1 (edited by genertic 2019-02-10 16:18:39)

Topic: [Solved] Formatting USB Failure

Let me begin by saying I'm new to this forum.

I created a bootable USB with Ubuntu on it, couldn't natively delete file (so I can reuse the USB for other purposes) so I used Gparted to format it.

I formatted it (see image) I cannot format it with a file system (e.g ntfs (which I prefer), ext3, reiserfs, etc). I'm quite stuck here which is why I need help.

https://i.postimg.cc/kXzJq2X5/Screenshot-at-2019-02-08-19-08-11.png

LOGS COPIED AND PASTED IN ORDER (TIME):

----------------------------------------------------
GParted 0.25.0 --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize

Libparted 3.2
Format /dev/sdc1 as cleared  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
        
calibrate /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
        
path: /dev/sdc1 (partition)
start: 2048
end: 62529535
size: 62527488 (29.82 GiB)
clear old file system signatures in /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
        
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 0  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 67108864  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32013549568  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32014008320  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 8.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32014065664  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
flush operating system cache of /dev/sdc  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )

========================================
GParted 0.25.0 --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize

Libparted 3.2
Format /dev/sdc1 as btrfs  00:00:00    ( ERROR )
        
calibrate /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
        
path: /dev/sdc1 (partition)
start: 2048
end: 62529535
size: 62527488 (29.82 GiB)
clear old file system signatures in /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
        
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 0  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 67108864  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32013549568  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32014008320  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 8.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32014065664  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
flush operating system cache of /dev/sdc  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
set partition type on /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( ERROR )

========================================
GParted 0.25.0 --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize

Libparted 3.2
Format /dev/sdc1 as ext3  00:00:00    ( ERROR )
        
calibrate /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
        
path: /dev/sdc1 (partition)
start: 2048
end: 62529535
size: 62527488 (29.82 GiB)
clear old file system signatures in /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
        
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 0  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 67108864  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32013549568  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32014008320  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 8.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32014065664  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
flush operating system cache of /dev/sdc  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
set partition type on /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( ERROR )

========================================
GParted 0.25.0 --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize

Libparted 3.2
Format /dev/sdc1 as reiserfs  00:00:00    ( ERROR )
        
calibrate /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
        
path: /dev/sdc1 (partition)
start: 2048
end: 62529535
size: 62527488 (29.82 GiB)
clear old file system signatures in /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
        
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 0  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 67108864  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32013549568  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32014008320  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 8.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 32014065664  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
flush operating system cache of /dev/sdc  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
set partition type on /dev/sdc1  00:00:00    ( ERROR )

========================================
There are more errors, but the same error is persistent, thanks for any help anyone here can provide

2

Re: [Solved] Formatting USB Failure

Thank you for including the screen shot and GParted details.  That helps a lot.

So every time you attempted to format partition sdc1 with a file system it failed at the "set partition type" step.  What is odd though is that there is no libparted message reported with that error.

Please provide the output from the following commands to display more details about the device and it's partition table:

sudo parted /dev/sdc unit s print
sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc
sudo gdisk -l /dev/sdc
sudo lsblk -o name,maj:min,rm,size,ro,type,fstype,label,mountpoint

3

Re: [Solved] Formatting USB Failure

here is the data, in order as requested.
========================================
Model: SanDisk Cruzer Glide (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 62530624s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: bsd
Disk Flags:

Number  Start  End        Size       File system  Flags
1      2048s  62529535s  62527488s
========================================
Disk /dev/sdc: 29.8 GiB, 32015679488 bytes, 62530624 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
========================================
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1

Partition table scan:
  MBR: not present
  BSD: present
  APM: not present
  GPT: not present

Creating new GPT entries.
Disk /dev/sdc: 62530624 sectors, 29.8 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 81019C83-A304-40CB-B8AF-0B1FE8CD12B4
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 62530590
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 62530557 sectors (29.8 GiB)
========================================
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE FSTYPE LABEL MOUNTPOINT
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom               
sdc      8:32   1  29.8G  0 disk             
└─sdc1   8:33   1  29.8G  0 part             
sda      8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk             
├─sda2   8:2    0 930.1G  0 part ext4         /
├─sda3   8:3    0   977M  0 part swap         [SWAP]
└─sda1   8:1    0   512M  0 part vfat         /boot/efi
========================================

4

Re: [Solved] Formatting USB Failure

You have a BSD partition table on that USB key.  Very unusual.

Write a new partition table to the USB key (Device > Create Partition Table) and take the default of MSDOS.  Then you will be able to create a new partition containing an NTFS file system.

5

Re: [Solved] Formatting USB Failure

It worked!
I wanted to personally thank you for your help smile