No filesystem info in lsblk and strange info inside partition

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1

After some this strange behaviour in calling

lsblk -fi
( to simply things I ommited several other block devices that behave correctly )

NAME    FSTYPE     FSVER LABEL           UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda                                                                                          
├─sda1  ntfs                             AE3818E43818ACF9                                    
├─sda2  ntfs                             74D604323809405D                                    
├─sda3  ext4       1.0   ManjaroSSD      f4bc51ae-9d55-400c-b716-e17bcf600731   12.2G    88% /
└─sda4  ext4       1.0   ssd4            721a05da-d5dc-4109-ac8e-d005406ea9a9                
---
sde                                                                                          
├─sde1  zfs_member 5000  ED320           9330553230942267958                                 
└─sde9                                                                                       
sdf                                                                                          
└─sdf1
sr0

The /dev/sdf1 is a NTFS partition fully accessible via ntfs-3g an usually mounted RW.

Although calling

sudo sfdisk /dev/sdf

Welcome to sfdisk (util-linux 2.39.3).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ... OK

Disk /dev/sdf: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: SAMSUNG HD501LJ 
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 77CADC7F-F16C-6443-85AF-FF3896423B2A

Old situation:

Device     Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sdf1   2048 976771071 976769024 465.8G Microsoft basic data

Nothing out of the ordinary …

But If I call :

sudo sfdisk /dev/sdf1

Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ... OK

The device contains 'zfs_member' signature and it may be removed by a write command. See sfdisk(8) man page and --wipe option for more details.

Disk /dev/sdf1: 465.76 GiB, 500105740288 bytes, 976769024 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x73736572

Old situation:

Device      Boot      Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdf1p1      1920221984 3736432267 1816210284   866G 72 unknown
/dev/sdf1p2      1936028192 3889681299 1953653108 931.6G 6c unknown
/dev/sdf1p3               0          0          0     0B  0 Empty
/dev/sdf1p4        27722122   27722568        447 223.5K  0 Empty

Partition table entries are not in disk order.

What happened ?
Some context details :
Previous I did had a ZFS filesystem but how come it appears as 866G ?
Afterwards I formatted into a Exfat filesystem . ( perhaps a Quick format) …
used the HDD for a few days …
Reformatted into NTFS ( again probably a QuickFormat )
Used for a few more days and only now I noticed this detail in lsblk …

Comments are welcome …

Although how can I clean this without destroying the NTFS data ?

3

You not using command properly, probably, AKA inputting partition where the disk should be.

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4

Do you have to?
The device is /dev/sdf
The partition on it is only one: /dev/sdf1
Why would you look for partitions inside it?

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5

1.) It is not surprising that signatures of previous data can still be found after a quick format.
2.) If sfdisk is used incorrectly (on sdf1 instead of sdf), it is not surprising if it starts to spin.
3.) I only trust gparted!

6

The plot thickens …

After some sfdisk experiences ( with /dev/sdf1 writes ) I ended up with partition filesystem identifier damaged and not able to access the filesystem …

Afterwards I tried to do a FULL format in Windowz ( 10 ) and copied again the same information from another HDD ( old backup in extFAT) via Manjaro and MC …

With “lsblk -f” I have :

NAME    FSTYPE     FSVER LABEL           UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda                                                                                          
├─sda1  ntfs                             AE3818E43818ACF9                                    
├─sda2  ntfs                             74D604323809405D                                    
├─sda3  ext4       1.0   ManjaroSSD      f4bc51ae-9d55-400c-b716-e17bcf600731   10.8G    90% /
└─sda4  ext4       1.0   ssd4            721a05da-d5dc-4109-ac8e-d005406ea9a9                
---
sdf                                                                                          
└─sdf1  ntfs             stea            367A2EA37A2E603B                                    
sr0

Which is now correct .
( I needed the correct input filesystem for shell scripting )

But calling sfdisk /dev/sdf1 for my surprise I still have :

$ sudo sfdisk /dev/sdf1

Welcome to sfdisk (util-linux 2.39.3).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

Checking that no-one is using this disk right now ... OK

The device contains 'ntfs' signature and it may be removed by a write command. See sfdisk(8) man page and --wipe option for more details.

Disk /dev/sdf1: 465.76 GiB, 500105740288 bytes, 976769024 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x73736572

Old situation:
Device      Boot      Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdf1p1      1920221984 3736432267 1816210284   866G 72 unknown
/dev/sdf1p2      1936028192 3889681299 1953653108 931.6G 6c unknown
/dev/sdf1p3               0          0          0     0B  0 Empty
/dev/sdf1p4        27722122   27722568        447 223.5K  0 Empty

Partition table entries are not in disk order.

The only difference now is the “ntfs signature” detail instead of the previous “zfs_member” …

Although parted detects the /dev/sdf1 as being a “loop” device giving this information :

GNU Parted 3.6
Using /dev/sdf1
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) p                                                                
Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/sdf1: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: loop
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start  End    Size   File system  Flags
 1      0.00B  500GB  500GB  ntfs
(parted)

Calling gdisk :

sudo gdisk /dev/sdf1
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.9.1

Partition table scan:
  MBR: MBR only
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: not present


***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory. THIS OPERATION IS POTENTIALLY DESTRUCTIVE! Exit by
typing 'q' if you don't want to convert your MBR partitions
to GPT format!
***************************************************************

Exact type match not found for type code 7200; assigning type code for
'Linux filesystem'
Exact type match not found for type code 6C00; assigning type code for
'Linux filesystem'

Warning! Secondary partition table overlaps the last partition by
2912912309 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.

Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sdf1: 976769024 sectors, 465.8 GiB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): E314329D-5216-40B2-A1F2-328A8A3E9240
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 976768990
Partitions will be aligned on 32-sector boundaries
Total free space is 976768957 sectors (465.8 GiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1      1920221984      3736432267   866.0 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem
   2      1936028192      3889681299   931.6 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem

with cgdisk :

     cgdisk 1.0.9.1
                                       Disk Drive: /dev/sdf1
                     Size: 976769024, 465.8 GiB

Part. #     Size        Partition Type            Partition Name
----------------------------------------------------------------
            915.6 GiB   free space
   1        866.0 GiB   Linux filesystem          Linux filesystem
   2        931.6 GiB   Linux filesystem          Linux filesystem

My question is now :
After a full format should not that data be “gone” ?
I do not know ( at this time) if the Win full format writes down zeroes or random data …

What is going with all the partition editors beside parted ?

7

It doesn’t. Again, why are you calling /dev/sdf1 instead of /dev/sdf? sdf1 is not a device, it’s a partition.

8

I am just curious because in every other partition ( even with other filesystems) I never encountered this detail.

As I stated, with parted ( it recognizes the loop device) no “weird” data is shown …

Other partitions if called in sfdisk or cgdisk do report the correct details …

Only with is one I am getting the erronous info …
At least now I am able to use udisks2 to mount it correctly in XFCE …

9

Then your issue seems to be solved and we can close this useless discussion about outputs of commands used with wrong syntax.

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