How to use mkntfs, I get "not a block device"

[O'Connor, Daniel]

> On 6 Feb 2015, at 06:03, Thomas Mueller <mueller6724 at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> 
> In running 
> mkntfs -F /dev/gpt/SeaExp1-03
> 
> I got (do I need to be concerned?)
> 
> root at amelia:/usr/ports # mkntfs -F /dev/gpt/SeaExp1-03
> /dev/gpt/SeaExp1-03 is not a block device.
> mkntfs forced anyway.
> The partition start sector was not specified for /dev/gpt/SeaExp1-03 and it could not be obtained automatically.  It has been set to 0.
> The number of sectors per track was not specified for /dev/gpt/SeaExp1-03 and it could not be obtained automatically.  It has been set to 0.
> The number of heads was not specified for /dev/gpt/SeaExp1-03 and it could not be obtained automatically.  It has been set to 0.
> Cluster size has been automatically set to 4096 bytes.
> To boot from a device, Windows needs the 'partition start sector', the 'sectors per track' and the 'number of heads' to be set.
> Windows will not be able to boot from this device.
> Initializing device with zeroes:   0% 
> 100% - Done.
> Creating NTFS volume structures.
> mkntfs completed successfully. Have a nice day.
> root at amelia:/usr/ports # 

So long as you don't want to do boot Windows from it, it should be fine.

I imagine the port could be fixed to fetch those but I guess no one has bothered.

> It took many hours, partition size was 500 GB, I let it run while I was in bed.

I forgot - it does a full format (i.e. zeroes every sector) by default - if you pass -f it will do a quick format instead (see the man page)

--
Daniel O'Connor
"The nice thing about standards is that there
are so many of them to choose from."
 -- Andrew Tanenbaum
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