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From: Kevin the Drummer on 7 Apr 2010 14:37
Hi there,

Am I supposed to be able to use mkfs.ext[34] to format new
external drives over USB? I've never had that work, regardless
of the brand of the drive. I've used two different models of
external enclosures, but they're both the same brand. One model
enclosure has USB and Firewire ports. I was unable to format
over either connection. The other model enclosure has those
two interfaces, but also eSATA. I can't try that interface as
I have nothing to connect to it. In the case of the drives I
tried to format externally 3 years ago, they were connected to
the enclosure via IDE. I ended up installing those drives inside
my computer case and formatting them that way. They've worked
fine ever since then. The drives I just got are SATA drives.
I expect that I'll have to try formatting them when connected
inside my computer's case.

Any comments?

Thanks...

--
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Unless otherwise noted, the statements herein reflect my personal
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From: Grant Edwards on 7 Apr 2010 14:39
On 2010-04-07, Kevin the Drummer <nobody(a)cosgroves.us> wrote:

> Am I supposed to be able to use mkfs.ext[34] to format new
> external drives over USB?

Yes. I've done it several dozen times with at least a dozen different
disks.

--
Grant Edwards grant.b.edwards Yow!
at BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-BI-
gmail.com
From: The Natural Philosopher on 7 Apr 2010 14:55
Grant Edwards wrote:
> On 2010-04-07, Kevin the Drummer <nobody(a)cosgroves.us> wrote:
>
>> Am I supposed to be able to use mkfs.ext[34] to format new
>> external drives over USB?
>
> Yes. I've done it several dozen times with at least a dozen different
> disks.
>
worked for me on a flash stick.
From: Jerry Peters on 7 Apr 2010 16:09
Grant Edwards <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 2010-04-07, Kevin the Drummer <nobody(a)cosgroves.us> wrote:
>
>> Am I supposed to be able to use mkfs.ext[34] to format new
>> external drives over USB?
>
> Yes. I've done it several dozen times with at least a dozen different
> disks.
>
So have I. Never had any problems doing it. I've even build a
replacement disk for a laptop over USB.

Jerry
From: Robert Heller on 7 Apr 2010 16:31
At Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:37:48 -0500 Kevin the Drummer <nobody(a)cosgroves.us> wrote:

>
> Hi there,
>
> Am I supposed to be able to use mkfs.ext[34] to format new
> external drives over USB? I've never had that work, regardless
> of the brand of the drive. I've used two different models of
> external enclosures, but they're both the same brand. One model
> enclosure has USB and Firewire ports. I was unable to format
> over either connection. The other model enclosure has those

In order to reformat the drives, you need to repartion them first. You
should use fdisk (or sfdisk) to delete the existing FAT/MS-DOS
partition and then make a new Linux partition. Note: make sure *none* of
the partitions on the USB are mounted! You can't re-partition or
re-format it if partitions are mounted.

> two interfaces, but also eSATA. I can't try that interface as
> I have nothing to connect to it. In the case of the drives I
> tried to format externally 3 years ago, they were connected to
> the enclosure via IDE. I ended up installing those drives inside
> my computer case and formatting them that way. They've worked
> fine ever since then. The drives I just got are SATA drives.
> I expect that I'll have to try formatting them when connected
> inside my computer's case.
>
> Any comments?

I've never had trouble repartitioning or reformatting USB connected IDE
or SATA disks. My *guess* is that your desktop manager and/or O/S is
automagically mounting the disk (thanks to the hotplug and/or automount
daemons) and your repartitioning and reformatting is failing because the
device is mounted somewhere. You need to manually unmount the disk
(man umount), possibly disabling the automounting (temporarily).
Internally connected IDE disks are never automagically mounted, so that
is never an issue.

>
> Thanks...
>

--
Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software -- Download the Model Railroad System
http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Binaries for Linux and MS-Windows
heller(a)deepsoft.com -- http://www.deepsoft.com/ModelRailroadSystem/

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