error - mount: dev/hdd5 is not a block device

kp1126

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Feb 16, 2001
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I partitioned this HD with MS Fdisk. I tried to see if linux could see it unformatted or as fat32. Both tries, I got the same message. Any idea what this means?
 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
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Are you sure you have the correct device (slave secondary controller I think) and partition number?
 

kp1126

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Feb 16, 2001
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here is part of my etc/fstab file containing the hard disk info:

/dev/hda5 /mnt/win_c vfat iocharset=iso8859-1,umask=0,codepage=850 0 0
/dev/hdd5 /mnt/windows vfat defaults 0 0
/dev/hdc5 /mnt/win_c2 vfat defaults 0 0

hda5 and hdc5 load fine. hdd5 get the "not a block device" error. hdd5 is the 2nd device on my 2nd channel. Hope that makes sense....thanks
 

Barnaby W. Füi

Elite Member
Aug 14, 2001
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<< I tried to see if linux could see it unformatted >>


well that definitely wont work :p

try doing "cat /proc/partitions", that will give you an idea of what it "thinks" is on your hard drive partition-wise...hdd5 should be the first logical drive in the extended partition of the slave drive on your secondary controller.

try saying that 5 times fast :p
 

kp1126

Senior member
Feb 16, 2001
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<< << I tried to see if linux could see it unformatted >>


well that definitely wont work
>>



I was hoping this path would allow me to format the partition within linux, but it would not even recognize the partition. I was using diskdrake btw. I'll try your method later when I have time to boot into linux...thanks again.
 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
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<<

<< << I tried to see if linux could see it unformatted >>


well that definitely wont work
>>



I was hoping this path would allow me to format the partition within linux, but it would not even recognize the partition. I was using diskdrake btw. I'll try your method later when I have time to boot into linux...thanks again.
>>



You dont need to mount it to format it. Whats diskdrake? :p
 

Derango

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2002
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Diskdrake is mandrake's GUI disk partitioning/formatting software. Its quite nice actually.
 

kp1126

Senior member
Feb 16, 2001
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DiskDrake allows me to format or set mount points. In the past, I have been able to do either or both. HOwever, the problem HD in question, does not even show up. I edited the etc/fstab files to try to mount the drive on boot-up. At first I got that "not a block device" message. After I switched the HD's to different channels, I was getting "mnt/win_c3 does not exist" message. However, that was unformatted, so that may or may not be the problem; maybe one of you guys know. I guess I wont know until I try again. I'll try all this stuff out again when I have time. Thanks for the patience guys, still slowly learning Linux.
 

thornc

Golden Member
Nov 29, 2000
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Did you try dmesg to check if the kernel detected the disk?
Have you tried fdisk -L?
Have you tried fdisk /dev/hdd?

!!