[SOLVED] need help find my usb device in /dev

gvaught · 06-22-2010, 04:03 PM

This is probably an extreme n00b question, and one that probably isn't distro-specific, but I'm flailing here and would like some guidance.

I am running Kubuntu 9.10.

I am trying to format my USB flash drive/geek stick. It mounts as /media/TOSHIBA/. What I don't know is how to determine which device it is when attempting to do the fdisk -l command. I can't just "guess around" as I've got a 1TB USB drive attached as well. Accidentally formatting that would be, um, less-than-desirable. I could unplug the TB drive and thrash about in my ignorance, but that doesn't really advance my knowledge at all. And I have this NEED to know.

I'm sure there's a simple, basic, CLI command or GUI tool (not real picky at the moment) that I can use, but I'm just not finding it.

Please help, if you can.

brucehinrichs · 06-22-2010, 04:10 PM

The command fdisk with the -l flag only lists devices. It is safe to perform this command to list all your drives. If you post the result, I (we) can help you to interpret it.

David the H. · 06-22-2010, 04:12 PM

Run "mount" without any options, and it will show you a list of all mounted devices and their configuration options.

To filter it down to one line, you can use grep.

mount |grep "TOSHIBA"

David the H. · 06-22-2010, 04:17 PM

By the way, you might be more comfortable using a gui partiioning program like qtparted.

gvaught · 06-22-2010, 04:35 PM

Okay, here is the result of my fdisk -l - don't know if the highlighting will show up in code, but I'm gonna try.

BTW, thanks for the quick response and good feedback. That is why I come here (LQ) first.

Code:

root@mybox:/media/TOSHIBA# fdisk -l                                 

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x66186618

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1           6       48163+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2               7         614     4883760   83  Linux
/dev/sda3             615        6693    48829567+  83  Linux
/dev/sda4            6694        9729    24386670    5  Extended
/dev/sda5            6694        8517    14651248+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6            8518        9125     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7            9487        9729     1951866   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8            9126        9486     2899701   83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 8455 MB, 8455200768 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1027 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1996a19c

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1        1027     8249346   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6e9e0c12

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *           1        9729    78148161    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdd: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe8900690

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1               1      121601   976760001    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sde: 2004 MB, 2004353024 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 7646 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sde1   *           1        7646     1957360    e  W95 FAT16 (LBA)

As you can see, it's already formatted FAT16 so I'm good to go. Again, many thanks!

brucehinrichs · 06-22-2010, 05:01 PM

You're welcome. If you're satisfied with the solution, please mark the thread as [SOLVED] using the thread tools at the top of the original post.