Debian Bug report logs - #299819
dosfstools: mkfs.vfat: unable to get drive geometry for '/dev/ubb1'

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Bruce Dawson <jbd+reportbug@codemeta.com>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: dosfstools: mkfs.vfat: unable to get drive geometry for '/dev/ubb1'

Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 14:50:34 -0500

Package: dosfstools
Version: 2.10-1
Severity: normal

Attempting to run (as root!) 'mkfs -t vfat -F 32 /dev/ubb1' results in

  mkfs.vfat 2.10 (22 Sep 2003)
  mkfs.vfat: unable to get drive geometry for '/dev/ubb1'

Note that fdisk reports the following for this device (its a USB drive):

  root@localhost:~# fdisk -l /dev/ubb

  Disk /dev/ubb: 122.9 GB, 122941341696 bytes
  255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14946 cylinders
  Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

     Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
     /dev/ubb1   *           1       14946   120053713+   b  W95 FAT32

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (600, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable'), (400, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.10-lac0
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (charmap=ISO-8859-1)

Versions of packages dosfstools depends on:
ii  libc6                       2.3.2.ds1-20 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an

-- no debconf information

Message #10 received at 299819-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Daniel Baumann <daniel@debian.org>

To: 299819-done@bugs.debian.org, 299819-submitter@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: dosfstools: mkfs.vfat: unable to get drive geometry for '/dev/ubb1'

Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:24:34 +0200

Version: 2.11

Hi,

I almost daily build usb-hdd live-images which are using vfat as file
system, and thus often format vfat partitions on all sorts of usb sticks
and usb hdds. However, I really never saw any of those 'unable to get
geometry' errors you reported.

Since the version you reported the bug against is very ancient (2.11
made it into the archive over three years ago) and since there is not
any other similar bug report (although usb medias are so popular
nowadays), I conclude that this bug must have been fixed in the
meanwhile and thus closing it.

If you can reproduce it still with a current version (prefered 2.11-5 or
higher), feel free to reopen.

Regards,
Daniel

-- 
Address:        Daniel Baumann, Burgunderstrasse 3, CH-4562 Biberist
Email:          daniel.baumann@panthera-systems.net
Internet:       http://people.panthera-systems.net/~daniel-baumann/

Message #18 received at 299819@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Michal Suchanek <michal.suchanek@ruk.cuni.cz>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <299819@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: Re: dosfstools: mkfs.vfat: unable to get drive geometry for '/dev/ubb1'

Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 20:49:02 +0200

Package: dosfstools
Followup-For: Bug #299819

Hello,

since like 3.0 there is no disk geometry on Linux anymore.

Linux just ignores gemoetry on any drive that goes through SCSI
emulation and uses LBA gemotery. If your disk is too small and you care
about geometry you are out of luck. You need another OS then.

Inability to read geometry does not impair mkfs operation in the
slightest.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: jessie/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (910, 'testing'), (900, 'stable'), (610, 'oldstable'), (500, 'testing'), (410, 'unstable'), (200, 'experimental'), (150, 'precise-updates'), (150, 'precise-security'), (150, 'precise')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 3.9-1-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) (ignored: LC_ALL set to en_US.UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages dosfstools depends on:
ii  libc6  2.17-3

dosfstools recommends no packages.

dosfstools suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information

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