option to choose for this hard drive?
>
> Is "msdos" a useful partition type for you? Try "Linux", and if it
> works, you can try to change it to msdos.
>
There is no "Linux" option. In gparted -> Device -> Create Partition Table -
> Advanced -> Select new partition table type, the available choices are
msdos, aix, amiga, bsd, dvh, gpt, mac, pc98, sun, loop
thanks
raju
--
Kamaraju S Kusumanchi
http://malayamaarutham.blogspot.com/
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