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#1 2009-11-02 22:18:56

iru
Member
Registered: 2009-09-15
Posts: 17

USB drive size after Arch install [solved]

Hi there. I've run into a problem a couple of months ago actually when I installed Arch Linux from a USB drive. The stick used to have a capacity of 4 GB (couple megs less obviously), but after formatting it in order to install Arch from it, I only have 182 MB left that I can access. I just followed the 'install from usb' guide in the wiki using

$ dd bs=8M if=image.img of=/dev/sd[x]

Using Gparted on both an Arch and Ubuntu install or the Windows disk management tool on Windows 7, there's another 3,54 GB partition that's listed, but I can't access it no matter what. I'd simply like to delete both partitions and repartition the entire 4 GB as one fat32 partition in order to be able to use it both on Linux and Windows. It's not a problem to format the 182 MB that I can access through any filemanager. But I have no idea how I can regain access of the remaining space.

Anybody got an idea what I might try? I'm guessing there's some clever sudo things I could try using a terminal which I don't know about yet.

Last edited by iru (2009-11-03 09:27:50)

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#2 2009-11-02 22:27:50

grantd
Member
Registered: 2009-10-03
Posts: 17

Re: USB drive size after Arch install [solved]

Ok, I can guide you with Win 7 on this.

Open up the command prompt and type "diskpart"

In diskpart, type "list disk", this will list your disks connected with the system.
Mine list the following:
  Disk ###  Status      Size       Free     Dyn   Gpt
  -----------  --------     -------    -------   -----   -----
  Disk 0       Online      29 GB     0 B
  Disk 1       Online        4 GB     0 B

My flash is disk 1, so I then typed "select disk 1"
Then type, "clean"
Then, "create partition primary"
Then, "select partition 1"
Then, "format fs=fat32 quick"
Then, "assign"
Finally, "exit"

You should now have access to your entire flash drive and it should be formatted FAT32

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#3 2009-11-03 09:27:27

iru
Member
Registered: 2009-09-15
Posts: 17

Re: USB drive size after Arch install [solved]

Thank you so much for the quick help. That worked flawlessly. Problem solved!

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#4 2010-01-22 21:54:06

Cows
Member
From: Brooklyn, NY
Registered: 2007-05-20
Posts: 101

Re: USB drive size after Arch install [solved]

I have the same problem but my goal is to actually be able to install Arch and use the remaining space at the same time. Fedora and Ubuntu's USB Creators let you use the remaining space while still making the usb bootable. I believe it's because they use something called "Persistence", which is being able to modify the disk while preserving your data. Is there a way to enable some sort of persistence with Arch? If not then you would probably have to go the hard way and add all the files individually to the disk and then install GRUB.

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#5 2010-01-26 21:11:05

Cows
Member
From: Brooklyn, NY
Registered: 2007-05-20
Posts: 101

Re: USB drive size after Arch install [solved]

Anyone have any ideas on how to create a bootable usb drive that uses grub but doesn't cut off all the space?

Example:

/dev/sda becomes Arch Linux Core Install (388 MB)
/dev/sdaX becomes inaccessible in Windows.

Ubuntu and Fedora USB Creators install the installer into let's say /dev/sda1 as FAT32 and you can keep the remaining space.

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#6 2010-01-26 21:59:11

firecat53
Member
From: Lake Stevens, WA, USA
Registered: 2007-05-14
Posts: 1,542
Website

Re: USB drive size after Arch install [solved]

@cows - check out larch for the bootable install. Partition your flash drive: 1st(/dev/sdx1) - fat32 for windows accessible storage space, 2nd(/dev/sdx2) - arch install. Install grub to the sdx2 and set the bootable flag. Works great!

Anytime you want windows to see a flash drive, you need to have the first partition as vfat or ntfs.

Good luck!
Scott

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#7 2010-01-27 04:21:26

Cows
Member
From: Brooklyn, NY
Registered: 2007-05-20
Posts: 101

Re: USB drive size after Arch install [solved]

Thanks. I've tried some method like that before but I failed at getting grub to install properly on the device, like it said grub installed successfully but when I tried to boot it said it couldn't boot. Maybe it was the flag that was missing. I will check and report back.

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