I have a 500GB Toshiba 2.5' HD, which I formated using Debian Wheezy 64bit. I created 2 partitions (180GB and 320GB).
RPi would only recognize the first partition. 

So, I tried creating the partitions using the raspberrypi. Here are my surprising findings:

root@raspberrypi:/home/ozn# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 4025 MB, 4025483264 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 122848 cylinders, total 7862272 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000dbfc6

        Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/mmcblk0p1            8192      122879       57344    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/mmcblk0p2          122880     7862271     3869696   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x950e3b8d

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048   625142447   312570200   83  Linux
/dev/sda2       625142448   976773167   175815360   83  Linux


First, /dev/sda is NOT recognized correctly! This disk is 500GB. 

Second, mounting /dev/sda2 is not possible:

root@raspberrypi:/home/ozn# mount -t ext4 /dev/sda2 /media/usbhdd1/
mount: special device /dev/sda2 does not exist
# although fdisk -l showed this device !


Third, trying to format the disk, it really sees only the sectors until 320GB:
When I start fdisk I am warned:

Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x6784fc4b.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.


I have other USB hard drives with 320GB and they really mount fine. 


Is this a limitation of RPi? Or a problem with this specific Hard Drive?   
How can I use this large disk with my RPi? 


update: solved the issue with help of the commentators here...

here is what I did ...


I thought I have some weired issue with Debian Wheezy &amp; gparted. So, I reformatted the hard drive to NTFS. Before that I ERASED the partition table. 
And created a new single NTFS partition. 
Bingo! RPi, identified the partition. However, it claimed my Drive is now 2TB big, and recommended I will use GPT:

root@raspberrypi:/home/ozn# fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 2199.0 GB, 2199023255552 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 267349 cylinders, total 4294967296 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf720f720

Disk /dev/sda doesn't contain a valid partition table
root@raspberrypi:/home/ozn# fdisk  /dev/sda
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0xb7032c3f.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)

WARNING: The size of this disk is 2.2 TB (2199023255552 bytes).
DOS partition table format can not be used on drives for volumes
larger than (2199023255040 bytes) for 512-byte sectors. Use parted(1) and GUID 
partition table format (GPT).



whoops! That is WRONG!

So, I disconnected the hard drive again. re-connented it to my laptop. I erased the partition table again, and re-created the partition table using fdisk on RPi! not on my laptop! This time, I took a short cut, and created the disk partition with ext4 directly. 
    I plugged the hard-drive to RPi and BINGO!

root@raspberrypi:/home/ozn# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
81 heads, 63 sectors/track, 191411 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000505b8

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048   976773167   488385560   83  Linux

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 4025 MB, 4025483264 bytes
4 heads, 16 sectors/track, 122848 cylinders, total 7862272 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000dbfc6

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/mmcblk0p1            8192      122879       57344    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/mmcblk0p2          122880     7862271     3869696   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
81 heads, 63 sectors/track, 191411 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000505b8

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048   976773167   488385560   83  Linux


The disk is now identified correctly on my laptop with Debian. 

ozdeb@yenitiny:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
81 heads, 63 sectors/track, 191411 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000505b8

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048   976773167   488385560   83  Linux


conclusion (?)

My guess is that gparted in Debian Wheezy includes some nasty bug which is sometimes showing it's ugly face. I would report a bug if I had more solid evidence. But ... since I have only one 500GB hard drive, and I don't want to
risk the health of this hard drive reformatting it so many time, I will settle this with it. If you happen to bump into this post, and you have had similar problems with large SATA drives and partitioning on wheezy, I would be happy to know.


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