Exotic harddisk (new) ...

DDirtyAngel · Oct 9, 2023

Hello everybody !!

I purchased (at alibaba) an hard-disk. Well ... I know that rumors say, there would be spyware ...
... but I don't care about rumors.
This hard-disk has 256 TB (!) with two partitions - each at about 128 TB and I paid only 25 Euro for this.
Yes only 25 and not 25 thousand !!

Command lsusb - delivered ... after I deleted the Microsoft partitioned datas :

Bus 002 Device 017: ID 048d:1234 Integrated Technology Express, Inc. Chipsbank CBM2199 Flash Drive
Bus 002 Device 016: ID 048d:1234 Integrated Technology Express, Inc. Chipsbank CBM2199 Flash Drive
Bus 002 Device 015: ID 214b:7250 Huasheng Electronics USB2.0 HUB

Apparently there are after deletion of pre-formatted partitions then on each partition 1 MB datas, which
cannot be "defined".

To format it then with gparted, then failed because of error occurred ?!

I tried to format with ext4 and used partition table gpt for to edit 128 TB first as test.
But it failed and gpt seems not to work correctly ?! I tried to ignore the "failures" while gpt-ing and then
it was accepted as first partition before I tried to format then with ext4.

I do not know if gpt-partition-table is currently working correct ?

Report of GParted is as follows :

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

GParted 1.5.0

configuration --enable-online-resize

libparted 3.6

========================================

Laufwerk:	/dev/sda
Modell:	Seagate Backup+ BL
Seriennummer:	
Sektorgröße:	512
Sektoren insgesamt:	1953525167
 
Köpfe:	255
Sektoren/Spuren:	2
Zylinder:	3830441
 
Partitionstabelle:	msdos
 
Partition	Typ	Anfang	Ende	Markierungen	Partitionsname	Dateisystem	Bezeichnung	Einhängepunkt
/dev/sda1	Primär	2048	1003519	boot		ext4		/boot
/dev/sda2	Primär	1003520	1953523213	lvm		luks		/dev/mapper/luks-3d673001-75ea-4f4b-8e37-d56a790c050e
========================================

Laufwerk:	/dev/sdc
Modell:	SDK SSD
Seriennummer:	
Sektorgröße:	4096
Sektoren insgesamt:	32768000000
 
Köpfe:	255
Sektoren/Spuren:	9
Zylinder:	14277995
 
Partitionstabelle:	gpt
 
Partition	Typ	Anfang	Ende	Markierungen	Partitionsname	Dateisystem	Bezeichnung	Einhängepunkt
========================================

Laufwerk:	/dev/sdd
Modell:	SDK SSD
Seriennummer:	
Sektorgröße:	4096
Sektoren insgesamt:	32768000000
 
Köpfe:	255
Sektoren/Spuren:	9
Zylinder:	14277995
 
Partitionstabelle:	gpt
 
Partition	Typ	Anfang	Ende	Markierungen	Partitionsname	Dateisystem	Bezeichnung	Einhängepunkt
========================================

Primäre Partition Nr. 1 (ext4, 122.07 TiB) auf /dev/sdc erstellen  00:04:52    ( FEHLER )
    	
Leere Partition erstellen  00:00:10    ( ERFOLG )
    	
Pfad: /dev/sdc1 (Partition)
Anfang: 256
Ende: 32767999743
Größe: 32767999488 (122.07 TiB)
libparted-Benachrichtigungen    ( INFO )
    	
Eingabe-/Ausgabefehler, während von /dev/sdc gelesen wurde
The backup GPT table is corrupt, but the primary appears OK, so that will be used.
Eingabe-/Ausgabefehler, während auf /dev/sdc geschrieben wurde
Alte Dateisystem-Signaturen auf /dev/sdc1 löschen  00:00:04    ( ERFOLG )
    	
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 0  00:00:00    ( ERFOLG )
    	
libparted-Benachrichtigungen    ( INFO )
    	
