formatting a usb flash drive

zatka · 12-12-2004, 12:11 AM

hi guys,

can anybody pls tell me how do u format a usb flash drive under linux?
i have an lg m-disk which linux recognises and mounts in /mnt/flash but fails to copy any data on it.
Under win xp, i get a msg asking me if i want to format the drive. if i select yes it does not format saying windows was unable to format the drive.

pls help me out.
thanks in advance.

nixcraft · 12-12-2004, 12:57 AM

Use fdisk and other normal utilities. Find out device mapped to your usb flash device and then run to create/delete partition:
fdisk /dev/your-device

To format it run command:
mke2fs /dev/your-device

You can also create VFAT partition on it so that windows can same device.

It is that simple.

otoomet · 12-12-2004, 08:04 AM

You should remove the previous partitions. On new usb-stics, you can find arbitrary partitions which, of course, do not work. Use

# fdisk /dev/sda

or whatever your device, delete the pre-existing carbage, make a new partition, and format it using

# mkfs -t vfat /dev/sda1

or whatever filesystem do you like.

Gurus -- are there any graphical frontends in gnome/kde?

best,

Ott