Format a hard drive to work on machine (dell 32-bit). Have installed new 1 TB drive
Linux - NewbieThis Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Location: Bethesda, Maryland, near Washington, D. C.
Posts: 1
Rep:
Format a hard drive to work on machine (dell 32-bit). Have installed new 1 TB drive
Want to format a 1 TB Western Digital drive in an old dell 32 bit machine. Machine has Lubuntu installed and a Virtual machine on which which is loaded Windows 7 (32 bit).
Machine does not "see" the new 1 TB (SATA) drive after I physically install it in the machine.
I have other windows and Linux machines. I have some drive cradles in which I can connect to (windows) USB ports.
Is it possible to use the old Dell machine to format the new drive?
(It appears that this question has been answered before. So I will check those materials as well.)
Meaning when you plug it in to USB you see no system events either in /var/log/messages or by using the dmesg command?
The bottom line is if you see no events upon plugging that drive into the USB then the machine is not seeing it. This could be any of:
The USB port is broken, try another port if you can
The USB port is too old for the technology type plugged in (very unlikely)
The hardware is flawed, but if it's seen by other systems, then it's not flawed, so try another system
Probably some other possibilities, but basically if you plug in a USB device it should at least be "seen" by the computer and by "seeing" I mean that the system log should note that something was plugged in even if it doesn't have a driver which works for it
Yes, new internal drives are typically empty i.e not partitioned or formatted. You will not see it in a file browser like USB drives. However, the drive should be recognised by the BIOS and linux.
There are many tools that you can use to partition and format both GUI and console. I would suggest using gparted. You need to create 1 or more partitions, format the new partition(s) with ext3 or ext4 and then mount and add an entry in the /etc/fstab so it automatically mounts at start up.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.