I have a couple old ATA (yes, not SATA) hard drive around with USB enclosures. One of them gave me some EXT4 journal error, so I am not sure whether they have a physical problem. Since they are just backup disks, I want to put a new btrfs onto them.fdiskI tried to do this with fdisk. To clean them completely, I want a new partition table, in case there was a problem in there.env LC_ALL=C sudo fdisk /dev/sdcThis is the current state of one of the disk:Command (m for help): pDisk /dev/sdc: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectorsUnits = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytesSector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytesI/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytesDisk identifier: 0x00006dd0   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  SystemThen I create a new partition table:Command (m for help): oBuilding a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x20bf4f51.Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)This warning comes every time with every disk. The value of the flag might differ, though. Now I print the partition table again:Command (m for help): pDisk /dev/sdc: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectorsUnits = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytesSector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytesI/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytesDisk identifier: 0x20bf4f51   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  SystemThat is still empty, fine.Create a new partition:Command (m for help): nPartition type:   p   primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)   e   extendedSelect (default p): Using default response pPartition number (1-4, default 1): Using default value 1First sector (2048-312581807, default 2048): Using default value 2048Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-312581807, default 312581807): Using default value 312581807There should now be a partition that spans the whole disk. When I check with p again, there is a partition.Write it:Command (m for help): wThe partition table has been altered!Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.Error closing fileI am a little clueless on this. I used dd to write 400M of zeros onto the first part of the disks, but that did not change anything.KDE Partition ManagerThis is the original state of the disk:Now I want to create a new partition table:Create a new partition in the unallocated area:Write changes to disk:Unhelpful error message:I am a little stuck here, I have no idea why I cannot just reformat the disks to my liking.I use Ubuntu 14.04.
Creating partition tables on USB ATA drives fails with fdisk and KDE partitionmanager
partition;fdisk