I am an absolute newbee at linux. I was just trying to format some old usb drives that i dont need anymore with the command line. I did figure out how to do it but the first one i messed up. I think i deleted a partition but did not format it. Now it wont mount. I have spent a couple of hours trying to figure out how to fix it. If I do the dmesg command i see this. [ 2747.076160] usb 1-1.2: Manufacturer: LEXAR MEDIA
but it wont mount. I wanted to figure this out myself but have not been able to do it. It may be through using parted but i am so new to that also.

At the command line, use sudo fdisk to create a partition, then use sudo mke2fs to put a filesystem on it.

(If you need to create a new MBR, it is the 'o' option in fdisk.)

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You deleted the partition.

Unplug the USB and run the following commands as root:

If you are running a debian variant then

While this is running plug the USB key into the port. the output from one of the last two commands should show you what device this usb is mapped to. Now that you know which device this is hit 'q' to exit tail, now create a partition for it (make sure you use the right partition type):
Now once you have that, recreate the filesystem like so:
Now you should be able to pull out the USB key and reinsert it and it should be mountable.

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Thank you. That was a great learning experience. Really appreciate both of your help.

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