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How do you update fstab after destroying the original file? I am trying to completely overwrite a pendrive with zeros, then create a partition of arbitrary size to store data with no room for viruses.

  1. fstab was fine, for starters.
  2. I ran dd on the flash drive, to fill it with zeros. It was full, within about 2 kilobytes.
  3. I removed the flashdrive and re-inserted it, hopefully I ejected it first, I don't remember.

  4. I ran some commands in the terminal to place a partition on the USB drive. I'm not sure if they worked, or not. 

    sudo parted /dev/sdb mklabel msdos
sudo parted -a none /dev/sdb mkpart  primary fat32 0 2048
mkfs.vfat -n "Disk" /dev/sdb1

    Somewhere among the above steps "you may need to update fstab" messages started appearing.

  5. I installed GParted to check on or fix the partition, but could not see the USB drive.

  6. Other undoctored pendrives function normally.

I was using How do I clear everything (data, viruses) from a thumbdrive? as a guide.

Zanna
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    You need to provide a lot more info than that. Please [edit] and describe why and how the "original file" was "destroyed". Which original file? What do you intend to achieve, etc. Creating partitions is unrelated to fstab. –  Aug 01 '17 at 21:13

1 Answers1

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Problem Solved. There was a drop-down button in the upper right-hand corner in Gparted that allowed the usb-drive to be displayed, so it could be partitioned. Worked like a charm.

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