How do I mount my new 3TB hard drive?

Question

I just bought a new Western Digital hard drive (3tb) off Amazon, which the reviews suggested I could use with Ubuntu as a secondary drive.

sudo fdisk -l gives me:

Disk /dev/sdc: 3000.6 GB, 3000592982016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 364801 cylinders, total 5860533168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdc doesn't contain a valid partition table

But now I'm reading that I need to stick the drive in a windows machine or mac to "unlock" it? Is that true?

The instructions for mounting hard drives are an absolute graveyard.

Can anyone provide clear instructions on how to mount this drive properly?

possible duplicate of [How to Setup GPT for 3TB](http://askubuntu.com/questions/597155/how-to-setup-gpt-for-3tb) — karel, May 27 '15 at 03:22

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited May 27 '15 at 07:35

3

Fan. Tastic.

For anyone else wondering, here is what worked:

sudo apt-get install gparted
sudo gparted
Ensure that you've selected the right drive in the upper right corner of gparted.
Device > Create Partition table.
Select gpt (msdos did not work as the link provided by Terrance suggests) and then click Apply.
Partition > New. Give it a name. Click Add.

enter image description here

That SHOULD work....it did for me.

edited May 27 '15 at 07:35

Carl H

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answered May 27 '15 at 04:34

Nick

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Good catch. I should have mentioned that as well to select GPT. Sorry. I can edit my answer if you wish. – Terrance May 27 '15 at 04:45

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

There is a great step-by-step answer here on how to create a partition and mount a new hard drive in Ubuntu.

How to add a new hard drive to Ubuntu?

If you have not installed gparted yet on your system, open a terminal window and type in:

sudo apt-get install gparted

also, after completing the step-by-step, there is no need to reboot your system. From the terminal window, type in:

sudo mount -a

which will mount all drives if not mounted.

Hope this helps!

How do I mount my new 3TB hard drive?

2 Answers2