Eingabe-/Ausgabefehler, während von /dev/sdc gelesen wurde
The backup GPT table is corrupt, but the primary appears OK, so that will be used.
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 67108864  00:00:00    ( ERFOLG )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 274877906944  00:00:00    ( ERFOLG )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 134217724321792  00:00:00    ( ERFOLG )
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 134217725378560  00:00:00    ( ERFOLG )
Betriebssystem-Zwischenspeicher von /dev/sdc leeren  00:00:01    ( ERFOLG )
    	
libparted-Benachrichtigungen    ( INFO )
    	
Eingabe-/Ausgabefehler, während auf /dev/sdc geschrieben wurde
Partitionstyp auf /dev/sdc1 festlegen  00:00:05    ( ERFOLG )
    	
Neue Partitionstyp: ext4
libparted-Benachrichtigungen    ( INFO )
    	
Eingabe-/Ausgabefehler, während von /dev/sdc gelesen wurde
The backup GPT table is corrupt, but the primary appears OK, so that will be used.
Eingabe-/Ausgabefehler, während auf /dev/sdc geschrieben wurde
Neues ext4-Dateisystem erzeugen  00:04:33    ( FEHLER )
    	
mkfs.ext4 -F -O 64bit -L '' '/dev/sdc1'  00:04:33    ( FEHLER )
    	
Ein Dateisystem mit 32767999488 (4k) Blöcken und 2048000000 Inodes wird erzeugt.
UUID des Dateisystems: b9ed3f9d-b50a-4b7d-9415-dcfc5466aa81
Superblock-Sicherungskopien gespeichert in den Blöcken:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616, 78675968,
102400000, 214990848, 512000000, 550731776, 644972544, 1934917632,
2560000000, 3855122432, 5804752896, 12800000000, 17414258688,
26985857024

beim Anfordern von Speicher für die Gruppentabellen: erledigt
Inode-Tabellen werden geschrieben: erledigt
Das Journal (262144 Blöcke) wird angelegt: erledigt
Die Superblöcke und die Informationen über die Dateisystemnutzung werden
geschrieben: 344/1000000
mke2fs 1.47.0 (5-Feb-2023)
mkfs.ext4: Eingabe-/Ausgabefehler while writing out and closing file system

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Thank you !!

DDirtyAngel · Oct 9, 2023

I tried it now with live-USB of Solus 4.4 ... it seems that in installation of Solus before the partition tables are damaged somehow ? The formats of partition tables are not correct ?

I succeeded only to create linux-swap partition with 16 GB size in each partition - the rest did not work (to create ext4-partition) - not sure if hard-disks are somehow infected or malformed in file-format ?

Bbrent · Oct 9, 2023

the Seagate HDD comes pre-partioned? That doesn't seen normal. Smells like a refurb,

Either way you will know if your GPT formatting works when you install an OS on it successfully.
If this was me I would nuke the whole HDD, partitions, data and all, and re-do it pure GPT. It's hard to tell if there's some relationship between the two partitions.
A weird problem to be sure.

DDirtyAngel · Oct 9, 2023

Hmmm, yes ... it is weird. With live-USB - Solus 4.4 - as file-system only "linux-swap" works, but I have to ignore failure-reports of GParted several times then. It seems that live-USB is not clean either.

Is GParted at everybody here working clean ?! You can create everything - without libparted-warnings and without else failure-reports ?!

DDirtyAngel · Oct 9, 2023

Just as info : GParted in Knoppix 9.1 behaves the same strange way like in Solus 4.4 (and like in live-USB).
Is this a virus in USB-port here ?! ...

Bbrent · Oct 9, 2023

what makes you think the solus iso is unclean? because it won't install? or because gparted is wiggy?

the only times gparted thows errors for me is when there is permission problems...
the only time I can't get Live Solus to install on HDD is when the disk is not formatted properly to be installed on.
unless the LUKS part is doing you no favors?

pokmu · Oct 9, 2023

256 TB drives don't exist, and they especially do not exist for 25 Euros. Scammers will sell hard drives and flash drives rigged to report they hold more than they actually do, when in reality they're much smaller cheap drives.

craigtoyoracer · Oct 9, 2023

DirtyAngel Well you bought a hard coded USB flash drive, so it will not work for OS install.
Device 015 USB hub
Device 016 & 017 are the partitions.

