Using Gparted to restore an outboard USB drive -- how long should this take?

[Randy Forston]

ubuntu-users-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com wrote:
> On Mon, 15 May 2006 20:03:44 -0700
> "Randy Forston" <rforston at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> ubuntu-users-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com wrote:
>>> Folks,
>>>
>>> I'm using a Maxtor 300gb outboard USB hard drive with Ubuntu 5.10
>>> installed on a Toshiba Satellite 1905-S303 laptop. Somehow, the
>>> Maxtor's partition table got bollixed up, and how I'm trying to
>>> repartition it (fortunately, little data stored there). Gparted saw
>>> it and assigned it sda1, but it shows the drive as having an
>>> unknown file system, even though it originally was linux native. So
>>> I've got it setting up the entire drive as a single ext3 partion.
>>> But it's taking forever to execute the repartitioning process (with
>>> no activity showing up on Gkrellm's monitor for sda1).
>>> Interestingly, fdisk also sees the drive as sda1, and with a linux
>>> partition, so I suppose something is happening. How long should it
>>> take to complete this partitioning process on a 2.4 GHz machine?
>>>
>>> With best regards,
>>>
>>> Pete
>> <snip>
>>
>> Pete,
>>
>> My guess is that you have some 'junk' data in the boot partition that
>> the partition editor can't deal with, (recognize or delete).
>>
>> I've seen this a lot.
>>
>> You need a utility that will zero, (wipe), the first 63 sectors of
>> the boot block for you. To the next OS you install, the drive will
>> seem as tho it's never been formatted.
>>
>> Maxtor should have a utility on their website to do this, if you
>> don't already have one. They used to use their own version of
>> OnTrack Disk Manager, (which will do this), free on their website.
>>
>> You DON'T want to do ANY kind of low-level formatting, just wipe the
>> first 63 sectors of the boot track.
>>
>> Better time factor, too.
>> Seconds, as opposed to hours.....
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Randy
>>
>>
> Hey Randy,
>
> Thanks for the idea (and sorry to take so long to reply -- my day job,
> you understand). But it looks as though Maxtor's utility is
> windows-only; I tried it with wine, just for giggles, and that didn't
> help. The utility keep asking me to close the write-only window on the
> floppy, which is closed already. I even made sure permissions were set
> so user could activate it, thinking that maybe the utility was seeing
> a permissions problem rather than a physical problem on the floppy. Oh
> well...
>
> Pete
>
Pete,

Almost ALL of the utilities put out by OEM mfgrs for x86 machines require
DOS or Windows.
You can find a number of sources for DOS boot floppy images on the 'net.
Just google'em.

So, you will likely need to boot to DOS 3.x. to run the utility.

I have an OLD copy of Quantum's Disk Manager. It may or may not, run for
your Maxtor disk.
(May or may not, because Maxtor bought Quantum, but after this SW was
released).

If you'd like to try my older DOS version, email me and I'll send you a
zipped copy.
However, you will still need a DOS boot floppy, and I can't say for sure if
Disk Manager will run on your drive.

You could also call Maxtor's Tech support and ask if they have a recommended
way to wipe clean the boot block. Maybe a small standalone utility (probably
still requires DOS...).


Luck,
Randy