Cannot mount Western Digital 2.0 USB 2TB on Ubuntu Lucid

[Shayno90]

Error mounting: mount exited with exit code 12: Failed to read last sector (3907027119): Invalid argument
HINTS: Either the volume is a RAID/LDM but it wasn't setup yet,
or it was not setup correctly (e.g. by not using mdadm --build ...),
or a wrong device is tried to be mounted,
or the partition table is corrupt (partition is smaller than NTFS),
or the NTFS boot sector is corrupt (NTFS size is not valid).
Failed to mount '/dev/sdb1': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sdb1' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?

Any idea of how to make it compatible with the system and load with the file manager?

[yancek]

Is this a new install of Ubuntu?
What other operating systems, if any, do you have?
Do you have or did you try to set up RAID?

I believe it would be useful if you could post your partition information. Boot the Ubuntu CD and open a terminal. Run the command: sudo fdisk -l (lower case Letter L in the command)post that info here.

Post contents of /etc/fstab file.

[Shayno90]

sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 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: 0x50d0ccd5

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          26      203776    7  HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2              26       20978   168300544    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3           20979       37286   130985985    5  Extended
/dev/sda4           37286       38914    13077504    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5           20979       36618   125622272   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           36618       37286     5362688   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000396746752 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: 0x0002de0f

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1      243202  1953513560    7  HPFS/NTFS

Yep it's a brand new drive, 3.5 inch external hard drive
WESTERN DIGITAL WD Elements Desktop 2 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive - black
No data on the drive as it is new.

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=bf00db6b-11e7-442c-b27b-7e508a37c0cc /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=63fc54eb-ccbe-43ae-aabe-7785981c2d56 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/scd1       /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0

[Rubberman]

Send the drive back. This is a "refurbished" drive that had been returned to the factory, but not reformatted. Insist on a brand new, unused device.

[rcgreen]

This is a "refurbished" drive

How can you tell?

[Rubberman]

A new (bare) drive should not have any partitions on it. Many external drives that have an enclosure will come preconfigured with either a FAT or NTFS partition. I was assuming this is a bare drive. If it is a packaged external drive, then the best thing to do is erase the drive and install Linux on it from scratch.

[Shayno90]

Can I not just install NTFS as a partition in order for the external hard drive to mount on both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.04?

sudo apt-get install gparted ntfsprogs Maybe?

[Rubberman]

Can I not just install NTFS as a partition in order for the external hard drive to mount on both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.04?

sudo apt-get install gparted ntfsprogs Maybe?

As strictly a data drive, yes you can use NTFS and access it from both Linux and Windows. However, for a system disc, your main Linux partitions cannot be NTFS or FAT. Is this to be a system drive, or data drive?

[Shayno90]

It's a data drive, only for storing files and other data formats.

As long as the drive can mount on both Ubuntu and Windows that's all that matters so reformatting it as NTFS should work.

Any tips for reformatting with NTFS (a small guide maybe?)

[yancek]

There must be some program in windows (you don't indicate which version of windows you are using?) you can use to format. Just go to their Control Panel, something like Computer Management, can't remember, haven't used windows for a while.

For xp:
Windows XP: Format backup drives with NTFS

The process should be similar in vista or windows 7?