1. Home
  2. Forums Index
  3. Server Side / Linux, Unix, and *nix like Operating Systems 11:47 pm May 20, 2026

Forum Moderators: bakedjake

Message Too Old, No Replies

Help formatting / mounting a new drive

         

csdude55

7:49 am on Nov 9, 2020 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



I absolutely hate my server provider. They used to be great, now I rue the day I ever signed up with them.

After some earlier discussion, I found that I could upgrade my virtual server with a second 100G SSD for $4 /month. So cool, I submitted the order and waited.

After 24 hours it still wasn't showing up, so I asked.

We've gone back and forth for FOUR days, and it turns out that they installed it, but they don't format or mount it... apparently that's my responsibility. Even though I have no way of making a backup of the main drive (I would have to stop MySQL and emails, then spend 12+ hours downloading 100G to my personal computer) where they could do a local backup in about 30 seconds >:-(

What's the point of paying for a semi-managed server if I have to do all the work?

Anyway.

I found a tutorial, but I'm lost on step 1. It says First, you would need to locate the drive using the command 'fdisk -l'. You should see a print out of all the disks. OK, so I ran that, but it returns a whole lot of what may as well be Greek: 

# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/loop0: 3395 MB, 3395289088 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 412 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000


Disk /dev/xvdb: 2147 MB, 2147483648 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 261 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00025cdb

  Device Boot   Start     End   Blocks  Id System
/dev/xvdb1        1     261   2096451  82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/xvda: 107.4 GB, 107374182400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 13054 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00044dfa

  Device Boot   Start     End   Blocks  Id System
/dev/xvda1  *      1     33   262144  83 Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/xvda2       33    13055  104594432  83 Linux

Disk /dev/xvdc: 107.4 GB, 107374182400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 13054 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000


How do I know which one of these is the new, unformatted server? The LAST thing I want to do is format my main drive by accident and lose everything without a backup!

graeme_p

6:19 pm on Nov 9, 2020 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Try 

df -hT


which should tell you what each partition is formatted as and where each is mounted, so you should be able to see any that are unformatted, or not being mounted.

My unmanaged VPSs seem to leave me with less work that your semi-managed one does

csdude55

4:55 am on Nov 10, 2020 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Here are the results of df -hT: 

Filesystem   Type  Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/xvda2   ext3  99G  89G 4.6G 96% /
tmpfs     tmpfs 3.9G   0 3.9G  0% /dev/shm
/dev/xvda1   ext3  248M  79M 157M 34% /boot
/usr/tmpDSK  ext4  3.2G 131M 2.9G  5% /tmp


I have /dev/xvda1 and /dev/xvda2, but fdisk refers to /dev/loop0, /dev/xvdb, /dev/xvdb1, /dev/xvda, /dev/xvda1, /dev/xvda2, and /dev/xvdc.

So process of elimination... is the new one /dev/xvdc?

Assuming so, step 2 says:

Next, you will want to make a partition on that drive, example:
fdisk /dev/sd[X][#]


So do I just type fdisk /dev/xvdc? What happens if I'm wrong and this is the current, primary drive?

graeme_p

12:52 pm on Nov 10, 2020 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



As far as I can see xvdc is not mounted to cannot be the primary drive. The primary drive is in use as you do this, right?

You might consider using parted instead of fdisk: [gnu.org...] Its a bit more user friendly. You just want one big partition, right?

I suggest taking a backup anyway. Local backup might be slow, but its something you can run overnight if you do not mind losing a few hours of data if it all goes wrong. It would be cheap to backup to the cheaper cloud backup vendors (possibly less than $1/month). I know you are short of money, but surely not that short? Where would you be if the current primary drive died?

csdude55

9:06 pm on Nov 11, 2020 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Just an update... at this point I just gave up. My provider sent an email that they're going to be closing my datacenter in the near future so I have to change servers in the next few months anyway, so it's not worth my time to work on this for a short-term fix.

But I wanted to express the headache I've had with them. I opened the ticket on November 5, and here is a summary of the ticket:

Me: The hard drive shows up in the portal, but it doesn’t work

Them: You are wrong, it shows up in the portal

Me: I know, that’s what I said. But it doesn’t show up via SSH

Them: Yes, we didn’t format it and mount it. I can’t get logged in to your server, here's how to do it yourself...

Me: I don’t want to do it myself, it’s dangerous and it’s your job. Here is how to get logged in…

Them: I still can’t get logged in, here's how to do it yourself...

Me: I updated my information, please try again

Them: It looks like your firewall is blocking us, here's how to do it yourself...

Me: I whitelisted you in the firewall, please try again

Them: I still can’t get logged in, please disable your firewall completely

Me: OK, it’s disabled

Them (new tech): We still can’t get logged in, here's how to do it yourself...

Me: Why can’t you get logged in, you guys log in all the time. I don’t want to do it myself, it’s dangerous and it’s your job. I updated my information, please try again

Them: Here is how to do it yourself…

Me: I don’t want to do it myself, this is ridiculous

Them: OK, we can do it but we can’t guarantee that your data will be safe. You should backup everything on your end first

Me: I can’t download 100G of data, that would require me to take the sites offline and then take about 12 hours to download! You guys should just run a backup on your end, that would take about 30 seconds. I give up, just forget it.

At this point I turned the firewall back on. It had been off for 2 days, and they say they still can’t get logged in.

Them (2 days after the last update, 6 days since I opened the ticket): OK, we’ve formatted it and mounted it for you now


Ohhh, so you COULD get logged in! I didn't change anything on my end. And the firewall obviously WAS NOT blocking you, because you somehow got logged in when it was turned back on?

I'm beyond tired of dealing with this company, I can't wait to move somewhere else >:-(

tangor

9:25 pm on Nov 13, 2020 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Do it quick. I will relate an experience I had with a host of 15 years that was beginning to have more technical issues in the latter years...

While trying to get then to correct a data storage issue NOT of my causing over a four day period the snot nosed tech (this was all done via phone!) finally shouted:

"Your issue has been fixed. I just deleted your website. Pi$$ off!" and hung up.

Two days later, new host at quadruple everything for HALF the money was up and running ... with most of the time spent resolving the site DNS across the net.

Make your change at YOUR time and choice, do it orderly, and do the DNS migration before you kick them to the kurb!

tangor

9:28 pm on Nov 13, 2020 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



P.S. Do most of your research looking at host reviews and comments regarding their tech support, and where you need be to be hand-holding tech support as the REAL determination why that host is desirable. The tech stuff up front means nothing for "managed" hosting IF the support is bad or non-existent!
 

Join The Conversation

Moderators and Top Contributors

Hot Threads This Week

  1. Home
  2. Forums Index
  3. Server Side / Linux, Unix, and *nix like Operating Systems 11:47 pm May 20, 2026