Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 17 Mar 2000 10:56:28 +0000 (GMT) | From | James Sutherland <> | Subject | Re: module ppa zip driver vfat vs fat |
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On Thu, 16 Mar 2000, Joe wrote:
> Tim Waugh wrote: > > > On Thu, 16 Mar 2000, Joe wrote: > > > > > Does file work on scsi devices like /dev/sda4? > > > > Yes, but it'll just say 'block special device'. dd a couple of kilobytes > > from sda4 to a tempfile and run dd on that -- dd can recognise some > > filesystems. > > did that.. > it turn out that the filesystem is: > > x86 boot sector, system MSDOS5.0, FAT (16 bit) > > what I still dont get is why I had to dd if=/dev/sda of=./tempf rather > than dd if=/dev/sda4 of=./tempf > > and now I am able to mount it and run fdisk on it as /dev/sda but my other > zip disks are /dev/sda4 > > normal zips disks > > mount /dev/sda4 /zip > > this zip > > mount /dev/sda /zip > > any clues on this?
This all sounds horribly familiar :-)
Normally, Zip disks appear to be formatted as partitioned hard drives, with all the data being in /dev/sda4. Some drives, however, "hide" the first 32 sectors (including the partition table), making the real /dev/sda4 appear to be the entire disk - /dev/sda.
You appear to have a disk which has been formatted without a partition table - so it will work on your machine, but not on others which "hide" the partitioning.
Was it formatted on another Linux machine, BTW? If the user had just formatted /dev/sda, that would explain this, I think.
Fortunately, in the long term, we'll be able to work around this by making Zip drives reveal all the contents to us, so disks should always show up as /dev/sda4 on any machine. (Raw formatted ones like yours would show up as /dev/sda instead, but still be readable on all machines.)
If it works, you should run fdisk on /dev/sda, then repartition it correctly; this will "correct" it and make the contents appear as /dev/sda4 like your other disks, and make it readable on other machines too. Do remember this will wipe the disk's current contents, though :)
James.
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