Bug 174675
| Summary: | Write ext3 fs to usb hard drive gives invalid partition table | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Product: | [Fedora] Fedora | Reporter: | Mike Cohler <mdc1> |
| Component: | e2fsprogs | Assignee: | Thomas Woerner <twoerner> |
| Status: | CLOSED NOTABUG | QA Contact: | |
| Severity: | high | Docs Contact: | |
| Priority: | medium | ||
| Version: | 4 | CC: | kzak, sct |
| Target Milestone: | --- | ||
| Target Release: | --- | ||
| Hardware: | i686 | ||
| OS: | Linux | ||
| Whiteboard: | |||
| Fixed In Version: | Doc Type: | Bug Fix | |
| Doc Text: | Story Points: | --- | |
| Clone Of: | Environment: | ||
| Last Closed: | 2005-12-01 11:43:29 UTC | Type: | --- |
| Regression: | --- | Mount Type: | --- |
| Documentation: | --- | CRM: | |
| Verified Versions: | Category: | --- | |
| oVirt Team: | --- | RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host: | |
| Cloudforms Team: | --- | Target Upstream Version: | |
| Embargoed: | |||
Please, be careful with fdisk option. You have to use it for device (/dev/sda) and no for subset of the device (partitions). For example: # fdisk -l /dev/hdb Disk /dev/hdb: 41.1 GB, 41174138880 bytes 16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 79780 cylinders Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hdb1 * 1 79752 40194598+ 83 Linux # fdisk -l /dev/hdb1 Disk /dev/hdb1: 41.1 GB, 41159268864 bytes 16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 79751 cylinders Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes Disk /dev/hdb1 doesn't contain a valid partition table ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ because it isn't disk! To be honest the (s)fdisk command is deprecated and it's better to use the parted command: # parted /dev/hdb print Disk geometry for /dev/hdb: 0.000-39266.718 megabytes Disk label type: msdos Minor Start End Type Filesystem Flags 1 0.031 39252.568 primary ext3 boot Information: Don't forget to update /etc/fstab, if necessary. # parted /dev/hdb1 print Disk geometry for /dev/hdb1: 0.000-39252.537 megabytes Disk label type: loop Minor Start End Filesystem Flags 1 0.000 39252.537 ext3 Information: Don't forget to update /etc/fstab, if necessary. Closing as NOTABUG. Gee, thanks for responding so quickly - I feel duly humbled by my lack of knowledge on this. Best wishes Mike |
From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050922 Fedora/1.0.7-1.1.fc4 Firefox/1.0.7 Description of problem: Starting with a re-partitioning of an external USB drive using fdisk and generating a new primary partion gives the following screen output: Command (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4): 1 First cylinder (1-19456, default 1): Using default value 1 Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-19456, default 19456): Using default value 19456 Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda1: 160.0 GB, 160039240704 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19456 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1p1 1 19456 156280288+ 83 Linux Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered! Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 22: Invalid argument. The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at the next reboot. Syncing disks. [root@home1 ~]# At this point the USB drive was disconnected and the mount point automatically removed. On plugging USB drive back in the mount point /media/usbdisk was created for /dev/sda1 (confirmed watching /var/log/messages at the time) The partitions were confirmed using fdisk, and then an ext3 file system was written using mkfs.ext3 as follows: [root@home1 ~]# fdisk -l /dev/sda1 Disk /dev/sda1: 160.0 GB, 160039240704 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19456 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1p1 1 19456 156280288+ 83 Linux [root@home1 ~]# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1 mke2fs 1.38 (30-Jun-2005) Filesystem label= OS type: Linux Block size=4096 (log=2) Fragment size=4096 (log=2) 19546112 inodes, 39072080 blocks 1953604 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user First data block=0 Maximum filesystem blocks=41943040 1193 block groups 32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group 16384 inodes per group Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208, 4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872 Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (32768 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done This filesystem will be automatically checked every 36 mounts or 180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override. [root@home1 ~]# At this point everything seems fine - HOWEVER checking the partitions with fdisk now generates: [root@home1 ~]# fdisk -l /dev/sda1 Disk /dev/sda1: 160.0 GB, 160039240704 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19456 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk /dev/sda1 doesn't contain a valid partition table [root@home1 ~]# This persists even if the USB drive is removed, and also persists after removing the drive, re-booting the machine and then re-connecting the USB drive. I have tried to re-read the partition table using sfdisk -R /dev/sda and this makes no difference. I have also tried to re-boot the machine after generating the partition but before writing the ext3 file system and this problem remains. How can I get a valid file system on this drive please ? I have seen other postings on the web (but not in bugzilla) mentioning this problem but I have not seen a solution that works. Thanks Mike Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Use fdisk to partition the USB hard drive 2. Remove drive (and also tried with re-boot as well) 3. Re-Connect USB drive 4. Check partition table with fdisk - OK. 5. use mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1 to write file system - appears successful 6. Check with fdisk -l - now there is no valid partition table Actual Results: The partition table is not valid on the USB hard drive Expected Results: There should be a valid partition table Additional info: