How to format a 3 TB harddisk?

frenchn00b · 06-20-2011, 12:33 PM

Hello,

I just bought a western digital of 3 TB. Unfortunately Gparted gives error. Gparted can create a about 2TB+1TB, but when it is the whole disk, it does not work.
I tried JFS and EXT4.

My kernel is:

Code:

$ lsb_release -a ; uname -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.1 (squeeze)
Release:        6.0.1
Codename:       squeeze
Linux debian 2.6.32-5-686 #1 SMP Tue Mar 8 21:36:00 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux

Any help is welcome. Thanks

kilgoretrout · 06-20-2011, 12:55 PM

If you want a 3TB partition, you will need a more up to date kernel and parted to deal with that. Drives from WD in that size all use WD's "Advanced Format Techonology"(AFT) which only more recent kernels and partitioning tools can deal with. See the following articles for a good overview of AFT and linux:

http://notepad.patheticcockroach.com...mac-os-part-1/

http://notepad.patheticcockroach.com...-linux-part-2/

The second article discusses partitioning and formatting using fdisk with older kernels but you are probably better off getting the most recent version of the Parted Magic cd and doing the job using their livecd partitioning tools:

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

frenchn00b · 06-20-2011, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kilgoretrout

If you want a 3TB partition, you will need a more up to date kernel and parted to deal with that. Drives from WD in that size all use WD's "Advanced Format Techonology"(AFT) which only more recent kernels and partitioning tools can deal with. See the following articles for a good overview of AFT and linux:

http://notepad.patheticcockroach.com...mac-os-part-1/

http://notepad.patheticcockroach.com...-linux-part-2/

The second article discusses partitioning and formatting using fdisk with older kernels but you are probably better off getting the most recent version of the Parted Magic cd and doing the job using their livecd partitioning tools:

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

Under apt-cache search , visibly my testing is too old already. I will read your article. I hope I have not to go to SID for my 3TB, since I am already in testing and not anymore under stable with my major box.

Code:

$ apt-cache search kernel image  | grep linux
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-openvz-686 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-openvz-686
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-vserver-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-vserver-686-bigmem
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-vserver-686 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-vserver-686
linux-headers-2.6.32-5-xen-686 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686
linux-image-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem-dbg - Debugging infos for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem
linux-image-2.6.32-5-openvz-686-dbg - Debugging infos for Linux 2.6.32-5-openvz-686
linux-image-2.6.32-5-vserver-686-bigmem-dbg - Debugging infos for Linux 2.6.32-5-vserver-686-bigmem
linux-image-2.6.32-5-xen-686-dbg - Debugging infos for Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686

Thank you

propofol · 06-20-2011, 02:02 PM

I have a 4Tb eSATA drive which works with Debian Lenny.

Try this link [cybercity.biz].

Regards,
Stefan