Andy Ruhl <acruhl%gmail.com@localhost> writes: > On Tue, Mar 8, 2016 at 9:13 AM, herbert langhans <w3%langhans.com.pl@localhost> wrote: >> Hi List, >> you sure know these little external USB-harddisks, often used for laptops >> or basic backups. Like WD-Passport and Seagate Expansion and whatever >> they name them. >> >> They come FAT formatted, right? Has anyone of you tried to >> reformat them for NetBSD? I guess its not a big thing, but I wonder if I >> can buy any brand (need it for portable server backup and need GID/UID) or >> there are some models what make trouble with formatting, partitioning or >> mounting. >> >> I had some trouble with USB-Sticks. Thats another story, but close >> enough the be alert just buying any plug n play solution what may not >> work later. >> > > Most of these that I've used work just fine. You end up mounting them > as /dev/sdXe and use mount_msdos. /dev/sdXe is just a made up > disklabel that the machine makes to temporarily deal with it. > > Some come formatted with ExFAT now which is not compatible with > NetBSD, and might never be as far as I know. > > You can wipe them and use fdisk and disklabel to turn them into "real" > NetBSD disks without any problem. There might be a few that cause > issues but most work in my experience. Agreed. The only issue is disks with 4K sectors may need newer NetBSD (7) to work right. But 512-byte sectors should have no issues. I have seen a 3T disk (WD elements) with 4K sectors that I can't get NetBSD 7 to recognize. But I think that's an odd disk, not a general issue. And it's not about the filesystem; it's about the disk itself.
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