Multibooter

Formatting an 80GB HDD to UDF 1.02 with Ubuntu Terminal in Ubuntu displays the following when formatting an 80 GB HDD to UDF: Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 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 Disk identifier: 0x1b0e8f7e Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System omnibook@OmniBook-PC:~$ sudo mkudffs --media-type=hd --blocksize=512 --udfrev=0x0102 /dev/sdb start=0, blocks=64, type=RESERVED start=64, blocks=12, type=VRS start=76, blocks=180, type=USPACE start=256, blocks=1, type=ANCHOR start=257, blocks=16, type=PVDS start=273, blocks=1, type=LVID start=274, blocks=156300957, type=PSPACE start=156301231, blocks=1, type=ANCHOR start=156301232, blocks=239, type=USPACE start=156301471, blocks=16, type=RVDS start=156301487, blocks=1, type=ANCHOR Comparing the listing here for the 80GB HDD, and the listing for the 2TB in posting #49 it looks like there is a bracket around PSPACE, 274 sectors in front and 257 sectors at the end, but restoring these sectors at the beginning and at the end is not sufficient to restore data after formatting the UDF-HDD to FAT32.

dd in Linux.dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M count=16will copy 16 blocks of 1MiB from /dev/zero (an infinite source of zero's) to /dev/sdb (second harddisk) Thanks Mijzelf, thanks dencorsoLinux seems to be the easier way for wiping the initial part of a HDD. More about it a little later. Experimenting with MBRWizard v4.0.135 on track 0 of a UDF-formatted HDD MBRWizard v4.0.135 has a very easy interface. With a command line program, in contrast, it's probably a little easier to make mistakes, like wiping the wrong disk. Unfortunately MBRWizard v4.0.135 does not run under Win98SE, though I have not yet tried it with KernelEx. I just backed up under WinXP with MBRWizard v4.0.135 track 0 of the 80GB UDF-formatted HDD (no partition table), then deleted track 0 on this HDD with MBRWizard. I then connected this UDF-formatted HDD to the Ubuntu computer - and lo and behold: Ubuntu read the UDF-formatted HDD just like before, and the test .jpg file on it displayed fine. I then copied under Ubuntu a 2nd test .jpg file onto the 80GB HDD (no partition table, wiped track 0). I then connected this 80GB UDF-formatted HDD (no partition table, wiped track 0) under WinXP and restored with MBRWizard the backed up track 0 (created before the addition of the 2nd test .jpg file under Ubuntu). Both test .jpg files on the UDF-formatted HDD displayed fine. So it looks like Ubuntu does not care what is on track 0 of a UDF-formatted HDD.

Hi jaclaz,What software would you recommend for wiping only the beginning of the HDD? I have used old MBRWizard v2.0 beta for DOS/Win9x, with the following command in a DOS window under Win98: >mbrwizd /wipe=head /disk=1 /ignore to clear the entire 1st head, disk=1 is the USB HDD (2nd disk) but somehow not all System Commander stuff was overwritten. What software incl.parameters/settings would you recommend to wipe out the stuff written by mkudffs or WriteUDF! on a UDF-formatted HDD? BTW, there is a new v4.0.135 of MBRWizard out, of 12-May-2012, with an easy graphical interface http://firesage.com/mbrwizard.php Does it work under Win98SE. Any comments?

I guess you missed this part of my post, which is the more relevant, since it refers to a freely downloadable (true) DOS app. It uses native ATA commands to do the same that HDD Low Level Format v2.36 does, but in much less time, and more thoroughly. Do dowload it, read the documentation and test it, Multibooter! I bet you'll be impressed. Hi dencorso,I'll get to it, it's on my list., your recommendations are always good Right now I don't want to branch off to something related, speed is currently not that critical to me. I have enough idle computers to do a 20-hour-job, although it might help reduce the electricity bill , and I have no issue with power outages where I currently am.

