Last modified by Mélodie on 2026/07/11 13:38

From version Icon 5.1 Icon
edited by Mélodie
on 2026/07/11 13:32
Change comment: There is no comment for this version
To version Icon 3.2 Icon
edited by Mélodie
on 2026/07/11 13:03
Change comment: There is no comment for this version

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... ... @@ -61,6 +61,7 @@
61 61  {{/code}}
62 62  {{/info}}
63 63  
64 +(% class="wikigeneratedid" %)
64 64  
65 65  
66 66  === 3. Check the partition table type and the presence of signatures ===
... ... @@ -107,6 +107,7 @@
107 107  ##wipefs -a## is preferable to a blind ##dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX##: the latter overwrites the entire device (slower, riskier if ##count## isn't carefully controlled), whereas ##wipefs## targets precisely the identified signatures, wherever they are on the disk — including a signature at the end of the disk, as in the GPT remnant case mentioned earlier.
108 108  {{/info}}
109 109  
111 +(% class="wikigeneratedid" %)
110 110  
111 111  
112 112  === 6. Force the kernel to reread the partition table ===
... ... @@ -122,7 +122,7 @@
122 122  Without this step, the system may still display a cached state during the next verification, rather than the device's actual state after cleanup.
123 123  
124 124  
125 -=== 7. Check effectiveness of the cleanup ===
127 +=== 7. Verify that the cleanup was effective ===
126 126  
127 127  With administrator privileges:
128 128  
... ... @@ -130,25 +130,9 @@
130 130  blkid -p /dev/sdX
131 131  {{/code}}
132 132  
133 -##/dev/sdX## should still be adapted.
135 +Shouldn't return anything (or only the device's generic information): a sign that the device is now on a clean footing (##/dev/sdX## should still be adapted).
134 134  
135 -Should return nothing (or only the device's generic information): a sign that the device is now on a clean footing.
136 136  
137 -In addition, it's possible to inspect the raw bytes of the first sector directly:
138 -
139 -{{code language="bash"}}
140 -hexdump -C -n 512 /dev/sdX | tail -n 2
141 -{{/code}}
142 -
143 -or, equivalently:
144 -
145 -{{code language="bash"}}
146 -xxd -l 512 /dev/sdX | tail -n 2
147 -{{/code}}
148 -
149 -Once the new partition table has been created, the boot sector's end-of-sector signature (##55 aa##, at bytes 510-511) should be present. This signature is universal: it appears on both a ##dos## table and a ##gpt## table, the latter always starting with a "protective MBR" in the first sector, itself ending with the ##55 aa## signature as well. Its presence is simply an indicator of consistency in the first sector, regardless of the partition table type in use.
150 -
151 -
152 152  === 8. Repartition ===
153 153  
154 154  
... ... @@ -159,8 +159,9 @@
159 159  If the end goal is to install Ventoy on the stick: it is recommended to create the partition table with GParted **before** launching the Ventoy installer, rather than letting it manage the entire disk on its own. This makes it possible to explicitly choose MS-DOS or GPT depending on the target machine, useful for instance when facing a hybrid BIOS/UEFI that will only boot from an MS-DOS table. Ventoy also offers its own option for this choice (##-g## for GPT, MBR by default); see the documentation on [[ventoy.net>>https://ventoy.net]] and in the program's README, for installation details.
160 160  {{/info}}
161 161  
148 +(% class="wikigeneratedid" %)
162 162  
163 163  
164 164  == Key takeaway ==
165 165  
166 -It can be a hard drive which previously ran under GPT/UEFI, or a USB thumbdrive prepared with dd, Balena Etcher, or Gnome Disks: the symptom looks the same : a device not behaving as expected, whether it means a silent failure to boot, or a partition GParted flags as "unknown". The reflex is the same in every case: unmount, diagnose with ##blkid -p## and ##wipefs##, then clean up with ##wipefs -a## across the entire device, before rebuilding a healthy partition table.
153 +It can be a hard drive which previously ran under GPT/UEFI, or a USB thumbdrive prepared with dd, Balena Etcher, or Gnome Disks: the symptom looks the same a device not behaving as expected, whether it means a silent failure to boot, or a partition GParted flags outright as "unknown". The reflex is the same in every case: unmount, diagnose with ##blkid -p## and ##wipefs##, then clean up with ##wipefs -a## across the entire device, before rebuilding a healthy partition table.

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