An OS first reads Device 015 = USB hub not a bootable location thus it will not read/mount/install

Bbrent · Oct 9, 2023

The backup GPT table is corrupt, but the primary appears OK, so that will be used.

after reading the two posters above me and re-reading the whole log (it was longer than I thought) there is so much strangeness going on from residues of old data I wonder if you should just bite the bullet and let DD zero this disk out a few hours then start over? maybe fsck could some of the lifting?
I can't escape the conclusion it's no good to do anything on this disk without a serious scrub. 2 cents

DDirtyAngel · Oct 9, 2023

brent No ... !!!! - misunderstood - Solus iso is not unclean !! It seems to be permission problems then, why GParted is wiggy ... These permission problems could be caused by my password ... ?!

DDirtyAngel · Oct 9, 2023

brent ... dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<partition> ... would be the solution, but I don't know if this 256 TB size would then melt ... ?!?!?! How long would this last ?! When USB-cable has speed with 25 MB/sec. then it would take 77 days ?!

DDirtyAngel · Oct 9, 2023

craigtoyoracer I am sad, when it is really hard-coded ... when I created successfully a partition then there pops up a new "undefined" file-system with size of 1 MB ... - well, then there is spyware or what as firmware ... ?!

WetGeek · Oct 9, 2023

brent I can't escape the conclusion it's no good to do anything on this disk without a serious scrub.

I agree. I've been there before, and at some point, the time and effort to do a reinstallation is far less than dealing with continuing problems. Fortunately, Solus is very fast and easy to install and update.

Bbrent · Oct 9, 2023

DirtyAngel when I created successfully a partition then there pops up a new "undefined" file-system with size of 1 MB ... - well, then there is spyware or what as firmware ... ?!

spooky and unacceptable. never seen gparted do this. although that's about the size of a grub boot partition...
I am as reasonably paranoid as the next PC user and firmware malware is the next big attack vector (from my reading) so ya never know.

DirtyAngel but I don't know if this 256 TB size would then melt ... ?!?!?! How long would this last ?!

if it is truly is 256TB (did you verify?) then leave the computer on and check progess daily. I would guess 20 hours but I have nothing to base that on.

WetGeek I agree. I've been there before, and at some point, the time and effort to do a reinstallation is far less than dealing with continuing problems. Fortunately, Solus is very fast and easy to install and update.

too much monkey business on this SSD, yes

Staudey · Oct 9, 2023

pokmu 256 TB drives don't exist, and they especially do not exist for 25 Euros. Scammers will sell hard drives and flash drives rigged to report they hold more than they actually do, when in reality they're much smaller cheap drives.

This.
There is absolutely no way that's a real hard drive capacity. Especially not at this price. There are tools like f3 to confirm the actual size of a drive

f3 usage: https://www.linuxbabe.com/command-line/f3-usb-capacity-fake-usb-test-linux
current hard drive capacities: https://www.techradar.com/best/large-hard-drives-and-ssds

Edit: if it's an external drive there is also a good chance that it's just a USB flash drive inside an HDD case.

DDirtyAngel · Oct 10, 2023

It seems that GParted is not working correct ? Re-install did not help. The error messages stay the same.
Error message is about GPT-table :

"Libparted-Error
The backup GPT table is corrupt, but the primary appears OK, so that it will be used."

Please fix this in GParted.

WetGeek · Oct 10, 2023

DirtyAngel It seems that GParted is not working correct ?

That seems quite unlikely to me, but you could check it by installing KDE Partition Manager. It's similar enough that you shouldn't have trouble using it. If you get a similar result with it, you'll have a better idea what's wrong.

Staudey · Oct 10, 2023

DirtyAngel The only thing that's not working correctly is your fake drive. They of course had to do some trickery to make it report as a 256 TB drive, so that's most likely what trips gparted up.

DDirtyAngel · Oct 10, 2023

The same behaviour in GParted
with described Libparted -error
and because of corrupted GPT-partition-table ...
happened already two years or three years ago.
(I don't know If this was a Virus in GPT-partition-table.)

Yeah.You are right ... This is a monkey-SSD.