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How do you update fstab after destroying the original file? I am trying to completely overwrite a pendrive with zeros, then create a partition of arbitrary size to store data with no room for viruses.

  1. fstab was fine, for starters.
  2. I ran dd on the flash drive, to fill it with zeros. It was full, within about 2 kilobytes.
  3. I removed the flashdrive and re-inserted it, hopefully I ejected it first, I don't remember.
  4. I ran some commands in the terminal to place a partition on the USB drive. I'm not sure if they worked, or not.

    sudo parted /dev/sdb mklabel msdos
    sudo parted -a none /dev/sdb mkpart  primary fat32 0 2048
    mkfs.vfat -n "Disk" /dev/sdb1
    

    Somewhere among the above steps "you may need to update fstab" messages started appearing.

  5. I installed GParted to check on or fix the partition, but could not see the USB drive.

  6. Other undoctored pendrives function normally.

I was using How do I clear everything (data, viruses) from a thumbdrive? as a guide.

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    You need to provide a lot more info than that. Please edit and describe why and how the "original file" was "destroyed". Which original file? What do you intend to achieve, etc. Creating partitions is unrelated to fstab.
    – user692175
    Aug 1, 2017 at 21:13

1 Answer 1

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Problem Solved. There was a drop-down button in the upper right-hand corner in Gparted that allowed the usb-drive to be displayed, so it could be partitioned. Worked like a charm.

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