A UDF-formatted HDD without a partition table, under WinXP and Win98SE I then connected the 80GB UDF-formatted HDD (no partition table) under WinXP. No drive letter was assigned to the UDF-formatted HDD. In other words, WinXP could not read the data (e.g. the test .jpg file) on the UDF-formatted HDD (no partition table). MS Disk Management displayed the UDF-formatted HDD (no partition table) as "Disk 1, Unknown, 74.53GB, Not initialized" with 74.53 GB Unallocated Partition Table Doctor v3.5 came up with an error message: "Error. Boot signature of harddisk 2 Error", and a window came up "Rebuild Partition Table on Harddisk 2". After clicking on Cancel, Partition Table Doctor displayed the UDF-formatted HDD as Bad Disk 7631MB and the message.: ... "If you have created a backup file of partition table, please use the file to restore partition table on harddisk 2.... When the UDF-formatted HDD (no partition table) was connected under the special WinXP (SAI file system driver of WriteUDF!), the UDF-formatted HDD was not assigned a drive letter either, and the content on it was inaccessible. Under Win98SE, the UDF-formatted HDD (no partition table) was not listed in Device Manager under Disk drives. There was an entry as "USB Disk" under "Storage device". Since there is no selection in Device Manager under Win98 to set the UDF-formatted HDD (no partition table) to Removable, the content on the HDD is not readily accessible under Win98. Acronis Disk Editor can access under Win98 the data on the UDF-formatted HDD (no partition table). WinHex v12.8 SR-10 (-> Tools -> Open Disk, under Physical Media: -> Hard disk 1, an error message comes up: "WinHex. An exception error occurred at offset 00402807. It is recommended to save your work and restart the program", and then WinHex wants to email an error report.

This might be a point of care. The sectornumber swapped to negative. This might be only cosmetical, but maybe mkudffs actually can't handle disks with more than 2^31 blocks, which is a bit bigger than 1TB (at a blocksize of 512)Very interesting speculation. I am adding to my experiments a 2nd HDD, this time an IDE 80GB, 2.5 inch connected to an Adaptec ACS-120 USB enclosure. A preliminary answer whether or not mkudffs works with 2TB HDDs will have to wait a little. A UDF-formatted HDD without a partition table, under Ubuntu I wiped the 80GB HDD with HDD Low Level Format v2.36 under WinXP. I then formatted the wiped 80GB HDD to UDF 1.02 under Ubuntu. The UDF-formatted HDD contained after formatting an empty folder "lost+found". I then copied 1 test .jpg file under Ubuntu to the UDF-formatted HDD. I then powered off the Ubuntu laptop and the UDF-formatted 80GB HDD in the USB enclosure. When I powered on again the Ubuntu computer and the UDF-formatted 80GB HDD, the test .jpg file displayed Ok on the Ubuntu computer, even if fdisk -lu displayed: "Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table". When I subsequently right-clicked on the 80GB HDD -> Safely Remove Drive I got the error message "Unable to stop drive" (see attached screen shot), but the icon for the 80GB HDD was removed from the desktop

Some interesting links with information about UDF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Disk_Format http://www.diskinternals.com/glossary/udf.html White Paper: Universal Disk Format http://www.isit.com/st/documents/document3497.htm Downloadable specifications: http://www.osta.org/specs/ UDF software: http://www.osta.org/specs/isvsearch.htm

Different flavors of UDF 1.02 I am attaching 2 screen shots of the Property sheets of the identical 2TB HDD, virgin, just after formatting with mkudffs under Ubuntu, and after formatting with WriteUDF! under WinXP. The screen shot on the left is of the virgin 2TB HDD (label: UDF_102), just after formatting with WriteUDF! under WinXP to SAI-UDF 1.02 The screen shot on the right is of the virgin 2TB HDD (label: LinuxUDF), just after formatting with mkudffs under Ubuntu to Linux UDF 1.02 The screen shots were made under WinXP with the SAI file system driver active, so that the UDF-formatted HDD was writable under WinXP, with Free space indicated in the Property sheets. The SAI-UDF HDD (formatted by WriteUDF!, most likely fully compliant with OSTA standards) had no files or folders on it, the LinuxUDF HDD had 1 empty folder "lost+found" on it. The crucial difference is in Capacity: The 2TB HDD had about 4MB more total Capacity when formatted to Linux UDF than when formatted to SAI-UDF (WriteUDF!) No idea whether there is also a MS-UDF flavor, but here a translation of my quote in posting #20 of the German wikipedia article: "Compatibility: The Live File System is, according to information from Microsoft, only compatible with Microsoft Windows XP and later versions of Microsoft Windows. Other operating systems are not supported. The Live File System does not implement the Access Control Lists contained in the UDF-Standard and an implementation is not planned". Here another observation: After connecting the USB docking station containing the 2TB HDD formatted to UDF 1.02 to the computer, it takes about 3 minutes for the HDD to "log in", i.e. until a drive letter appears in My Computer and the red (access) light of the docking station turns off. This reminds me of old CD-RW media, which also took a while to log in. So this long log-in seems to be an issue/characteristic of the UDF file system.

