help with fdisk--is this usb disk broken?

icthy · #1 1st February 2008, 02:08 PM

Hi,

I have a new usb disk that was formatted, partitioned, and working properly until I knocked it off the top of my computer (lesson 1: do not let usb disks sit on top of computer unless they are secured). So, I plug it in, and here's what I get:

Code:

scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access                                    PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 CCS
sdb : very big device. try to use READ CAPACITY(16).
sdb : READ CAPACITY(16) failed.
sdb : status=0, message=00, host=5, driver=00 
sdb : use 0xffffffff as device size
SCSI device sdb: 4294967296 512-byte hdwr sectors (2199023 MB)
sdb: Write Protect is off
sdb: Mode Sense: 00 38 00 00
sdb: assuming drive cache: write through
sdb : very big device. try to use READ CAPACITY(16).
sdb : READ CAPACITY(16) failed.
sdb : status=0, message=00, host=5, driver=00 
sdb : use 0xffffffff as device size
SCSI device sdb: 4294967296 512-byte hdwr sectors (2199023 MB)
sdb: Write Protect is off
sdb: Mode Sense: 00 38 00 00
sdb: assuming drive cache: write through
 sdb: unknown partition table
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sdb
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0

It seems to have lost the partition table. So I'm trying to repartition it using:

Code:

/sbin/fdisk /mnt/sdb

This results in a " Unable to open /mnt/sdb" error.

So, am I doing something dumb, or is my disk trashed? For reference, this is a 500Gb disk, and I'm running FC7. (Please tell me I am doing somthing dumb!) Thanks.

***glennzo*** · #2 1st February 2008, 02:21 PM

It's probably not mounted. May have lost the partition. If it were my disk I'd grab a copy of the GParted bootable disk and see what it can do with the disk.
http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/

sideways · #3 1st February 2008, 03:04 PM

You need to execute fdisk as root, and it should be /dev/sdb surely, not /mnt/sdb

Code:

su -
fdisk /dev/sdb

parted/gparted is probably better

EDIT:
In fact you'll have to use parted/gparted, fdisk doesn't recognize guid partition tables:

Code:

sdb: unknown partition table

Code:

su -
parted /dev/sdb
help
print

lmo · #4 1st February 2008, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icthy

Hi,

I have a new usb disk that was formatted, partitioned, and working properly until I knocked it off the top of my computer (lesson 1: do not let usb disks sit on top of computer unless they are secured).

It sounds to me like it got damaged when it fell.
Maybe the manufacturer will do an RMA and replace it (if they don't know it fell.)

icthy · #5 1st February 2008, 06:41 PM

Thanks for all the advice. Here's what I'm getting with parted .

Code:

(parted) check 
Error: Unable to open /dev/sdb - unrecognised disk label.                 
(parted) print
Error: Unable to open /dev/sdb - unrecognised disk label.    
(parted) mklabel bsd                                                      
(parted) print                                                            
Error: Unable to open /dev/sdb - unrecognised disk label.

Any thoughts on what I need to do to get beyond "Unrecognised disk label" ?

lmo · #6 2nd February 2008, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icthy

Thanks for all the advice. Here's what I'm getting with parted .

Code:

(parted) check 
Error: Unable to open /dev/sdb - unrecognised disk label.                 
(parted) print
Error: Unable to open /dev/sdb - unrecognised disk label.    
(parted) mklabel bsd                                                      
(parted) print                                                            
Error: Unable to open /dev/sdb - unrecognised disk label.

Any thoughts on what I need to do to get beyond "Unrecognised disk label" ?

Make sure the cable is not damaged.
Power everything off.
Make sure all cables are plugged in correctly.
Try one more time.

***glennzo*** · #7 1st February 2008, 09:30 PM

Last thought before I agree that the drive is probably junk, get the disk from the manufacturer, be it Seagate, WD, Samsung, Maxtor, whatever it is, you can usually download their partitioning / formatting utility. Boot with it and with the drive plugged in and see what happens. If no good, then try to get an RMA, as imo suggested or use it to hold the screen door open.

sideways · #8 2nd February 2008, 12:00 AM

If you're sure it was working fine before it got knocked on the floor then things don't look promising, but it might also just be a problem with parted. How did you originally format and partition the drive? (Which tool did you use?)

check if you can read the disk manually (as root):

Code:

hexdump -Cv -n 1024 /dev/sdb