On 6/2/2011 10:17 AM, fred smith wrote: > On Thu, Jun 02, 2011 at 08:27:00AM -0700, Todd Cary wrote: >> I have a usb drive, /media/disk and I want to reformat it. There >> are several questions that come up: >> >> How can I determine the current format? >> >> Do I use the mkfs command? >> >> Many thanks... >> >> Todd > To throw a caveat into the works here: > > I was reading a while back some articles about the difficulties of > using flash drives, which for purposes of this discussion includes, so > I'm given to understand, not just SSDs but also usb flash devices. > It was pointed out there that many (if not all, may be all, for > all I know) of these devices are shipped with a specially tweaked > FAT file system (FAT, VFAT, Fat32, whatever the specifics were I > don't remember). These specially tweaked filesystems have been modified > to take into account characteristics of the flash device, such that > partitions may begin in odd places, or the FAT may have only one copy, > or may be of a restricted size or in an odd location. All to optimize > performance. Once you've reformatted it, you can never again revert > to the original condition (unless you've saved a bit-wise image of > it with, e.g., dd.) > Fortunately, I am using a HD; not a Thumb Drive. Thanks though... Todd -- Ariste Software Petaluma, CA 94952 http://www.aristesoftware.com