External HDs won't format and too busy to unmount

[RogerD]

Help

Having problems with external hard drives. I may be wrong, but I suspect they originated with an upgrade to 10.04 last Christmas. Around that time I also started using Amazon's S3 storage system, and, as a consequence, I stopped using my WD 80G external drive, previously used to backup my important files.

A week or so ago I decided to start using the WD drive again. I can't remember exactly what I did, but it wasn't happy - never caused any problems before. When I plug it in, the on-off light as the front keeps flashing on and off, and when I try to remove the drive I get the message:

Error unmounting volumne
An error occured while performing an operation on "My Book" (Partition 1 of WD 800BB External): The device is busy

Details: Cannot unmount because file system on device is busy

The file system on the WD HD is FAT32, and the file system on my internal HD is ext4. Thinking that my problem be due to some sort of incompatibility issue, I attempted to refortmat the WD HD as ext4. All went well at first, but after about 10 minutes, the format process stopped, and I got the message:

Error formatting volume
Error creating file system: helper exited with exit error code 1:
Error calling fsync(2) on /dev/sdb1: input/output error

Assuming that my WD HD had died - it's about 5 years old - I bought a 160G Samsung S-Series drive - my but they do look neat! Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to have solved my problem. I have exactly the same problems with the Samsung drive - I can't format it and I can't unmount it.


Any ideas, anybody?

Roger D

[Grenage]

Hi Roger,

Are the errors exactly the same for the new drive? Are you able to begin the format process at all? Are all of these processes being done through the GUI?

Open a terminal and type:


sudo fdisk -l

What do you get back? I'm going to assume that just about every pre-packaged external drive is already partitioned and formatted to FAT32.

[RogerD]

Hi Grenage

Many thanks for the response.

Yes, as far as I can tell, the responses are the same.

Yes, I can begin the format process on both HDs.

All these operations are being done through the GUI.

With the WD, My Book, drive plugged in, sudo fdisk -1 yields:


roger@roger-desktop-new:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000ad737

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 18706 150253568 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 18706 19458 6034433 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 18706 19458 6034432 82 Linux swap / Solaris

But this might all relate to my internal HD, I'm not sure, not exactly a terminal expert.

Roger D

[Grenage]

You are indeed correct, sda1 will be your internal drive; does anything show up with the Samsung drive?

It's also worth running:


lsusb

When the devices are plugged in, it will hopefully at least list them there.

[RogerD]

Here's the output of lsub:


roger@roger-desktop-new:~$ lsusb
Bus 008 Device 002: ID 046d:c03e Logitech, Inc. Premium Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 002: ID 045e:009d Microsoft Corp.
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 04e8:1f01 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 1058:0901 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. MyBook External HDD
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 03f0:7611 Hewlett-Packard
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:0990 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Pro 9000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
roger@roger-desktop-new:~$

Both drives are indeed list.

Roger D

[Grenage]

Do these external drives have external power supplies, or are they drawing their power from the USB port? It's not uncommon for the computer to not dish out enough juice for the drive to operate properly. If they come with optional power supplies, it might be worth trying them.

[DeElent]

I find that I have the same problem with a USB flash drive. for example, I attempted to reformat the USB drive i used to install 11.04 on a friends computer (as it is my only flash drive) and I received the same error messages as posted by Roger. I ended up using a Micro$haft machine to reformat it.

[RogerD]

I don't think it's a power supply problem. The WD HD has always had an external power supply

[RogerD]

Interesting suggestion. I've got windows XP installed, running under Virtual Box, I'll give it a try.

[Grenage]

I'm just running through possible causes; if there's an external power supply then it's a moot point.

If you boot from a liveCD (assuming you have one), are the drives detected? This will at least rule out install-specific problems.

[RogerD]

Alas, didn't work, XP didn't detect any of my drives

[RogerD]

I've got a live CD - I'll give it a go.

[RogerD]

OK, I've booted from the live CD, mounted both external HDs, and tried formatting the WD device, with FAT32 this times. The result is exactly the same - the formatting seems to be going along fine, but then I get a formatting error message.

[Grenage]

So they at least show up when booting from a CD? In that case, could you try partitioning and formatting them from a command line?


sudo fdisk /dev/xxx

Where xxx would be the drive, such as sdb, sdc (not sdb1, sdc1). From there you should be able to print out, delete and create new partitions.

Once done, try formatting it using:


sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/xxxx

Where xxxx is the partition, such as sdb1, sdc1 (not sdb, sdc).

[RogerD]

Ah, now you've lost me.

Using the Disk Utility, I've found the WD HD as /dev/sdb1. So the command is sudo fdisk /dev/sdb right? Seems a bit hairy, an a instead of a b and I could be messing with my internal HD

What do you mean by 'print out, delete and create new partitions?

[PowerBarry43]

You could try using a Gparted liveCD which you can download here: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

hope that helps

Barry

[RogerD]

Hi Barry

Thanks for joining in. I've already tried Gparted, but the format option is greyed out

[Grenage]

Ah, now you've lost me.

Using the Disk Utility, I've found the WD HD as /dev/sdb1. So the command is sudo fdisk /dev/sdb right? Seems a bit hairy, an a instead of a b and I could be messing with my internal HD

What do you mean by 'print out, delete and create new partitions?

Yes, you need to be very careful when using it. If using the live CD, you could even unplug your computer hard drive. If the option in Gparted is greyed out, then I would imagine that the drive has either not been partitioned, or is currently mounted.