Hi Mijzelf, thanks, I am a beginner at Linux. This UDF-topic is a marvelous excuse for getting more into Linux. I have reformatted the 2TB HDD under Ubuntu with mkudffs. Here is what was displayed in Terminal: omnibook@OmniBook-PC:~$ [b]sudo mkudffs --media-type=hd --blocksize=512 --udfrev=0x0102 /dev/sdb[/b] [sudo] password for omnibook: start=0, blocks=64, type=RESERVED start=64, blocks=12, type=VRS start=76, blocks=180, type=USPACE start=256, blocks=1, type=ANCHOR start=257, blocks=16, type=PVDS start=273, blocks=1, type=LVID start=274, blocks=-387938659, type=PSPACE start=-387938385, blocks=1, type=ANCHOR start=-387938384, blocks=239, type=USPACE start=-387938145, blocks=16, type=RVDS start=-387938129, blocks=1, type=ANCHOR omnibook@OmniBook-PC:~$ [b]sudo fdisk -lu[/b] [sudo] password for omnibook: Disk /dev/sda: 20.0 GB, 20003880960 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2432 cylinders, total 39070080 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 Disk identifier: 0x00077cb5 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 2048 37347327 18672640 83 Linux /dev/sda2 37349374 39069695 860161 5 Extended /dev/sda5 37349376 39069695 860160 82 Linux swap / Solaris Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes 256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 242251 cylinders, total 3907029168 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 Disk identifier: 0x9ba49ba4 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 0 3907020975 1953510488 7 HPFS/NTFS Disk /dev/sdb1: 2000.4 GB, 2000394739712 bytes 256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 242250 cylinders, total 3907020976 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 Disk identifier: 0x9ba49ba4 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1p1 0 3907020975 1953510488 7 HPFS/NTFS fdisk -lu displays the same information for the 2TB formatted to UDF 1.02 under Ubuntu as when formatted to UDF 1.02 with WriteUDF! under WinXP

Hi jaclaz, hi dencorso, Thanks for your advice about the 2TB HDD. If somebody in this forum had written that he is using a 2TB HDD for his experiments, I perhaps would have made a similar posting. Here my main reasons for using a 2TB HDD: 1) WriteUDF! under WinXP makes only a Quick format of the 2TB HDD, which takes about 12 minutes with my 11-year-old 700MHz Inspiron laptop; mkudffs under Ubuntu takes 3 times as long (36 minutes) with a 600MHz HP Omnibook laptop 2) I had done a lot of testing on an 80GB UDF-formatted HDD about 3 years ago, and I wanted to find out now what additional issues come up when I use a 2TB UDF-formatted HDD, none so far. Again, the critical issue of using UDF-formatted HDDs is either to get FixUDF! (or FixDVD!) to work on UDF-formatted HDDs, or to find another repair utility, which can, for example, clean up problems caused by writing under Linux and under Win98/XP onto the same HDD. 3 years ago I put the UDF project into a box because I couldn't get FixUDF! to work on HDDs. My experience had been that UDF-formatted HDDs become RAW out of the blue, similar to CD-RWs, which were also using UDF. I am continuing now with the UDF project because I have changed my evaluation of the importance of a file system repair utility. I have never used Norton Disk Doctor or ScanDisk on my Archive HDDs, for fear of damaging something. Instead I have kept sets of 2 identical HDDs as backups, and every 6-10 months I prepare with Beyond Compare (=file+folder copy) a new set of identical archive HDDs. I am considering currently whether I should prepare my next set of archival backups with one HDD formatted with FAT32/NTFS partitions, and the other HDD formatted to UDF, while still keeping my old backup HDDs. This would also be a real live test of UDF-formatted HDDs. 3) I have bought several 2TB HDDs quite recently, and where I am there is only a 14-day return policy, so any testing is good. 4) I am using the 2TB HDDs to test my Kingwin EZ-Dock docking stations http://kingwin.com/products/cate/docking_stations/ezd_2535.asp whether they really work Ok with 2TB HDDs. Model 2535 can have inside an old or a new chip. Model 2535 with the old chip inside has a manufacturer-provided Win98 driver. The new model, however, doesn't have a Win98 driver provided by Kingwin, although it seems to work under Win98SE, if I add a line for the VID/PID to the .inf file, with the driver v1.04 for my JMicron USB-to-SATA burner enclosures I always wipe my HDDs after I bought them, to make sure that they work Ok, with old HDD Low Level Format v2.36. Wiping a 2TB HDD, with my dual-core 2.2GHz desktop and USB 2.0 takes about 20 hours, the drive gets a little warm in the process. Before and after wiping I print a report of the SMART values with HDDScan v3.1 and compare what has changed. I have already returned 1 new HDD which didn't work properly. The UDF experiments here are made on a new 2TB HDD, before this 20-hour "burn in" (or burn-out?).

