Jtdylktuy

I am having some problems with an USB drive that is not working correctly, I am trying to recreate partitions with fdisk or sfdisk but once I do it I do "-l" and there's no partitions.

This is how I ran fdisk:

root:~$ sudo fdisk /dev/sdc



WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to

         switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to

         sectors (command 'u').



Command (m for help): p



Disk /dev/sdc: 1020 MB, 1020887040 bytes

32 heads, 61 sectors/track, 1021 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 1952 * 512 = 999424 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000



   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System



Command (m for help): n

Command action

   e   extended

   p   primary partition (1-4)

p

Partition number (1-4): 1

First cylinder (1-1021, default 1): 

Using default value 1

Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (1-1021, default 1021): 

Using default value 1021



Command (m for help): p



Disk /dev/sdc: 1020 MB, 1020887040 bytes

32 heads, 61 sectors/track, 1021 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 1952 * 512 = 999424 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000



   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdc1               1        1021      996465+  83  Linux



Command (m for help): w

The partition table has been altered!



Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

Syncing disks.

And this is how I ran sfdisk:

root:~$ sudo sfdisk /dev/sdc

Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ...

OK



Disk /dev/sdc: 1021 cylinders, 32 heads, 61 sectors/track

Old situation:

Units = cylinders of 999424 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0



   Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdc1          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdc2          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdc3          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdc4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

Input in the following format; absent fields get a default value.

<start> <size> <type [E,S,L,X,hex]> <bootable [-,*]> <c,h,s> <c,h,s>

Usually you only need to specify <start> and <size> (and perhaps <type>).



/dev/sdc1 :

/dev/sdc1          0+   1020    1021-    996495+  83  Linux

/dev/sdc2 :

/dev/sdc2          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdc3 :

/dev/sdc3          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdc4 :

/dev/sdc4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

New situation:

Units = cylinders of 999424 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0



   Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdc1          0+   1020    1021-    996495+  83  Linux

/dev/sdc2          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdc3          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdc4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

Warning: no primary partition is marked bootable (active)

This does not matter for LILO, but the DOS MBR will not boot this disk.

Do you want to write this to disk? [ynq] y

Successfully wrote the new partition table



Re-reading the partition table ...



If you created or changed a DOS partition, /dev/foo7, say, then use dd(1)

to zero the first 512 bytes:  dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/foo7 bs=512 count=1

(See fdisk(8).)

But when I run fdisk -l /dev/sdc I see:

root:~$ fdisk -l /dev/sdc



Disk /dev/sdc: 1020 MB, 1020887040 bytes

32 heads, 61 sectors/track, 1021 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 1952 * 512 = 999424 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000



   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

and sfdisk -l /dev/sdc:

root:~$ sudo sfdisk -l /dev/sdc



Disk /dev/sdc: 1021 cylinders, 32 heads, 61 sectors/track

Units = cylinders of 999424 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0



   Device Boot Start     End   #cyls    #blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdc1          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdc2          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdc3          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

/dev/sdc4          0       -       0          0    0  Empty

The partitions are not saved. Also that is the same output I get when running -l before trying to create the partitions.

I've also tried parted, gparted and other apps that runs on windows. Nothing created any partition.

I am using Ubuntu 10.04 and I have automount media disabled.

Does someone has any idea why is this happening?

You have to make it a "fixed disk" first, that is make it act like a normal hard drive. Instructions for winxp:
http://www.prime-expert.com/articles/a05/enabling-multiple-partitions-on-removable-usb-storage-devices.php

Similar instructions exist for linux:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/101637/usb-turn-write-protection-off