Formatting and mounting 2. hard drive

RockinEmu · March 24, 2017 at 8:37 PM

I just installed LibreELEC after building an HTPC again.

Many years ago I used OpenELEC and networked storage, but this time around I went for a SSD bootdrive and a large HDD storage drive.

After installing LibreELEC though, I couldn't access the other HDD, it occurred to me that it wasn't formatted being brand new. I've messed around with it for an hour now, and I simply cannot find anything on the interwebs that I can make work.

If somebody could help, or point me in the right direction, that would be much appreciated.

**Klojum** · March 24, 2017 at 10:24 PM Official Post

Double check your HDD for errors. Linux can be picky with those buggers. Also a Windows suspend or hibernation mode is not appreciated.

Execute the following commands via SSH and give us each of the returned URLs.

Code

blkid | pastebinit
mount | pastebinit
dmesg | pastebinit

**chewitt** · March 25, 2017 at 7:04 AM Official Post

Code

parted -s /dev/sdb mklabel gpt
parted -s /dev/sdb mkpart primary ext4 40s 100%
parted -s /dev/sdb name 1 'MEDIA'
mkfs.ext4 -L "MEDIA" /dev/sdb1
fsck.ext4 -y /dev/sdb1

this creates a GPT partition structure, creates a single primary ext4 partition that is 100% of the available space, labels the partition "MEDIA" then formats an ext4 filesystem labelled as "MEDIA" (for consistency) then fsck's the partition to ensure all is okay. Commands assume /dev/sda is the boot SSD and /dev/sdb is the secondary HDD. You need to check/validate /dev/sdb by checking dmesg output as the commands are destructive.

bdosborn · February 15, 2018 at 2:42 AM

Thank you for this post! I just added a hard drive to my new PC Kodi box and I would have been futzing around for days if I hadn't have found this information. Quick and easy.

Bruce

VitaminD · May 11, 2022 at 2:13 PM

i had the same issue. It worked... almost...

I installed tranmission, with docker it's downloading files, but it seems it not writing to my MEDIA drive... probably a permission issue

joesmith · March 31, 2023 at 12:33 AM

Quote from chewitt
Code
parted -s /dev/sdb mklabel gpt
parted -s /dev/sdb mkpart primary ext4 40s 100%
parted -s /dev/sdb name 1 'MEDIA'
mkfs.ext4 -L "MEDIA" /dev/sdb1
fsck.ext4 -y /dev/sdb1
this creates a GPT partition structure, creates a single primary ext4 partition that is 100% of the available space, labels the partition "MEDIA" then formats an ext4 filesystem labelled as "MEDIA" (for consistency) then fsck's the partition to ensure all is okay. Commands assume /dev/sda is the boot SSD and /dev/sdb is the secondary HDD. You need to check/validate /dev/sdb by checking dmesg output as the commands are destructive.

Thanks for this help on adding a second hard drive!