Hi rloew,When I had created 4 logical 20GB FAT32 partitions on the 2TB HDD, and then right-clicked in My Computer on the 2nd FAT32 partition on the 2TB HDD, the format window of WriteUDF! came up. Although WriteUDF! displayed 20GB to be formatted to UDF, WriteUDF! actually formatted the whole 2TB HDD to UDF (no warning!). After formatting one partition with WriteUDF! the whole 2TB HDD was formatted to UDF and the 2TB HDD had only 1 drive letter, the drive letters of the other 3 logical partitions were gone. One user manual of SAI states "SAI is the only software company to guarantee that its UDF format is OSTA UDF compliant".

WriteUDF! - Quick format only for HDD I am attaching a screen shot of WriteUDF! in action under WinXP. WriteUDF! apparently only can make quick formats ("Quick erase") of HDDs. The selection "Format " has always stayed greyed out when I was formatting a HDD. The selection "Format" is not greyed out with media like CD-RW. WriteUDF! can only be run from the context menu, i.e. there must be already a drive letter assigned to the drive to be formatted to UDF. With respect to HDDs this means that the HDD must have been formatted already to something which WinXP recognizes. There is a serious issue with WriteUDF!: After installing WriteUDF!, you cannot format in an LS-120 drive a regular 1.44MB floppy disk, a regular 720kB floppy disk or a 120MB LS-120 floppy anymore, WriteUDF! replaces MS Format in that case. This is one reason why WriteUDF! should be installed on a dedicated WinXP opsys selection.

Hi Mijzelf,Great to have you on board. I am attaching a screenshot of the 2TB HDD under Ubuntu, freshly formatted under WinXP with WriteUDF to UDF 1.02. If you need the screen shot in the future, please save it since I am running out of upload space and will delete it soon. I did not do any changes to that corrupted HDD. Apparently Win98SE was reading earlier left-over stuff:

Example of data loss The attachment shows what one gets under WinXP (normal flavor, no WriteUDF!/SAI file system driver) after writing onto a UDF-formatted HDD, alternating between writing under Ubuntu and writing under WinXP (SAI file system driver, WriteUDF!). Under WinXP (SAI file system driver, WriteUDF!) the corrupted HDD causes WinXP to hang, the access light of the UDF-formatted HDD stays red. The following software is needed for a non-experimental use of UDF-formatted HDDs: - software which can format a USB HDD to UDF - software which permits writing onto a UDF-formatted HDD - a utility to fix UDF-formatted HDDs One consolation: The data on the UDF102-formatted HDD is still perfectly readable under Win98SE and Ubuntu. Under WinXP (without WriteUDF!), however, My Computer displays a RAW file system.

