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Strange reading from fdisk...

~# fdisk -l /dev/sdd1

Disk /dev/sdd1: 29.2 GiB, 31378272256 bytes, 61285688 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x69737369

Device      Boot      Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdd1p1 ?    1869771365 2038460886  168689522  80.4G 69 unknown
/dev/sdd1p2 ?    1701519481 3571400945 1869881465 891.6G 73 unknown
/dev/sdd1p3 ?          2573       2573          0     0B 74 unknown
/dev/sdd1p4      2885681152 2885733566      52415  25.6M  0 Empty

Partition table entries are not in disk order.

Its not the first time I have seen spurious readings from fdisk.

Can anyone suggest a way of looking at the drive data on the sdd1p1 etc listed partitions? I find it hard to believe that my humble 32GiB flash drive is over a Terra byte in size. When I try to access one of them I get an error message that states cannot access /dev/sdd1p1: No such file or directory

So... is fdisk stuffed (got a bug) or a library thats not working right? Need some guidance on how to fix this.

What I need to do is resize the partition /dev/sdd1p4, using gParted, it has any option to change the partition size greyed out.

Again, is this a gParted bug?

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    Strangely, the title of your question does not reflect the contents of your question.
    – Ron
    May 15, 2015 at 9:52
  • Strangely I am finding that Ask Ubuntu with Chrome on a flaky install is rife with errors... I will see if I can edit it back to what it was originally. Thx. May 15, 2015 at 9:53
  • @ron, when I went to edit it, a different title was showing AGAIN!!! May 15, 2015 at 9:56
  • "Can't resize partiton on Lexar USB drive" is the one you want. correct?
    – Ron
    May 15, 2015 at 9:57
  • @ron, it is the one I changed it to. Its not the first time this browser has posted wrong title or body of a question that was nothing related. IMHO this install of 14.10 has been like a trial by ordeal... May 15, 2015 at 9:59

1 Answer 1

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Here's your problem:

fdisk -l /dev/sdd1

You've told fdisk to read the contents of /dev/sdd1 and treat it as a partition table; however, /dev/sdd1 is itself a partition! Chances are you should have specified /dev/sdd, not /dev/sdd1. (It is legal to put a partition table on a partition, but this is normally done only for certain specialized cases, such as if you've set aside a partition for use as a virtual disk device for a virtualization tool such as VMWare or QEMU.)

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  • @Rod Smith, I was using gParted to look at the partition and to change it but everything is greyed out and not selectable, so I posted what fdisk says because each time I ask a disk or flash related question I get asked for what fdisk says. May 17, 2015 at 21:07
  • Why you posted the fdisk output is irrelevant to my point: You posted the output of the wrong fdisk command. If your fundamental problem is with GParted, you should post a screen shot of its main page and describe its problem in detail. Most such "grayed-out resize option" problems in GParted are caused by partitions that are in use. The solution is to unmount them (if they're filesystems) or disable swap (if they're swap). Sometimes unmounting a partition requires booting from a live USB/CD rather than from your regular installation.
    – Rod Smith
    May 18, 2015 at 13:33
  • @RodSmith The only problem I have is with the greyed out elements that are selectable under every other device that I plug in, it is only this device that can not be altered. So it is more a case of what type of settings will stop gParted from accessing or modifying the current image. Jun 6, 2015 at 8:28
  • Please provide the information requested. A screen shot that shows the problem may include clues about why there's a problem -- an icon you've overlooked, for instance, may indicate that the partition is in use. I've already provided some details on this, but if you need more help, you must provide the information requested by those who know enough to give it.
    – Rod Smith
    Jun 6, 2015 at 15:12

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