Unable to wipe/delete/anything with second HDD, sdb1

[catscats]

How to delete/wipe/format the second HDD and then use it for storing data?

All operations other than resize, unmount, and properties, are greyed out. The three options that are available are not working.

Details:

1. Have 1 SSD (120GB) and 1 HDD (500GB)
2. Windows 8.1 was installed and both were NTFS.
3. Installed Kubuntu to replace Windows. Clean install.
4. Choose lvm with encryption during installation.
5. 500gb HDD was visible in Dolphin but was unusable. "Unallocated space" and no file system, according to Kde Partition Manager.
6. Pick ext4 and mount point "/home/danny/Storage". Applied operation on HDD.
7. HDD (/dev/sdb1) can now be mounted but it shows only 91gb total (not typo) space in Dolphin. Shows full 465GB in Kde Partition Manager.
8. Kde Partition Manager does not allow any operations on it and neither does GParted

Perhaps I made a mistake by setting the mount point to "/home/danny/Storage" because I think the free space that is showing, 91GB, is of the SSD.
I've tried mounting it and then unmounting it but that does not help in anyway i.e. all operations are still greyed out.

Details of my system:

• Kubuntu 17.04 64bit
• Kubuntu is the only OS installed.
• Laptop
• Intel Core i3 (sandybridge I think)
• AMD hybrid graphics (which is perhaps not active)
• 4GB RAM
• 2 Internal HDs. 1 SSD and 1 HDD.
• No optical drives

And I forgot the tags to use when posting large size images in a forum. [spoiler] tag doesn't work here.

Solution:
Deleted the partition using fdisk

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-...fdisk-command/

[vinnywright]

you can not do anything to a mounted drive ,,,,,,,,, reboot do not mount it and show the output of

sudo parted -l

VINNY

[catscats]

Hey thanks for replying!

I managed to fix it using fdisk. I did have to reboot. I've linked the solution in the original post. I've also marked this thread as solved.

I've set the mount point to /mnt/momentus this time. Do you think its okay? I read that /mnt is for temporary mounting.

[vinnywright]

Hey thanks for replying!

I managed to fix it using fdisk. I did have to reboot. I've linked the solution in the original post. I've also marked this thread as solved.

I've set the mount point to /mnt/momentus this time. Do you think its okay? I read that /mnt is for temporary mounting.

actually /mnt is the traditional place for added user mounts ,,,, /media is being used a lot these days ,,,,,, all my added mounts go to /mnt/<something>

how did you set the mount point ,,,,,,,is it added to /etc/fstab ?

vinny@vinny-Bonobo-Extreme:~$ ls /mnt
btrfs

mount point of my storage drive ,,,,,,,using the BTRFS file system

VINNY

[oshunluvr]

I realize you have solved this but for the record, /mnt/<MOUNTPOINT> is usually used for fixed or permanent mounts, /media/<USERNAME>/<DEVICENAME> is usually used for removable devices.

However, it's Linux and it's your box so there's no wrong way. There's only the default way and your way...

[catscats]

how did you set the mount point ,,,,,,,is it added to /etc/fstab ?

After managing to first delete the old unresponsive one, I set it up using Kde Partition Manger.
"ls /mnt" returns "momentus" in green highlight. momentus is the name I gave the drive.
I checked fstab using "nano /etc/fstab" and it says "/dev/sdb1" and "/mnt/momentus ext4". I think it means it is added? I don't know.

/media/<USERNAME>/<DEVICENAME> is usually used for removable devices.

However, it's Linux and it's your box so there's no wrong way. There's only the default way and your way...

Oh cool. I don't know much so I should probably follow the default way. BTW, setting mount point to "/home/<user>/<device name>" should work fine? I'm just asking. I just assumed I screwed up by setting it in that location.