Recipe for data corruption and data loss I have tried to re-format the 2TB LinuxUDF HDD with PartitionMagic 8.0 under Win98. PartitionMagic displayed the LinuxUDF HDD as Bad, so I changed to Acronis Disk Director v10.2.089. I didn't select "Clear" (=overwrite stuff at the beginning of the disk) under Acronis, because this would also clear some manufacturer info on this new drive, and just selected to delete the displayed "HPFS/NTFS" partition. After rebooting I went back into Partition Magic under Win98 and created 4 small logical FAT32 partitions, each about 20GB, to avoid delays during my testing. I then connected the 2TB HDD (4 logical FAT32 partitions) to the Ubuntu computer and reformatted the 2nd FAT32 partition to UDF 1.02 with the parameter /dev/sdb6. I then copied 1 file to this partition formated to LinuxUDF 1.02. I then connected this 2TB HDD with 3 FAT32 partitions and 1 UDF partition to the computer with WinXP (SAI file system driver). Low and behold, WinXP displayed 3 FAT32 partitions and 1 UDF partition. I then booted into Win98, and Win98 displayed the UDF-partition as FAT32! The file on the UDF-cum-FAT32 partition displayed fine. So I copied onto this UDF-cum-FAT32 partition another file under Win98 (FAT32 of course is read-write and UDF is read-only under normal Win98), and then connected the 2TB HDD to the Ubuntu computer, and low and behold, both files, accessible still under Win98, were gone, zilch, nada, only an empty folder "Lost+Found" was on the UDF partition. Voodoo and Magic I then booted into regular WinXP (MS-UDF), and the UDF partition contained only the folder "Lost+Found". Then I booted again into Win98, and the 2 previously lost files were back again in the UDF-cum-FAT32 partition. Amazingly, Partition Table Doctor under Win98 found no errors on the 2TB HDD. ScanDisk reported an error on the UDF-cum-FT32 partition: "The drive contains one or more backup copies of the file allocation table (FAT). The copies should be identical but aren't." After repairing I got another message""ScanDisk found 506.052.608 bytes of data in 30878 lost file fragments." These were probably the 500MB of additional stuff used by LinuxUDF, so I deleted that. Did ScanDisk under Win98 clean up the non-standard stuff of LinuxUDF? When I subsequently booted into WinXP, the previous UDF partiton had changed into a FAT32 partition, with the original 2 files still there Ok. So maybe ScanDisk under Win98 can repair somehow a damaged FAT32-cum-UDF partition by converting it to FAT32.

Hi jaclaz,Over 3 years ago I also had Vista on my desktop but I removed it, to avoid problems. The only feature of Vista which has interested me was the Live File System (= MS UDF). But 3 years ago I had also put the UDF subject on ice (my initial posting of this topic here was 3 years ago) because I couldn't get FixUDF! to work on a UDF-formatted HDD, and a file system without a repair/diagnostic utility is a no-no for me. Eventually I plan to re-install Vista, to test MS-UDF for this topic here, provided I can get FixUDF! to work on a UDF-formatted HDD or find another utility, e.g. under Linux, which can repair a damaged UDF on HDDs I was able to get FixUDF! to work on the following UDF-formatted drives/media up to now: - internal CD/DVD burners - internal zip drive - parallel port zip drive - SCSI jaz drive These drives for are media which usually is not partitioned. I have experimented with many devices, including USB, eSATA and PCMCIA connections, but up to now I was only able to get the above 4 interface/media/drive combinations to work with FixUDF!. Perhaps a UDF-formatted LS-120 diskette with a parallel interface works with FixUDF!, but I could find anything in my notes about it. FixUDF! according to the documentation cannot repair files >4GB, or UDF revisions higher than 2.01. FixUDF! v2.0.0 is of 12-Dec-2001, old stuff.

What exactly does 'fdisk -l' show? Your output is impossible. 'fdisk -l' only shows the contents of a partition table, including the filesystem ID, which happens to be HPFS/NTFS for your sdb1. But fdisk cannot show a filesystem ID for sdb, because a disk cannot have this kind of metadata. You're right. I am attaching a screen shot. The file of this screen shot is actually the added file on the LinuxUDF HDD, which is visible under Ubuntu, invisible under Win98SE and which causes problems for WinXP.

