Partitioning
In addition to the wonderful gparted, we can also use fdisk to partition a disk:
fdisk /dev/sdb
The device names for hard disks and USB drives are typically /dev/sd?, for example, /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc, etc. For Linux kernels 2.6.18 or older, IDE hard drives may be called /dev/hda, /dev/hdb, etc.
Formatting
To format a FAT16 partition:
mkdosfs -F 16 -n LABEL -r 512 -v /dev/sdb1
To format EXT2 partition:
mke2fs -L SID -v /dev/sdb2
To format a JFS partition:
jfs_mkfs -c -L Debian_Sid /dev/sdb2
Installing MBR
MBR is a boot code necessary for booting from the hard drive or USB flash.
install-mbr /dev/sdb -v --drive 0x80 --enable +12
Installing bootloaders
For SYSLINUX:
syslinux /dev/sdb1
Checking Filesystem Integrity
For FAT16/FAT32:
dosfsck -r -v -V /dev/sdb1
