Formatting Slave Drive?

[GregM]

I've been trying to figure this out with no luck. I'm not asking a lot but I just can't figure it out.
I have a 500gb drive that is the main drive that has Kubuntu 20.04.
I want a storage drive that I can just put data on.
I have a 500gb drive for that. I have one partition on it (I figured that out) but I can't seem to get it formatted so I can put files on it.
I've tried GParted and KDE Partion Manager.
In the windows day it would have just been drive E or something like that, but I just can't seem to get there.

Help?

[Snowhog]

How are you connecting it to your PC? When you launch GParted, doesn't it show you the drive?

[GregM]

Plugging it straight in to the Mbrd.
I can see it in GParted and I can change the partition but I can't get to a format section with it.
I'm trying it now with "disks"

[Snowhog]

Was this drive out of a Windows PC by chance?

[GregM]

Yes I had used it once for XP

[Snowhog]

You select the desired device from the left pane. Then you select the partition of that device in the right pane. Then use the Menu or just right-click your mouse and select Delete and then click Apply. Once the partition has been deleted, then you can use the tools to create a new partition and specify the filesystem type.

[claydoh]

If the drive is mounted, you may have to right click on the partition and select the 'unmount' option before any other operations are available.

[GregM]

I was able to get it formatted using the "Disks" application, it took an hour.
There's still a Folder on there called "Lost+Found" and I can't seem to get rid of it. Has a little padlock icon on it.
Can't empty the "Trash" either. It's a Hidden file.
But I am making progress.

[GregM]

Reformatted again in "Disks" this time I used the quick version and it might have taken 15 seconds. Got rid of the "Trash" but still got the Lost+Found folder with the padlock.

[claydoh]

Got rid of the "Trash" but still got the Lost+Found folder with the padlock.

That's not going away. it is part of the EXT4 file system, and would be recreated later on even if you remove it.
The trash would be as well, next time any files are sent to the trash from it.

Once the drive is formatted, you will have to deal with permissions and ownership, next. This won't be overly difficult, but will be necessary.

You will need to find the mount point for the partition, which you can find from Dolphin by browsing to it and looking at the path. it will be : /media/your-username/some-long-string
If you want, you can get around the long string of numbers and letters by giving the partition a Label via your partition tool of choice. Then it will be /media/your-username/Label next time it gets mounted.
Open a terminal, and type: sudo -R chown username:username /media/your-username/some-long-string (or whatever label you gave it)

[GregM]

Thanks guys!
I think I have it about as good as it's going to get.
Another learning day.....

[GregM]

Can I empty the trash when it gets full?

[Snowhog]

You can empty it whenever you want.

[jlittle]

BTW, your thread title seems to indicate misconceptions.

A "slave" drive was an IDE, aka parallel ATA, concept, and the master/slave names were changed to "Device 0" and "Device 1". SATA pretty much replaced IDE about 15 years ago, though it lived on for a while for floppy and optical drives. It's very likely your old drive has a SATA interface, and the "Device 0 or 1" configuration isn't a thing.

Also, the need for "formatting" a drive is IMO an older practice. These days they come formatted. If you want to start afresh on a drive and lose whatever's on it, you'd make a new partition table, then make a partition or partitions.