[vinnywright]

yes you can mount things any where you would like .

lets see the output of

cat /etc/fstab

VINNY

[catscats]

lets see the output of

cat /etc/fstab

I got this.

danny@Machina-Ratiocinatrix:~$ cat /etc/fstab
/dev/mapper/kubuntu--vg-root    /       ext4    errors=remount-ro       0       1
/dev/mapper/cryptswap1  none    swap    sw      0       0
UUID=8149defb-96a2-4a06-94bf-9d92be2138d2       /boot   ext4    defaults        0       2
/dev/sdb1       /mnt/momentus   ext4    defaults        0       0
New     Partition       /mnt/momentus   ext4    0       0
danny@Machina-Ratiocinatrix:~$

So... is it good or bad?

EDIT: Should I be hiding the UUID?

[oshunluvr]

This part is curious:

New     Partition       /mnt/momentus   ext4    0       0

It looks more like remarks rather than fstab code. The proper format for an fstab line is:

[Device] [Mount Point] [File System Type] [Options] [Dump] [Pass]

so the whole "New Partition" part in the above isn't kosher but this line looks correct:

/dev/sdb1       /mnt/momentus   ext4    defaults        0       0

The biggest effect of mounting with an fstab entry is the mounting occurs during the boot process rather than after. So devices that are needed to boot must be in fstab and others that are assumed to be always present should (or could) be listed in fstab. Reasoning being, if a device in fstab fails to mount you may not be able to boot normally. This protects you data in the event of a failure of some sort. Network drives that are supposed to be available all the time - like accessing a server or NAS - can be mounted at boot using fstab entries but with options that allow them to be skipped or time-out during boot. Likely, that last line is out of format so it's just being skipped but you should remove it. Simply using "noauto,user" in your fstab options allow to to specify a mount point to use but not to mount the file system at boot time. Then, just clicking on the device name in Dolphin will automatically mount it and allow access.

As far as where to mount - again, it's your system so do what works for you. I mount extra file systems under /mnt like you're "supposed" to but I mount others that have specific uses in places that make sense to me - like I have a /subvol mount point for the file system that holds my main subvolumes that I often make snapshots of and /backup for obvious use.

The only likely "screw up" that might have occurred with your previous attempt would be not following the fstab line format or not having the mount point created before attempting to mount.

BTW, I can't think of any reason to mask a UUID. They change anytime you format a partition and aren't really useful unless you have physical access to the system. A UUID simple allows a more specific way to address a file system than a non-specific way like device names. Believe it or not, computer BIOSs sometimes change device names (/dev/sda et. al.) depending on boot order or when each device is accessed by the drive controllers. Also, by using a UUID instead of device name you can re-arrange drives or even replicate a file system from one drive to another without the system skipping a beat. So in the above example of a correct fstab line, replace the device name /dev/sdb1 with UUID=... and the system will find the correct file system where ever it is.

[catscats]

that last line is out of format so it's just being skipped but you should remove it.

Okay. I deleted it.

using "noauto,user" in your fstab options allow to to specify a mount point to use but not to mount the file system at boot time. Then, just clicking on the device name in Dolphin will automatically mount it and allow access.

This looks cool. I want to try it. I use the drive only for storage and the default download location is on this device. If I don't mount it myself or forget to mount it, will firefox or other applications be able to mount it when I download something? I could try it myself I guess hehe. I tried searching but didn't find much other than explanations of what it does.

can't think of any reason to mask a UUID. They change anytime you format a partition

Oh okay. I was afraid they were like IMEI or serial number.

[oshunluvr]

Not sure about Firefox, but with Dolphin, you'll see in the lower part of the left panel a list of devices and drives. If you click on the drive in question it should mount it at the location in fstab. Also, you can manually mount it anytime without sudo (this assumes you use "user" in fstab options) by typing "mount " followed by either the mount point or the device name, in a terminal or using Krunner (alt-f2).

It really boils down to how you're going to use the device. If you think you'll be using it every time you use the computer, mount it at boot. If it's once in awhile, maybe not.

You could even get fancy with it - say you know you'll use it when you launch Firefox so write a script that mounts the drive then launches Firefox. Then use that script in your Kmenu entry as "Firefox" and do both actions at once.

There is one caveat to not mounting the drive at boot: If you forget to mount it before saving something to it, you could end up saving a file to the mount point folder instead of the drive. Just something to watch out for.

[catscats]

Okay. I'll keep that in mind when I try it out. Thanks!