Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > linux.debian.user > #270897

Re: how2 format a flash drive

Show all headers | View raw

Hello,

On Tue, Jun 25, 2024 at 09:53:41AM -0400, Lee wrote:
> My question is: how do I reformat the flash drive so it's usable as a
> "normal" flash drive again?

Nowadays, people rarely "format" (*) their "drives".

They create filesystems on raw devices.

For example `mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX`, where /dev/sdX is the raw device
corresponding to your USB key (see the lsblk command, for example).

> Nothing I tried worked.. I ended up putting the thumb drive in a
> Windows machine and formatting it there; it would be nice to know how
> to restore the thumb drive to working order on Debian.

However, for Microsoft compatibility, in addition, you will need
a partition table. Linux, except for booting (because of BIOS
requirements), does not require partition tables.

So, first create a partition e.g. with fdisk[1]: this will make
/dev/sdX1 available in lsblk.

Then again, for Microsoft compatibility, you need to create
a Microsoft-compatible filesystem. One good alternative is
VFAT.

Thus with `mkfs.vfat /dev/sdX1`.

Please double-check you use the right raw device name, as fdisk and mkfs
commands are destructive.

(*) actually the last time I did format a device using a SCSI
    command was in the nineties -- some people differentiate
    "low-level formatting" with "high-level formatting", which
    is better called "creating a filesystem" -- yes back then
    it was sometimes useful to reformat using 256 bytes/sector
    for RAID0 applications :)
[1] https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/create-a-partition-in-linux

Back to linux.debian.user | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

how2 format a flash drive Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-06-25 16:00 +0200
  Re: how2 format a flash drive "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2024-06-25 16:30 +0200
    Re: how2 format a flash drive David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2024-06-25 16:50 +0200
      Re: how2 format a flash drive "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2024-06-25 18:30 +0200
        Re: how2 format a flash drive "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2024-06-25 18:50 +0200
      Re: how2 format a flash drive eben@gmx.us - 2024-06-25 19:20 +0200
        Re: how2 format a flash drive David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2024-06-26 01:00 +0200
    Re: how2 format a flash drive Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-06-25 21:40 +0200
  Re: how2 format a flash drive Joe <joe@jretrading.com> - 2024-06-25 17:50 +0200
    Re: how2 format a flash drive Hans <hans.ullrich@loop.de> - 2024-06-25 18:50 +0200
      Re: how2 format a flash drive Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-06-26 01:30 +0200
    Re: how2 format a flash drive Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-06-25 21:50 +0200
      Re: how2 format a flash drive eben@gmx.us - 2024-06-25 22:20 +0200
      Re: how2 format a flash drive George at Clug <Clug@goproject.info> - 2024-06-26 01:30 +0200
        Re: how2 format a flash drive sd@swampdog.co.uk - 2024-06-27 15:30 +0200
        Re: how2 format a flash drive Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-06-29 18:50 +0200
          Re: how2 format a flash drive Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2024-06-29 19:40 +0200
            Re: how2 format a flash drive Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-07-01 04:40 +0200
              Re: how2 format a flash drive jeremy ardley <jeremy.ardley@gmail.com> - 2024-07-01 07:50 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-07-01 15:10 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2024-07-01 15:50 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive jeremy ardley <jeremy.ardley@gmail.com> - 2024-07-01 21:30 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2024-07-02 05:50 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive gene heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2024-07-02 06:10 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2024-07-02 06:40 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive George at Clug <Clug@goproject.info> - 2024-07-02 06:50 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive Jeffrey Walton <noloader@gmail.com> - 2024-07-02 10:20 +0200
                Telemetry, data hoarding [was: how2 format a flash drive] <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2024-07-02 10:30 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive jeremy ardley <jeremy.ardley@gmail.com> - 2024-07-02 11:20 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive John Hasler <john@sugarbit.com> - 2024-07-02 17:20 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-07-02 10:30 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive jeremy ardley <jeremy.ardley@gmail.com> - 2024-07-02 11:30 +0200
                Re: how2 format a flash drive Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-07-02 22:40 +0200
          Browser traffic interception/inspection (was: how2 format a flash drive) Jeffrey Walton <noloader@gmail.com> - 2024-06-29 22:50 +0200
            Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2024-06-30 03:40 +0200
              Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection Jeffrey Walton <noloader@gmail.com> - 2024-06-30 08:00 +0200
                Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2024-06-30 17:40 +0200
                Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-07-01 09:00 +0200
                Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2024-07-01 17:10 +0200
                Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-07-07 23:50 +0200
                Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2024-07-08 04:40 +0200
                Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-07-08 16:30 +0200
            Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection (was: how2 format a flash drive) Lee <ler762@gmail.com> - 2024-07-01 03:40 +0200
              Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection (was: how2 format a flash drive) Jeffrey Walton <noloader@gmail.com> - 2024-07-01 03:50 +0200
                Re: Browser traffic interception/inspection (was: how2 format a flash drive) Jeffrey Walton <noloader@gmail.com> - 2024-07-01 07:50 +0200
          Re: how2 format a flash drive Keith Bainbridge <keithrbau@gmail.com> - 2024-06-30 08:20 +0200
          Re: how2 format a flash drive Jeffrey Walton <noloader@gmail.com> - 2024-07-01 08:00 +0200
  Re: how2 format a flash drive Marc SCHAEFER <schaefer@alphanet.ch> - 2024-07-06 17:50 +0200

csiph-web