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   Newsgroups: alt.os.linux.ubuntu   
   From: BDB    
   Subject: External USB harddrive, can't write   
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   Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 22:47:36 GMT   
   Xref: number1.nntp.dca.giganews.com alt.os.linux.ubuntu:10191   
      
   Just picked up an external USB harddrive and when I connect it ubuntu   
   thinks it is a cdrom.  It came formatted, probably as fat32 with some   
   files on it, and I can read from it but can't write to it.  It's getting   
   mounted as sdb:   
      
   [17179593.376000] usb-storage: device scan complete   
   [17179593.376000]   Vendor:           Model:                   Rev:   
   [17179593.376000]   Type:   CD-ROM                             ANSI SCSI   
   revision: 00   
   [17179593.376000]   Vendor: DMI       Model: USB2.0 Storage    Rev: 1.15   
   [17179593.376000]   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI   
   revision: 00   
   [17179593.376000]  4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 5   
   [17179593.380000] sd 4:0:0:1: Attached scsi disk sdb   
   [17179593.380000] sd 4:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0   
   [17179593.404000] sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 52x/52x cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray   
   [17179593.404000] sr 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0   
      
   I would like to get it formated as ext3 and I tried to do that with no   
   luck:   
      
   % sudo mkfs.ext3 -j /dev/sdb   
   mke2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)   
   /dev/sdb is entire device, not just one partition!   
   Proceed anyway? (y,n) y   
   mkfs.ext3: Device size reported to be zero.  Invalid partition   
   specified, or   
           partition table wasn't reread after running fdisk, due to   
           a modified partition being busy and in use.  You may need to   
   reboot   
           to re-read your partition table.   
      
   In case it matters the drive is a 500gig "hybridrive" from Acomdata.   
   Any ideas?  Thanks!   
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