On Tuesday 04 Oct 2011 07:53:47 Alan McKinnon wrote:
> On Tue, 4 Oct 2011 00:27:50 -0500
> 
> Paul Hartman <paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 12:18 AM, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com>
> > 
> > wrote:
> > > On Tuesday 04 Oct 2011 04:39:45 Adam Carter wrote:
> > >> If the data is important, I'd use ddrescue to create an image of
> > >> the drive, then run testdisk over that image to see if it can
> > >> untangle the partition table mess. Both are in portage.
> > > 
> > > Well, that's the thing:  I'm not sure that there is a mess.  At
> > > least not as far as parted is concerned, which can read the
> > > partition table properly.
> > > 
> > > I suspect that fdisk (unlike parted) is not capable of reading the
> > > device correctly.
> > > 
> > > I forgot to say that when mounted the USB stick shows not
> > > partitions (i.e. there is no sdb1, sdb2, etc.)  To access the fs I
> > > must do something like:
> > > 
> > > pmount /dev/sdb
> > > 
> > > and then all is lists under /media/sdb.  It is like a big floppy.
> > 
> > I think that's your answer. The "partition table" looks funny because
> > it isn't one. :) It is somewhat common. I've had some myself that are
> > like that.
> 
> I have a 4G Sandisk that does that too. It does everything a regular
> USB stick does except a) create a proper partition table and b) be
> booted from

I guess what I'm asking is:

If there isn't a partition table, then why fdisk sees /dev/sdb1-4 with 
somewhat strange ID types?  What is it that it interprets as 4 partitions?
-- 
Regards,
Mick