22Aug/100
WD20EARS 4096 HDD vs fdisk
Having purchased a new WD20EARS 4096 (2 terabyte hard drive) I was anxious to put the new beast in my home server, format the drive, and get to moving files around.
so I sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc as I normally do..
Disk /dev/sdc: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Disk /dev/sdc doesn't contain a valid partition table
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Disk /dev/sdc doesn't contain a valid partition table
I tore everything apart, ensured the bios would handle the drive, and exhausted seemingly every resource.. until I found that these drives no longer start at sector 63.. they start at sector 64.
http://wiki.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1456251 -- Thanks guys.
Breakdown:
syn@synserv:~$ sudo fdisk -u /dev/sdc
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x962f53fb.
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)
WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to
switch off the mode (command 'c').
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First sector (63-3907029167, default 63): 64
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (64-3907029167, default 3907029167):
Using default value 3907029167
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x962f53fb.
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)
WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to
switch off the mode (command 'c').
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First sector (63-3907029167, default 63): 64
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (64-3907029167, default 3907029167):
Using default value 3907029167
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
Then just mkfs.ext4 and mount.