Arch Linux

mohtasham1983

Member

Registered: 2008-12-15

Posts: 85

My flash drive capacity was reduced after copying Arch using dd comman

Hi,

A few months ago I tried to install Arch using my 1 GB flash drive. I used dd command to create the bootbale USB drive. I installed Arch Linux successfully, however, my USB capacity is now similar to that of Arch Linux ISO file. I tried to format everything using mkfs commands, but I realized that dd command somehow made my USB drive to several partitions. Even on windows I can see those partitions, but can't do anything with them.

Today, I was trying to install Xubuntu on my laptop, so I decided to use my USB again. I used the following command to create my bootbale flash drive:

[PHP]
dd bs=8M if=image.img of=/dev/sdb
[/PHP]

It gives me the following message:

dd: writing `/dev/sdb1': No space left on device
19+0 records in
18+0 records out
158336512 bytes (158 MB) copied, 35.6718 s, 4.4 MB/s

As you can see, it says it was only able to copy 158MB, but when I mount my USB, it says it burned something like 613MB.

I'm not going to use my Flash drive for installing OS anymore. Any idea how I can get back its original 1GB capacity ?

Thnaks in advance.

Pudge

Arch Linux f@h Team Member

Registered: 2006-01-23

Posts: 300

Re: My flash drive capacity was reduced after copying Arch using dd comman

Try this website.

Even though it is a Windows program, the HP USB Format Tool will almost always put the USB Stick back to factory default condition.

HTH

Pudge

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lswest

Member

From: Munich, Germany

Registered: 2008-06-14

Posts: 456

Website

Re: My flash drive capacity was reduced after copying Arch using dd comman

Open GParted and re-format the disk?

I recommend using UNetbootin for creating installation USBs from ISOs if you have trouble with dd.

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Lswest <- the first letter of my username is a lowercase "L".
"...the Linux philosophy is "laugh in the face of danger". Oops. Wrong one. "Do it yourself". That's it." - Linus Torvalds

scio

Member

From: Buffalo, NY

Registered: 2008-08-05

Posts: 366

Re: My flash drive capacity was reduced after copying Arch using dd comman

Open GParted and re-format the disk?

Yep, you just need to partition and format the disk, it will be back to full capacity.  I installed arch with an 8GB stick which was reduced to 1GB when installing.

mikesd

Member

From: Australia

Registered: 2008-02-01

Posts: 788

Website

Re: My flash drive capacity was reduced after copying Arch using dd comman

The Arch USB images are just raw disk images including the MBR/PT and the partitions themselves. Not sure how many partitions are on the images. When you use one it overwrites the existing MBR/PT which is why your partition shrinks. After you have finished with it you will need to repartition and format the device to regain the full capacity.

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