Question on SD card partition

1st Official Post

    Hi,

    I want to be sure if I did it correctly. Somehow I cannot use SDFormatter or any other SD format application in Windows 7. I can only use EASEUS Partition application to format my SD card. I format 32gb SanDisk Ultra Plus to FAT32 and then use win32diskimager to install LibreELEC-RPi2.arm-8.0.1.img. After all successful, my card only show 512MB. When viewing in EASEUS Partition, I saw 3 partitions.
    - 512MB with LibreElec
    - xxMB system
    - xxGB unallocated free space

    This time I deleted all partitions using EASEUS Partition and then re-format. I then use Window LibreELEC USB-SD Creator. Still show 3 partitions as listed above. Is this normal?

    Is the unallocated free space usable when inserted to Raspberry pi 3? Or I need to format to FAT32 and use as storage? Where is all the cache, temp, logs etc store at? in the 512MB or in unallocated space? I do not have anything installed besides what came with LibreELEC-RPi2.arm-8.0.1, No game.

    Thanks.

    Edited once, last by cat2115 (April 18, 2017 at 2:34 PM).

    The libreelec installer makes:
    - a 500MBish fat partition visible in windows
    - a 32MBish ext4 partition windows can't see. It's visible in 3rd party partition software like Easus.
    The rest of the card is unallocated.
    On first boot the ext4 partition is expanded to fill the card. It will still not be visible to windows if stuck in a windows pc.

    edit: or in other words the same as vperter said.

    Edited once, last by trogggy (April 18, 2017 at 3:25 PM).

    Why does the the USB-SD Creator need to make a partition on the USB stick or SD card when run from windows.
    It doesn't appear that Windows is capable of working with partitions on these types of devices.

    To make the tool user friendly could the windows USB-SD Creator tool be programmed with the abillity to reclaim the USB stick or SD card for use in windows (i.e. unpartition for dummies)

    • Official Post
    Quote from Bubba2017


    Why does the the USB-SD Creator need to make a partition on the USB stick or SD card when run from windows.
    It doesn't appear that Windows is capable of working with partitions on these types of devices.

    To make the tool user friendly could the windows USB-SD Creator tool be programmed with the abillity to reclaim the USB stick or SD card for use in windows (i.e. unpartition for dummies)


    You can just right click on the drive in windows and select format to wipe the drive.

    Quote from Bubba2017


    Why does the the USB-SD Creator need to make a partition on the USB stick or SD card when run from windows.
    It doesn't appear that Windows is capable of working with partitions on these types of devices.


    Because it just writes disk image to USB disk/SD card. Nothing more.

    Quote from Bubba2017


    To make the tool user friendly could the windows USB-SD Creator tool be programmed with the ability to reclaim the USB stick or SD card for use in windows (i.e. unpartition for dummies).


    Yes, this function is on my todo list and already done some initial work. Together with faster writing speed (double than what is now), write verify option and backup function. But no ETA (not in the mood for anything at the moment).

    For now SDFormatter must be used to init device to initial state.

    Edited once, last by vpeter (April 20, 2017 at 7:53 AM).

    Windows doesn't know how to work with partitions on a USB stick.
    You can't just format it. It will only format the visible partition.
    The larger partition not accessible. Even in DiskManager. It is visible, but DiskManager is unable to do anything such as remove the partition.
    One must use DiskPart (which is not noob/commoner friendly)

    Is there another way that the USB-Creator could make a USB stick without partions in the first place? Could mounting eliminate the need to partition?

    Using DiskpartYou might overwrite any hard disk on the computer.
    If at some point you are not sure about the disk number, stop proceeding.

    • Make sure that the USB stick or SD card that you want to reset is unplugged.
    • Click on the Start button, and choose All Programs ▸ Accessories ▸ Command Prompt, to open the Command Prompt,More help on how to start the Command Prompt
    • Execute the diskpart command, to start Diskpart.
    • Execute the list disk command to obtain information about each disk in the computer.For example:

      Code
      Diskpart> list disk Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 80 GB 0 B
    • Plug the USB stick or SD card that you want to reset. Run the list disk command again.A new disk, which corresponds to that device, appears in the list.For example:

      Code
      Diskpart> list disk Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 80 GB 0 B Disk 1 Online 4 GB 0 B


      Make sure that its size corresponds to the size of the device that you want to reset. Note down the disk number assigned by Diskpart to the device.

    • To select the device, execute the following command: select disk=number. Replace number by the disk number of the device that you want to reset.
    • Execute the clean command to delete the partition table from the device.
    • Execute the convert mbr command to create a new partition table on the device.
    • Execute the create partition primary command to create a new primary partition on the device.
    Quote from Bubba2017


    Is there another way that the USB-Creator could make a USB stick without partitions in the first place?


    In case you missed my previous answer: Creator only writes disk image to target device byte-by-byte. Disk image has two partitions because libreelec has such requirement.

    Ok,
    For user friendliness it might be good to include the restore boot image.
    I thought I damaged 2 USB sticks before I thought that something was going on and spent some time to look into fixing my issue.

    My thoughts were that the program shouldn't induce heart attack that the creator damaged my drive. (when it didn't, it just did something that windows can't normally handle).

    So could this be fixed if the creator had the restore boot sector option and a Notice (to new users) that you can restore your USB sticks full capacity by ?....

    If it helps I had to try several things outside of the forum before finding the diskpart solution. I didn't think it was the creators that had originally caused the problem.