Ubuntu <== to/from ==> WinXP/Win98SE: Incompatible flavors of UDF? I just : - connected the docking station with the HDD, formatted by Ubuntu to UDF 1.02, to another computer with WinXP (SAI file system driver) and looked at the content of the UDF-formatted HDD, then: - re-connected the LinuxUDF-formatted HDD to the Ubuntu computer and added under Ubuntu a file to the UDF formatted HDD; then: - re-connected the LinuxUDF-formatted HDD to the computer with WinXP (SAI file system driver): SURPRISE: the red light of the docking station with the LinuxUDF HDD stayed on for about 15 minutes, then WinXP displayed in My Computer a drive letter for the LinuxUDF HDD, but no file system; then: somewhere in subsequent experimentation WinXP crashed, then: - I re-connected the LinuxUDF HDD to the Ubuntu computer, which had no problem reading the LinuxUDF HDD; then: - I re-connected the LinuxUDF HDD to the computer with WinXP, and selected to boot into the WinXP opsys selection which contained the MS file system driver, i.e. not into the WinXP opsys where WriteUDF/SAI file system driver was installed. BUT: My Computer in normal WinXP could not assign a drive letter to the LinuxUDF drive, and WinXP kept on trying to read the LinuxUDF HDD for 30 minutes, until I shut down. In other words: Writing to the LinuxUDF HDD may have made the 2TB HDD somehow unreadable to WinXP. BTW, the 2TB HDD, after being formatted by Ubuntu to UDF 1.02, had the default name "LinuxUDF" and contained a folder "Lost+Found". WinXP (the opsys selection with the SAI file system driver, i.e. with free space displayed under WinXP) displayed that about 500MB of the 2TB were used for something, but the "Lost+Found" folder was empty. If I remember right, the 2TB HDD formatted to UDF 1.02 by WriteUDF! under WinXP (SAI file system driver) did not have 500MB used for something. So Ubuntu and WriteUDF seem to create something different when a HDD is formatted to UDF 1.02. I will make some preliminary tests whether there are compatibility issues when the 2TB HDD, formatted to UDF 1.02 (OSTA standard) by WriteUDF! under WinXP, is written to by Ubuntu and WinXP (SAI file system driver), and re-connected repeatedly from the Ubuntu computer to the WinXP/Win98SE computer. UPDATE: I was just able to access the 2TB LinuxUDF HDD under Win98SE, no problem whatsoever. BUT: The file I had added under Ubuntu to the 2TB LinuxUDF HDD was NOT there, i.e. somehow Ubuntu had not completely/correctly added the file, Win98 didn't see it and to WinXP the LinuxUDF HDD somehow appeared corrupted. I had selected "Safely Remove Drive" from the context menu, after writing the file to the UDF HDD and before actually unplugging the 2TB HDD from the Ubuntu computer. BIG SURPRISE: after powering off (disconnecting power plug for 1minute) the Ubuntu computer and restarting it, then connecting the docking station with the LinuxUDF HDD: Ubuntu DID display the added file, which was NOT displayed by Win98SE, and which had caused issues under WinXP.

Hi jaclaz, hi Mijzelf, I first have to apologize that I didn't post an update to my posting #29 earlier, I had found the solution, but it was getting too late at night for another posting. At that time, when I saw that the lights of the docking station containing the 2TB HDD to be formatted were not blinking, I assumed incorrectly that nothing was happening. Actually the Ubuntu computer was working very hard doing some preparatory steps, and I had apparently shut down the Ubuntu computer in the middle of formatting. In a subsequent attempt last night I did format the 2TB HDD successfully to UDF 1.02 under Ubuntu. The old 600MHz laptop on which I have Ubuntu took maybe 20 minutes to do the preparatory work, and then the lights of the docking station containing the 2TB HDD started to blink intermittently. One shouldn't make initial experiments with a 2TB HDD, visible results just take too long. In this second successful attempt last night I had used sudo mkudffs --media-type=hd --blocksize=512 --udfrev=0x0102 /dev/sdb containing 2 different parameters: - /dev/sdb instead of sdb1 - I had added the parameter --udfrev=0x0102 to specify UDF 1.02, so that the UDF-formatted HDD could be read by Win98SE and WinXP without additional software I will eventually check whether by specifying sdb the whole drive can be formatted to UDF, while by specifying a pre-existing partition that specific partition can be formatted to UDF.

Hi dencorso, I tried, the lights of the external 2TB HDD to be formatted did not flash, the Ubuntu computer was apparently accessing the internal disk a lot, for maybe 5 minutes, when the disk access light stopped flashing I shut down and rebooted, Ubuntu came up Ok. When I click on the Permissions tab of the Properties sheet of the 2TB HDD under Ubuntu, the message: "The permissions of "disk" could not be determined." is displayed under the tab, and nothing else, except for the Help and Close buttons. Maybe the above format command works on blank disks, not on HDDs already formatted to UDF 1.02? Here some listings of parameters of mkudffs: http://linux.die.net/man/8/mkudffs or http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/natty/man1/mkudffs.1.html A blocksize 512 is not listed there as a valid parameter When I enter sudo fdisk -l Ubuntu displays /dev/sdb and /dev/sdb1, both with System HPFS/NTFS and 2000.4GB. A UDF drive with a partition?

