How to format a new disk

Preflight Checks

sudo pacman -S --needed exfatprogs
ls -l /dev/disk/by-id | grep -E 'sda|sdc'

Optional

sudo wipefs -a /dev/sdc

Create GPT + Partition

I prefer Option 1 - Using fdisk.

Option 1: Use fdisk

sudo fdisk /dev/sdc 
g
n, enter, enter, enter
t
11
w
sudo partprobe /dev/sdc

  • t/11

    • t = change partion type
    • On GPT disks, this sets the partition type GUID (what other OSes use to guess what’s inside)
    • 11 = fdisk’s index/alias for “Microsoft basic data” → GUID EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7. Windows expects this for generic data partitions (NTFS/exFAT).
    • Linux doesn’t really need to worry about this, it’s more of a windows just in case thing.

  • partprobe

    • partprobe tells the kernel to re-read the partition table of a block device without rebooting.

Option 2: Use Parted

sudo parted -s /dev/sdc mklabel gpt
sudo parted -s /dev/sdc mkpart DATA_SDC 0% 100%
sudo partprobe /dev/sdc

Option 3: Use sgdisk

sudo sgdisk -o /dev/sdc
sudo sgdisk -n 0:0:0 -t 0:0700 -c 0:'VIDEO' /dev/sdc

Option 4: Use sfdisk

printf ',,L\n' | sudo sfdisk /dev/sdc
sudo partprobe /dev/sdc

Make Filesystem

sudo mkfs.exfat -n VIDEO /dev/sdc1