>Subject: Re: [PLUG] stick drive that mounts as /dev/sda (or sdb....)
>
>
>root@noname:~# fdisk -l /dev/sda
>
>Disk /dev/sda: 4043 MB, 4043309056 bytes
>125 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1018 cylinders
>Units = cylinders of 7750 * 512 = 3968000 bytes
>Disk identifier: 0x6f20736b
>
>This doesn't look like a partition table
>Probably you selected the wrong device.
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
>/dev/sda1 ? 100405 247697 570754815+ 72 Unknown
>Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
> phys=(357, 116, 40) logical=(100404, 79, 11)
>Partition 1
> has different physical/logical endings:
> phys=(357, 32, 45) logical=(247696, 24, 51)
>Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
>/dev/sda2 ? 21767 271577 968014120 65 Novell Netware 386
>Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
> phys=(288, 115, 43) logical=(21766, 48, 47)
>Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
> phys=(367, 114, 50) logical=(271576, 60, 42)
>Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
>/dev/sda3 ? 241276 491086 968014096 79 Unknown
>Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
> phys=(366, 32, 33) logical=(241275, 3, 30)
>Partition 3 has
> different physical/logical endings:
> phys=(357, 32, 43) logical=(491085, 14, 39)
>Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
>/dev/sda4 ? 372346 372354 27749+ d Unknown
>Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
> phys=(372, 97, 50) logical=(372345, 119, 25)
>Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
> phys=(0, 10, 0) logical=(372353, 14, 33)
>Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.
>
>Partition table entries are not in disk order
>
>
>
>>
>>From: Michael Lazin <
microlaser@gmail.com>
>>To: Philadelphia Linux User's Group Discussion List <
plug@lists.phillylinux.org>
>>Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 1:07:00 PM
>>Subject: Re: [PLUG] stick drive that mounts as /dev/sda (or sdb....)
>>
>>>>I don't think you can have a drive without a partition table. Most thumb drives have 1 or 2 partitions on it by default. There are a lot of them that come with a separate partition with some proprietary junk you probably don't want. What does "fdisk -l" output?
>>
>>
>>On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 12:40 PM, Edmond Rodriguez <
erodrig_97@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>>>>Is there a reason why mounting a formatted usb stick drive with no partition table would be a bad practice?
>>>
>>>
>>>>>>During a meeting about two months ago, I mentioned I had a 4GB usb stick drive that I could only mount to /dev/sda (or b or c etc..). I eventually learned I could mount it to /dev/sda (instead of sda1, or sda2 etc..)
>>>
>>>>>>The drive mounts fine and I tried putting some large files in it, which also worked fine.
>>>
>>>>>>A comment was made at the meeting that the stick drive had no partition table, which was true. Though fdisk shows me a partition table, the data looks random, and a warning is printed that the device probably has no partition table.
>>>
>>>>>>Someone was also surprised I could successfully mount this drive to /dev/sda. I have googled and seen a few sites discussing doing the same thing.
>>>
>>>>>>All seems well. but is there a reason this is NOT a good practice (using the drive with no partition table)?
>>>
>>>>>>Here is some log information and a "df" command below:
>>>
>>>>>>Aug 13 12:23:28 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: Manufacturer: USBest Technology
>>>>>>Aug 13 12:23:28 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 080501118ed735
>>>>>>Aug 13 12:23:33 localhost kernel: scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access Ut165 USB2FlashStorage 0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
>>>>>>Aug 13 12:23:33 localhost kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sda] 7897088 512-byte hardware sectors (4043 MB)
>>>>>>Aug 13 12:23:33 localhost kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
>>>>>>Aug 13 12:23:33 localhost kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sda] 7897088 512-byte hardware sectors (4043 MB)
>>>>>>Aug 13 12:23:33 localhost kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
>>>>>>Aug 13 12:23:33 localhost kernel: sda:
>>>>>>Aug 13 12:23:33 localhost kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
>>>>>>Aug 13 12:23:33 localhost kernel: sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
>>>
>>>
>>>>>>root@noname:/home/edmondrod# df -T /mnt/sda
>>>>>>Filesystem Type 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
>>>>>>/dev/sda vfat 3940828 4 3940824 1% /mnt/sda
>>>>>>___________________________________________________________________________
>>>>>>Philadelphia Linux Users Group --
http://www.phillylinux.org
>>>>>>Announcements -
http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
>>>>>>General Discussion --
http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
>>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>Michael Lazin
>>
>>ASCII ribbon campaign ( )
>>against HTML e-mail X
>> / \
>>
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group --
http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements -
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