A friend gave me his usb mp3 thumbdrive and when I ran my "hwbrowser", I saw a /dev/sda alone with no partitions having been created.
These are some of the things I tried:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (root@microtronyx:root)# cat /proc/scsi/scsi
Attached devices: Host: scsi1 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00 Vendor: CREATIVE Model: MuVo TX FM Rev: 0001 Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
(root@microtronyx:root)# cat /var/log/messages
[snip] Sep 27 14:07:29 nusnet-142-106 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 11 Sep 27 14:07:29 nusnet-142-106 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 12 Sep 27 14:07:29 nusnet-142-106 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 13 Sep 27 14:07:29 nusnet-142-106 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 14 Sep 27 14:07:29 nusnet-142-106 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sda, logical block 15
(root@microtronyx:root)# fdisk /dev/sda
Unable to read /dev/sda
(root@microtronyx:root)# mkfs.vfat /dev/sda
mkfs.vfat 2.8 (28 Feb 2001) mkfs.vfat: Will not try to make filesystem on '/dev/sda'
(root@microtronyx:root)# mkfs -t vfat /dev/sda 1440
mkfs.vfat 2.8 (28 Feb 2001) Warning: block count mismatch: found 0 but assuming 1440. mkfs.vfat: Will not try to make filesystem on '/dev/sda'
(root@microtronyx:root)# /sbin/mke2fs /dev/sda
mke2fs 1.35 (28-Feb-2004) /dev/sda is entire device, not just one partition! Proceed anyway? (y,n) y Warning: could not erase sector 2: Attempt to write block from filesystem resulted in short write Filesystem label= OS type: Linux Block size=4096 (log=2) Fragment size=4096 (log=2) 131072 inodes, 262144 blocks 13107 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user First data block=0 8 block groups 32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group 16384 inodes per group Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 98304, 163840, 229376
Warning: could not read block 0: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read Warning: could not erase sector 0: Attempt to write block from filesystem resulted in short write Writing inode tables: done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: Warning, had trouble writing out superblocks.done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 25 mounts or 180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shucks! Everything was hopeless. I can't get a decent format on that thing? Any suggestions anybody? Thanks for helping out.
With kind regards, Didier.
I don't know if this will help.
Check the manufacters site first.
I ran into a similiar problem with a usb-stick and the manufactuers site had instructions. It basically used fdisk to remove and re-orgnaize the partitions into a single partition. Format as usual with mkfs.
-- Robin Laing