w_ashley

Hi, I'm relativly green to linux, not a complete newbie but not a scripter yet.

OK so the external USB harddrive was formated to NTFS as it was connected to a laptop that uses windows xp.

I couldn't write and after attempting to find a linux software solution to write to NTFS I decided I might as well just transfer the files to another USB harddrive and fresh format the drive to FAT32.

So luckily I finish transfering the files, but it isn't as easy as just using windows disk manager to delete the NTFS partition and format a new one for FAT32 life can't be that simple for me.

The disk manager wouldn't work or read the drive due to an RPC issue.

OK so I think to myself, i'll just download a program like parition magic and do it manually. OK. So I do that.. but the partition program gives me all these errors. But I manage to delete the partition. Oh, but now it is reading as raw Ok so now I just need to format it to fat32.
So I download fat32formater as regular attempts to do anything with the RAW were not working on the USB drive.

OK I think I did it.. but this is weird what are all those weird symbols in the lable.. it says fat32.. but what is this... floppy? it was formated as a floppy drive fat32 not a diskdrive fat32..

what now for some reason it isn't reading in windows xp at all.. the usb drive reads just not the harddrive..

So I hook it up to the linux box hoping for releif... well the issue with my linux box right now is that it ran out of harddrive space.

I go into the removable device icon and I get the following message
Insert media or use CD Player for audio CD's

So I think this must be as simple as just changing the filetype assignment in FSDISK or something..

so I run FSDISK .. the drive doesn't show up, only the internal harddrives.

I'm sorta stumped. I have the feeling the harddrive is alright it is just that one program fat32formater formated the drive into a floppy drive now it is reading all weird.

There was a point it read as a 2.8 MB drive. So I think I know what it is doing.. I just don't know enough yet how to fix it.

Does anyone have a script or explination what I can use reformat this drive as fat32 and for it to read as a harddrive not a floppy? It is actually a 20gb drive not 2.8 mb

w_ashley

Well I went to bed last morning and didn't have it fixed yet. I woke up however and the first linux page I saw that I had open but hadn't yet read had the solution.
~ good day so far.

It was just as simple as sfdisk ~incorrectly typed fsdisk and deleting and setting the partition, which I did, not fat32 though but I decided I might as well see about getting a windows plugin to ext3 for the linux box as it might equate somewhat redundant added security against 'immature' windows box hackers who woulnd't be able to read it, without the program

I then move to set the fs structure I'm trying to remember the command
something like mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1

so it stars writting the table..

but I had that out of space issue which I think somehow caused the computer to freeze wilst writting.

I enough was enough I decided to take it out of the external case and format it as it boxes main HD removing an older 3gb HD.

All went well on the reinstall but now I'm looking for an easy way to port the data from my old main harddrive to the new one keeping setting and such, otherwise i need to 'rebuild' software and that is sort of a waste of time and bandwidth, imo. Somewhat unrelated to hardware at this point though.


I sorta did what I was looking to do. Now I just need to figure out how to get the emails I lost back, and if posible port the old hardrive contents settings etc.. to the new drive without any buggyness.