Score:0

External HDD became not visible in the file manager, after formatting

in flag

I'm running LUbuntu 18.04.5. The filemanager is PCManFM.

Via the GUI of the Gnome 'Disks' accessory, I formatted a (till then) good, working external HDD, a 2TB WD 'My Passport', with the intention of having a clean, uncorrupted external HDD to which I could then attempt to backup my Home folder via the GUI of the Duplicity Deja-Dup ('Backups') accessory.

When I formatted the HDD via the GUI for Disks, I selected 'Don't overwrite existing data (Quick)', and I selected 'No Partitioning (Empty)'.

After the formatting procedure, the external HDD is still shown in the GUI of the Disks utility, but it is not shown in the GUI of the file manager, which is PCManFM.

If you offer a solution please make it explicit, step-by-step, whether involving GUI (preferable to me) or Terminal. (For example, I do not know how to move between directories in Terminal).

ChanganAuto avatar
us flag
Make a partition and format it.
heynnema avatar
ru flag
The 2TB HDD should have a GPT partition table. You'll need to create an ext4 partition on the drive and then PCManFM will see it and allow a backup. You don't need to dedicate the ENTIRE 2TB drive for backup... so you can create multiple partitions, depending on your needs.
Hotspur avatar
in flag
The comments by ChanganAuto and heynnema solved the problem! Many thanks! In the Gnome 'Disks' GUI, after I selected 'Format Disk....', a pop-up window appeared and I selected 'Don't overwrite existing data (Quick)' and 'Compatible with modern systems and hard disks >2TB (GPT)', After clicking the 'Format....' button, I selected the '+' icon, and chose to add one partition. I made only one partition as I really don't understand uses/benefits of multiple partitions, and I don't want to run out of space unnecessarily while backing up folders/files to the HDD from my PC.
Hotspur avatar
in flag
How may I mark my initial issue as solved now?
CPH avatar
in flag
CPH
Just an FYI: I generally use Gparted to do formatting of drives, since it allows me to see all connected external devices (even if they aren't mounted). What it sounds like in your case is that the format just deleted the drive, and didn't actually format it.
CPH avatar
in flag
CPH
I think there needs to be an actual answer to mark as 'Answered'. So far, this post only has comments
Score:1
ru flag

From the comments...

The 2TB HDD should have a GPT partition table. You'll need to create an ext4 partition on the drive and then PCManFM will see it and allow a backup. You don't need to dedicate the ENTIRE 2TB drive for backup... so you can create multiple partitions, depending on your needs.

Update #1:

The reason to create multiple partitions on your 2TB drive, is to allow other uses of the drive... for example...

  • You have a dual-boot configuration with Windows, and you wish to share files between Windows and Ubuntu. You'd create a NTFS partition.

  • You have lots of music/picture/video files, so you create an ext4 partition to hold all of those.

  • You have a file/music server running on your computer, and you wish to create a partition to share out those files to the network.

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