bad block/superblock on new disk?

[M. Fioretti]

On Sat, May 23, 2020 14:46:38 PM +0200, Liam Proven wrote:
> On Sat, 23 May 2020 at 09:35, M. Fioretti <mfioretti at nexaima.net> wrote:
> >
> > Hello list,
> >
> > This is another field in which I had lots of experience, but... years
> > ago, so I really appreciate some pointer/refresh, because the online
> > searches I already tried all give old threads (don't even mention
> > ext4...)
> >
> > I just got a brand new hard drive, and a brand new external enclosure
> > for it. I mounted the drive in the enclosure, attached the power
> > supply, connected it via USB to my Ubuntu box, powered it on, and then
> > went to format it:
> >
> > :~$ sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdb
> 
> OMG, what?!
> 
> You didn't check what device it was first? :-o

Hi Liam,

yes, of course I did.

Wrt to your other fully justified questions, and general surprise:

15 years ago life was simpler, and by this I simply mean that besides
having more spare time, my daily job implied playing daily with
hardware at this, if not much lower level, so everything we are
mentioning today was daily refreshed in my mind. Today, if I may say
so myself, my average level of linux/foss knowledge is higher than 15
years ago, but more focused in other sectors.

But regardless of that: yes, OF COURSE I did some googling before
attaching that drive, exactly because of what I just wrote. And what I
got from several sources when looking up how to format and label a NEW
drive just in from the factory, from a linux/ubuntu prompt:

1) is ONLY AND EXACTLY what I reported here, i.e. "use mkfs etcc and
   then e2label, that's it"

2) again: on several sources, because I would never risk to fry
   hardware typing random instructions from the first bozo found on
   the web, and I usually know how to filter obviously bogus ones.
   Last year I had to play with xrandr to reconfigure my monitor, and
   I spent hours checking and comparing pages, before even attempting
   to type any command, or ask online for support. This time, I found
   3/4 websites saying the same thing, with user comments confirming
   them, and thought "hey, thanks heaven this isn't the messy
   guesswork it used to be in the good old days..."

2) and afaict those two commands worked without an itch on another
   drive, just three days ago,

Marco