Hi jaclaz, Thanks again for your link to http://serverfault.com/questions/55089/with-what-tool-should-i-format-a-hard-drive-as-udf in posting #15. UDF v1.02 under Ubuntu I have connected a Kingwin EZ-Dock USB docking station containing the 2TB HDD formatted to UDF 1.02 to a computer running Ubuntu v11.04 - and voilá, the 2TB UDF-formatted HDD and the stuff on it were recognized immediately by Ubuntu. Under Ubuntu v11.04 I was able to copy files onto the UDF-formatted HDD, Ubuntu apparently can read and write to HDDs formatted to UDF 1.02. I was able to read the files written by Ubuntu under Win98SE and WinXP. Data on an archive HDD formatted to UDF 1.02 can be accessed under Win98SE, WinXP and Linux, with no special reading software required. UDF-formatted HDDs may be of particular use for users of multiple operating systems and for a gradual migration from Windows to Linux. I am attaching a screenshot of the Properties sheet under Ubuntu of the 2TB HDD formatted to UDF 1.02. The 2TB was originally formatted under WinXP, in a USB/eSATA docking station, with WriteUDF! to UDF 1.02 Formatting a 2TB HDD to UDF under Ubuntu I tried to format the same 2TB HDD, already formatted to UDF 1.02, under Ubuntu to UDF, with the following line: mkudffs --media-type=hd --blocksize=512 /dev/sdb1 Unfortunately Ubuntu replied: Error opening device: Permission denied Any suggestions?

The products of Software Architects appear indeed to be no longer available at digitalriver.com , except perhaps in Japanese, google search string: "site:digitalriver.com softarch".maybe: http://store.digitalriver.com/store/softarch/ja_JP/pd/productID.43318000 or http://store.digitalriver.com/store?Action=ContinueShopping&Env=BASE&Locale=ja_JP&SiteID=softarch

Technically that page should differentiate versions of Windows 9x. Windows 95 does NOT natively support UDF. Thanks to rloew, UDF 1.02 support is now available for Windows 95, but before this would have required third-party reader/writer software. Hi LoneCrusader,Not everything in wikipedia is correct CP/M, for example, was omitted from that list of operating systems IsoBuster v2.5.0.0 of 23-Dec-2008 (there is also a build 2.5.0.0 of 19-Dec-2013) is the last version for Win9x and according to the product description supports Win95 http://web.archive.org/web/20090123003203/http://smart-projects.net/? IsoBuster reads basically anything written onto plastic, at least what's computer-readable, without stability issues as with the Adaptec UDF reader.

MS Live File System and non-compliant UDF file structures Here an excerpt of a product description of FixUDF of 3 years ago, which apparently is not available at the internet anymore: "Why use our Fix Utilities? ... non-compliant UDF file structures (the OSTA standard may not have been used when the file structure was created. For example Roxio's DirectCD , BHA's B's Clip and Aplix's PacketMan UDF file system utilities create a non-standard UDF format, and therefore are not interchangeable with other kinds of systems.)" Here another excerpt about FixUDF (and other SAI products): "The UDF format for disk file structures [of SAI products] is based on the standard developed by the Optical Storage Association (OSTA)." So I could imagine that an external UDF-formatted HDD, written to by the MS-modded UDF and by e.g. WriteUDF, could eventually get corrupted. BTW FixUDF repairs only UDF 1.02, 1.50 2.0 and 2.01, NOT 2.50 or 2.60, so UDF 2.50 and UDF 2.60 can be rejected because of a lack of diagnostic/repair utilities.

MS Live File System MS Live File System seems to be a modification of UDF with incompatibilities so that it doesn't work on operating systems other than Microsoft XP and higher. The English-language wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_File_System has hardly any information about it, so here a link to the German-language page with content http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_File_System "Kompatibilität[:] Das Livedateisystem ist nach Angaben von Microsoft nur mit Microsoft Windows XP und späteren Versionen des Betriebssystems Microsoft Windows kompatibel. Andere Betriebssysteme werden nicht unterstützt... LFS implementiert nicht die im UDF-Standard vorgesehenen Access Control Listen und eine Implementierung ist auch nicht geplant" So a HDD formatted under Vista to MS-modded UDF 2.5 may not be a "Universal Disk Format" anymore, but just a "DF" (="Disk Format"). Nearly all operating systems can read UDF 1.02, except for DOS or MS Win3.x in the listing at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Disk_Format No idea whether Windows 7 or 8 use MS-modded UDF versions.