# bsdlabel on /dev/da0s1



## ashep (Jun 3, 2009)

Hi! I have an external USB HDD. With fdisk I created one slice on the entire disk. When I tried to:

```
bsdlabel -w /dev/da0s1
```
i have the error message:

```
bsdlabel: /dev/da0s1 read: Unknown error: 0
```
What's wrong?
Thanx!


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## SirDice (Jun 3, 2009)

You probably need to supply a type field:
`# bsdlabel -w da0s1 auto`


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## lyuts (Jun 3, 2009)

Man says that:

- type is not required
- to write a label use

```
bsdlabel -w da0s1
```

No "/dev/" is specified.


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## ashep (Jun 3, 2009)

```
[root@aserver /sbin]# ls -l /dev/da0*
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    0, 102 Jun  3 22:17 /dev/da0
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    0, 103 Jun  3 09:41 /dev/da0s1
[root@aserver /sbin]# bsdlabel -w da0s1
bsdlabel: /dev/da0s1 read: No such file or directory
```


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## lyuts (Jun 4, 2009)

Wow, that i strange.

Here is man's phrase:

```
Disk Device Name
     When specifying the device (i.e., when the -f option is not used), the
     /dev/ path prefix may be omitted; the bsdlabel utility will automatically prepend it.
```

Maybe you should try

```
bsdlabel -w da0
```

since da0s1 is just da0's slice.


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## SirDice (Jun 4, 2009)

lyuts said:
			
		

> Maybe you should try
> 
> ```
> bsdlabel -w da0
> ...


There is a difference. Using da0 will mean the disk is dedicated. This also means the MS-DOS fdisk tool and XP's diskmanagement system can't make heads or tails of it.

Since the OP was able to create a slice using fdisk he should use da0s1.

But I agree it's a weird error.. One other thing to try is the -B option.

`# bsdlabel -B -w da0s1`


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## ashep (Jun 4, 2009)

Solved. Thanx to all! The problem was in the PCI USB controller.


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## lyuts (Jun 4, 2009)

Please tell us the problem. So that everybody knows the reason.
What was it about?


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 4, 2009)

Yes, always share solutions! The forums are here for the community, not for solving your particular problems ..


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## ikbendeman (Sep 13, 2010)

I don't know what his solution was, but I just had to newfs the slice, rather than making a bsdlabel and its seemed to work for me [scratches head]


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