CentOS - Jan 2008 - mounting & partitioning Seagate FreeAgent external HD

Hi all,

As a disclaimer, I'm new to this list and very green administering 
CentOS.  I run it on my test servers and do very basic networking and 
server administration (most users, permissions, and web app stuff).

I have a backup server that I am using rsync to collect important 
in-process file for our digital library from both Windows and Linux 
servers, as well as a specific applications which are updated on a 
separate test server.

This backup server ran out of space and I have no more internal slots 
available to add another disk, so I bought a 750 GB Seagate FreeAgent 
external USB hard drive.  I've seen some various issues out there about 
how Seagate FA HDs go into sleep mode when used in the manner I want to, 
but all of the people posting about that seemed to be able to mount 
theirs with no problem.

I can see the device in my /proc/bus/usb/devices file, but fdisk -l 
doesn't show it at all.  I was trying to mount and partition it using 
Webmin, but I can't figure out the device name I need to give it to 
mount and partition it.  How is the best way to figure that out?  This 
particular server is running CentOS 4.

Thanks,
Tim

-- 
Tim McGeary
Senior Systems Specialist
Lehigh University
610-758-4998
tim.mcgeary at lehigh.edu
Google Talk: timmcgeary

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Tim McGeary wrote:
> I can see the device in my /proc/bus/usb/devices file, but fdisk -l
> doesn't show it at all.  I was trying to mount and partition it using
> Webmin, but I can't figure out the device name I need to give it to
> mount and partition it.  How is the best way to figure that out?  This
> particular server is running CentOS 4.
Unplug the drive.
from root:   tail -f /var/log/messages

Now plug in the drive and watch the messages scroll by.  That'll tell
you very easily what the drive assignment is.

Barry

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Tim McGeary wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> As a disclaimer, I'm new to this list and very green administering 
> CentOS.  I run it on my test servers and do very basic networking and 
> server administration (most users, permissions, and web app stuff).
>
> I have a backup server that I am using rsync to collect important 
> in-process file for our digital library from both Windows and Linux 
> servers, as well as a specific applications which are updated on a 
> separate test server.
>
> This backup server ran out of space and I have no more internal slots 
> available to add another disk, so I bought a 750 GB Seagate FreeAgent 
> external USB hard drive.  I've seen some various issues out there 
> about how Seagate FA HDs go into sleep mode when used in the manner I 
> want to, but all of the people posting about that seemed to be able to 
> mount theirs with no problem.
>
> I can see the device in my /proc/bus/usb/devices file, but fdisk -l 
> doesn't show it at all.  I was trying to mount and partition it using 
> Webmin, but I can't figure out the device name I need to give it to 
> mount and partition it.  How is the best way to figure that out?  This 
> particular server is running CentOS 4.
>
> Thanks,
> Tim
>
If it's a brand new drive it will not have a valid partition table. A 
simple sudo /sbin/fdisk -l will show all drives and their partition 
tables.  The one with an invalid partition table is the one you're 
interested in.

James A. Peltier wrote:
> Tim McGeary wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> As a disclaimer, I'm new to this list and very green administering 
>> CentOS.  I run it on my test servers and do very basic networking and 
>> server administration (most users, permissions, and web app stuff).
>>
>> I have a backup server that I am using rsync to collect important 
>> in-process file for our digital library from both Windows and Linux 
>> servers, as well as a specific applications which are updated on a 
>> separate test server.
>>
>> This backup server ran out of space and I have no more internal slots 
>> available to add another disk, so I bought a 750 GB Seagate FreeAgent 
>> external USB hard drive.  I've seen some various issues out there 
>> about how Seagate FA HDs go into sleep mode when used in the manner I 
>> want to, but all of the people posting about that seemed to be able 
>> to mount theirs with no problem.
>>
>> I can see the device in my /proc/bus/usb/devices file, but fdisk -l 
>> doesn't show it at all.  I was trying to mount and partition it
using
>> Webmin, but I can't figure out the device name I need to give it to
>> mount and partition it.  How is the best way to figure that out?  
>> This particular server is running CentOS 4.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Tim
>>
> If it's a brand new drive it will not have a valid partition table. A 
> simple sudo /sbin/fdisk -l will show all drives and their partition 
> tables.  The one with an invalid partition table is the one you're 
> interested in.
>
Sorry, just read again and noticed that fdisk did not show you anything. :(