8 GB Flash drive formatted at 3.7 GB
Robert G. (Doc) Savage
dsavage at peaknet.net
Sat Dec 19 09:31:02 UTC 2009
On Sat, 2009-12-19 at 01:02 -0500, Marcel Rieux wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 12:25 AM, Robert G. (Doc) Savage
> <dsavage at peaknet.net> wrote:
> > Have you tried looking at your drive with good ol' fdisk at a root
> > command prompt? If your Kingston is like my Vebatim, the output should
> > look much like this:
> >
> > # fdisk -l /dev/sdb
> >
> > Disk /dev/sdb: 8086 MB, 8086618112 bytes
> > 249 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1023 cylinders
> > Units = cylinders of 15438 * 512 = 7904256 bytes
> >
> > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
> > /dev/sdb1 * 1 1023 7896506 83 Linux
>
> fdisk -l /dev/sdb
>
> Disk /dev/sdb: 4045 MB, 4045930496 bytes
> 120 heads, 55 sectors/track, 1197 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 6600 * 512 = 3379200 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0x04030201
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
> /dev/sdb1 1 1198 3951100 b W95 FAT32
> ==================
>
> Very weird: it still sees the partition as FAT32, even though I
> formatted it ext3.
>
> > Otherwise, use fdisk's letter commands ("m" for menu) to delete all old
> > and create one new max partition of type 83 and "w"rite the new
> > partition table back to the drive. Then use mke2fs to format that new
> > partition.
>
> Yes, maybe this could work. I'll see tomorrow.
>
> Sleep time.
Marcel,
(Apologies about your name. Yes, it was late.)
Regardless of what filesystem you install in /dev/sdb1, the current
partition table in this device is coded to identify it as fat32:
> /dev/sdb1 1 1198 3951100 b W95 FAT32
When you repartition this device using fdisk, you'll want to change its
system id from "b W95 FAT32" to "83 Linux" with the "t" command.
Are you quite certain yours is an 8 GB device??
> Disk /dev/sdb: 4045 MB, 4045930496 bytes
> 120 heads, 55 sectors/track, 1197 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 6600 * 512 = 3379200 bytes
This says it's a 4 GB device (plus or minus). You now have both gparted
and fdisk in agreement on that point. This means everything else you've
seen and done is correct, and the formatted capacity of this device will
be about 3.7 GB in both fat32 and ext3. (Note that you'll want to use
the "-m 0" option with mke2fs to create an ext2 filesystem (ext3 with
"j" option) with zero space reserved for the root user.)
Get to know fdisk. Even though it's not a GUI, it's very powerful. Used
with care, like a surgeon's scalpel, it can be a very precise tool. It's
the best tool for you to use in this situation.
HTH
--Doc Savage
Fairview Heights, IL
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