Ubuntu

fail gparted contains a mounted file system

Asked by NSzAero12

I have a new IDE hard drive which I keep in an enclosure. The previous owner completely wiped the disk, even the primary partition, making it unusable until I reformat it. I open gparted and it sees the disk, and I tell it to create a partition table, then to format in FAT32. It gives me this error:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Create Primary Partition #1 (fat32, 74.50 GiB) on /dev/sdc 00:00:20 ( ERROR )

create empty partition 00:00:10 ( SUCCESS )

path: /dev/sdc1
start: 63
end: 156248189
size: 156248127 (74.50 GiB)
set partition type on /dev/sdc1 00:00:10 ( SUCCESS )

new partition type: fat32
create new fat32 file system 00:00:00 ( ERROR )

mkdosfs -F32 -v -n "80 GB FAT32" /dev/sdc1

mkdosfs 3.0.1 (23 Nov 2008)
mkdosfs: /dev/sdc1 contains a mounted file system.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm guessing I have to remove the mounted file system, whatever that means, before I can successfully format the drive. Does anyone know how to resolve this issue and format the drive?

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Steven Danna (ssd7) said : 		#1

Try the following:

1) Connect the drive to the computer.
2) Goto Places->Computer
3) Look for the connected drive. Right Click on it and press "Unmount Volume".

Then proceed with the gparted procedure.

If you don't see it in Places->Computer try the following

1) Open a terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal)
2) Run this command:

mount | grep /dev/sdc

3) You should see a line that looks like this:

/dev/sdc1 on /media/VolumeName type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal)

(Many things may be different, such as the VolumeName, or the type, but basically this is where /dev/sdc1 is mounted.)

4) Now, run the command

sudo umount /media/VolumeName

(however, when you run the command /media/VolumeName should replaced with the equivalent value of the output you saw when you ran the command in (3))

5) Now proceed with the gparted procedure.

Can you help with this problem?

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