cannot create ext3 filesystem: no such device or address

kpachopoulos · 04-28-2006, 12:15 PM

Hi,
i am using sarge. I have created with fdisk partitions:
/dev/hda9 for /boot
/dev/hda10 -> /
/dev/hda11 -> swap

In the previous partitions there is another Debian installation. However, mke2fs -j /dev/hd9 and 10 gets me with "no such device or address while trying to determine filesystem size". I've found a couple of things in the net, but couldn't be applied in my situation.
Ideas?
Thanks

camorri · 04-28-2006, 12:28 PM

Quote:

mke2fs -j /dev/hd10to11 gets me with "no such device

I'm guessing, it should be '/dev/hda10'

I don't think you can create a ext3 file system for swap. Swap gets its own file system.

You may want to look into getting a copy of G-Parted live CD. You boot the system with it, and the whole partitioning and formatting process is handled graphically. Seems to work well.

kpachopoulos · 04-28-2006, 12:33 PM

Sorry i meant /dev/hda9,10.

Changed it.

johndoe0028 · 04-28-2006, 01:55 PM

I don't think you can pass arguments in that way (correct me if I'm wrong).

Try doing each partition separately.

mke2fs -j /dev/hda9
mke2fs -j /dev/hda10

PS: If the way you had done it the first time works, then I have been wasting a lot of time!

farslayer · 04-28-2006, 02:45 PM

I had a wierd situation earlier with debian (sid), it wouldn't allow me to creat ext3 file systems so I formatted the partition ext2 then converted them to ext3

mke2fs /dev/hda9
tune2fs -j /dev/hda9

this worked fine, it just refused to create the journal when it formatted the drive.. I have no idea why..

davo666 · 04-27-2007, 08:35 PM

hi, how did you actually change it from ext2 to ext3???

thanks

farslayer · 04-28-2007, 12:55 AM

his second command tune2fs -j /dev/hda9

the -j mean s to create a journal. basically the only difference between ext2 and ext3 is that ext3 has a journal.