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Model: Lexar USB Flash Drive (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 64.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  64.0GB  64.0GB  primary  ext4

With this disk inserted the system cannot boot because it is not a system disk but is being picked up by the boot.

I tried to reset the boot flag clearing the flag column in gparted 0.32.0 but after applying the change, the system still picked it up as a bootable drive.

I deleted the partition and re-wrote it. No difference.

I eventually managed to clear the boot flag by formatting in Windows 10.

There must be a way of doing this in Ubuntu. Is there a menu item in gparted that forces this? Or is there another utility I could have used?

Stephen Boston
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  • Take a look at https://askubuntu.com/questions/131168/how-do-i-uninstall-grub/389618#389618 , I think this answers your question. – mook765 Apr 09 '19 at 22:13
  • @mook765 I see how that is applicable here, but I'm looking for a Unix utility that will perform a low level format as the Windows format does. Grub, as far as I know, is a logical partition (or some such segment) of the physical storage medium. A low-level format will overwrite any such logical partitioning. I should not have to go to Windows for this, and I'm sure I don't. So what utility in Unix will perform this essential operation. ElStellino says he will wipe the drive totally... That's what I had to go to windows for. There has to be another way. – Stephen Boston Apr 10 '19 at 01:36
  • This has nothing to do with formatting partitions and it has nothing to do with the boot flag of a partition. You may delete all partitions, if there is still a boot-loader in the MBR, the BIOS will see it. – mook765 Apr 10 '19 at 10:13
  • @mook765 My understanding, perhaps incorrect, is that the MBR is a section of data on the first sector of the drive and so that should be erased during a full format. How do I format the drive so that this MBR is erased? – Stephen Boston Apr 10 '19 at 12:41
  • The MBR is not erased when you format a partition, you would lose all partitions if you erase the whole MBR. How to erase only the boot-loader from the MBR is explained in the answers to the linked question. – mook765 Apr 10 '19 at 16:55
  • @mook765 That's what I want to do. I want to wipe the entire disk and reformat it from 0. I am looking now into dd and fdisk. – Stephen Boston Apr 10 '19 at 17:20

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