Arch Linux

sctice

Member

Registered: 2009-06-09

Posts: 6

Can't format a USB drive

I have a USB drive that appears to be quite messed up. Running fdisk on it gives the following:

Disk /dev/sdf: 4040 MB, 4040724480 bytes
125 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1018 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 7750 * 512 = 3968000 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2c6b7369

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdf1   ?      249811      488760   925929529+  68  Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(116, 100, 32) logical=(249810, 12, 29)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(288, 101, 46) logical=(488759, 81, 59)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdf2   ?      171637      241182   269488144   79  Unknown
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(357, 32, 43) logical=(171636, 83, 47)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(0, 13, 10) logical=(241181, 124, 42)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdf3   ?       69548      249981   699181456   53  OnTrack DM6 Aux3
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(345, 32, 19) logical=(69547, 2, 18)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(324, 77, 19) logical=(249980, 117, 49)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdf4   ?      179952      179955       10668+  49  Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(87, 1, 0) logical=(179951, 119, 36)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(335, 78, 2) logical=(179954, 88, 44)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order

I tried using the 'o' option to create an empty DOS partition table, but when I write, fdisk exits with an error.

Command (m for help): o
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0xf7f408ba.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

Error closing file

Nothing happens. I've tried clearing the drive with dd:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdf bs=512 count=1

But checking in fdisk reveals that this doesn't have any effect on the disk.

Looking at my logs, I see the following when trying to run dd:

sd 7:0:0:0: [sdf] Unhandled sense code
sd 7:0:0:0: [sdf] Result: hostbyte=0x07 driverbyte=0x08
sd 7:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : 0x4 [current]
sd 7:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x0 ASCQ=0x0
sd 7:0:0:0: [sdf] CDB: cdb[0]=0x2a: 2a 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00
lost page write due to I/O error on sdf

I don't know what to do at this point. Is the drive beyond hope? Do I need to try in Windows? I'd appreciate any help.

falconindy

Developer

From: New York, USA

Registered: 2009-10-22

Posts: 4,111

Website

Re: Can't format a USB drive

When dd fails, it's probably time to get a new drive.

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blog | ±github

wriggary

Member

Registered: 2009-06-30

Posts: 65

Re: Can't format a USB drive

One thing to try before throwing in the towel:  Try another USB port.  I spent a good 6 hours one night trying to load up an installer onto a USB stick with all sorts of weird error messages.  I tried the other port on the front and bam.  Worked first time.

Do I need to try in Windows?

I wouldn't.  Windows (at least as of vista) won't recognize more than one partition on a USB drive unless it has a certain bit set declaring it a USB-HDD.  (really sucks if you want to carry around your arch-install image on partition #1 and portableapps.com \ documents on partiton #2.)

Painless

Member

Registered: 2006-02-06

Posts: 234

Re: Can't format a USB drive

I had similar partitions on a couple of USB sticks I purchased a year or so back, I guess the sticks were formatted with Windows in mind.  I used parted to remove the screwy partitions:

parted /dev/sdf rm 1
parted /dev/sdf rm 2

(etc 'til all the partitions are removed)

Then create a new primary partition:

parted /dev/sdf  mkpart primary ext2 0MB 4040

(where 4040 is the partition size you want in MB)

That's from memory, so check the syntax carefully!