[RogerD]

Happy to be careful, but I need to know where I'm going. Please confirm that
sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

is the correct command, and explain what you mean by

print out, delete and create new partitions

[Grenage]

Well when you type:


sudo fdisk -l

It should list your current drives, and any partitions that are present; here is an example of the output on my computer:


Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160040803840 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000d4bea

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 18662 149902483+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 18663 19457 6385837+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 18663 19457 6385806 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf517ebd2

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 19457 156288321 83 Linux

sda is my primary drive, and it holds three partitions which are labelled sda1, sda2 and sda5. sdb is a generic data drive with one partition, labelled sdb1. Sorry if this is obvious, but it never hurts to be complete.

Let's assume that sdb is an external drive and we want to format it, first we'd run fdisk and reference that drive:


sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

You can press m for a list of commands; the most common being:

p Print/display the drive's current partitions.
d Delete a partition.
n Create a new partition (follow the prompts).
t Choose the ID type of a partition (83=Linux).
w Write changes and exit.

You would generally use them in that order, skipping the deletion or addition as is required. Once that is done, you can format the partition using:


sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

All of this 'should' be possible through gparted.

[RogerD]

OK doing this, I've added a new partition, and I'm now being asked whether to input e extended or p primary partition (1-4)

Not quite sure what I'm doing, but what should it be?

[Grenage]

I'd go with Primary, since you're only using one partition (you're limited to 4 primaries per drive).

After that, the defaults should be fine; those are in brackets at the end of the question.

[RogerD]

Here's the result:

p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First sector (2048-156301487, default 2048):
Using default value 2048
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-156301487, default 156301487):
Using default value 156301487

Command (m for help):
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at
the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)

Looks as though I've still got a busy drive.

Makes you want to tear your hair out, but thanks for all your detailed help.

[RogerD]

Here's the result:

p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First sector (2048-156301487, default 2048):
Using default value 2048
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-156301487, default 156301487):
Using default value 156301487

Command (m for help):
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at
the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)

Looks as though I've still got a busy drive.

Makes you want to tear your hair out, but thanks for all your detailed help.

[Grenage]

Save your hair! ;) It's possible that after a reboot the partition table will be used, so try that first. If not, does this result in anything?:


sudo lsof /dev/sdx

Hopefully it will output anything that's locking the drive; I've never had to go this far.

[RogerD]

Reboot didn't help

Not sure what to make of:


roger@roger-desktop-new:~$ sudo lsof /dev/sdx
[sudo] password for roger:
lsof: WARNING: can't stat() fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon file system /home/roger/.gvfs
Output information may be incomplete.
lsof: status error on /dev/sdx: No such file or directory
lsof 4.81
latest revision: ftp://lsof.itap.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix/lsof/
latest FAQ: ftp://lsof.itap.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix/lsof/FAQ
latest man page: ftp://lsof.itap.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix/lsof/lsof_man
usage: [-?abhlnNoOPRtUvVX] [+|-c c] [+|-d s] [+D D] [+|-f[gG]]
[-F [f]] [-g [s]] [-i [i]] [+|-L [l]] [+m [m]] [+|-M] [-o [o]] [-p s]
[+|-r [t]] [-s [p:s]] [-S [t]] [-T [t]] [-u s] [+|-w] [-x [fl]] [--] [names]
Use the ``-h'' option to get more help information.
roger@roger-desktop-new:~$

[Grenage]

I'm an idiot; what I should have also added was that you need to replace x with whatever your drive number is. For example:


sudo lsof /dev/sdb

[RogerD]

Hmm... interesting:

roger@roger-desktop-new:~$ sudo lsof /dev/sdb
[sudo] password for roger:
lsof: WARNING: can't stat() fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon file system /home/roger/.gvfs
Output information may be incomplete.
roger@roger-desktop-new:~$

[Grenage]

Clutching at straws stuff, but after attempting to make the partition changes, does running this make any difference?


sudo partprobe /dev/sdb

Also, before trying to make the changes, ensure it's not being automounted (or trying to be):


sudo umount /dev/sdb1

[RogerD]

Hmm.... again


roger@roger-desktop-new:~$ sudo umount /dev/sdb1
roger@roger-desktop-new:~$
roger@roger-desktop-new:~$ sudo partprobe /dev/sdb
roger@roger-desktop-new:~$

Disk Utility tells me the drive is unmounted

[Grenage]

Hmm.... again


roger@roger-desktop-new:~$ sudo umount /dev/sdb1
roger@roger-desktop-new:~$
roger@roger-desktop-new:~$ sudo partprobe /dev/sdb
roger@roger-desktop-new:~$

Disk Utility tells me the drive is unmounted

I'm running out of things to suggest, although I'm happy to have a peruse on google. Does anything relevant appear in /var/log/syslog?

[RogerD]

Thanks for all your help - I've got to shut the PC down now, going out for the evening.

I'm thinking of taking the drives round to a friend, with a Windows PC, and reformatting to FAT32 under Windows.

If inspiration strikes do let me know

[RogerD]

SOLVED

Oh dear.. finally got to the bottom of this one.

Both my external HDs were connected to USB port on an expansion card - fitted at the same time as I upgraded to 10.04. When I connected the Samsung drive to a spare USB port on the front of my PC, everything worked perfectly.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's help - I'll have to put this down to experience. There's nothing wrong with 10.04.

Roger D

[Grenage]

Glad to hear it! I didn't bother suggesting another port, as you had two devices. The expansion card is at least an easy fix. :)