# Once again I am attempting to make monolith, a 1 TB USB thub drive, usable. date Fri Feb 20 06:16:23 AM WET 2026 #### lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS sda 8:0 1 976.6G 0 disk - sda1 8:1 1 976.6G 0 part ... # monolith is sda #### ls -l /dev/sd* brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 Feb 20 05:44 /dev/sda brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 Feb 20 05:44 /dev/sda1 #### sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda [sudo] password for toby: Disk /dev/sda: 976.56 GiB, 1048576000000 bytes, 2048000000 sectors Disk model: UDisk Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0xfa2cb833 Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sda1 2048 2047999999 2047997952 976.6G 83 Linux #### mount | grep sda # nothing - sda1 is not mounted #### make a 100 GB partition sudo fdisk /dev/sda Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.37.2). Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them. Be careful before using the write command. Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda: 976.56 GiB, 1048576000000 bytes, 2048000000 sectors Disk model: UDisk Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0xfa2cb833 Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sda1 2048 2047999999 2047997952 976.6G 83 Linux Command (m for help): d 1 Selected partition 1 Partition 1 has been deleted. Command (m for help): n Partition type p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free) e extended (container for logical partitions) Select (default p): p Partition number (1-4, default 1): First sector (2048-2047999999, default 2048): Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-2047999999, default 2047999999): +100G Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 100 GiB. Partition #1 contains a ext4 signature. Do you want to remove the signature? [Y]es/[N]o: n Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sda: 976.56 GiB, 1048576000000 bytes, 2048000000 sectors Disk model: UDisk Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0xfa2cb833 Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sda1 2048 209717247 209715200 100G 83 Linux Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered. Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. Syncing disks. #### 06:30 sudo mkfs.ext4 -L monolith /dev/sda1 /dev/sda1 contains a ext4 file system labelled 'monolith' created on Fri Jan 23 12:51:29 2026 Proceed anyway? (y,N) y Creating filesystem with 26214400 4k blocks and 6553600 inodes Filesystem UUID: 8ad0e27a-0b9a-4d26-b116-da7d72e04ca7 Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208, 4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872 Allocating group tables: done Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (131072 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done date Fri Feb 20 06:31:46 AM WET 2026 sudo reboot #### #### Is monolith sda1 working ? #### # monolith is listed in filemanager mount | grep sda # nothing ls -l /dev/sd* brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 Feb 20 06:36 /dev/sda brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 Feb 20 06:36 /dev/sda1 # select monolith in fie browser unable to access "monolith" Error mounting /dev/sda1 at /media/toby/monolith: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1, missing codepage or help program, or other error #### grep sda /var/log/syslog Feb 20 06:56:43 pop-os kernel: [ 1215.116440] EXT4-fs (sda1): error loading journal Feb 20 06:56:43 pop-os gnome-shell[1906]: Unable to mount volume monolith: Gio.IOErrorEnum: Error mounting /dev/sda1 at /media/toby/monolith: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1, missing codepage or helper program, or other error Feb 20 07:04:15 pop-os kernel: [ 1667.249955] EXT4-fs (sda1): error loading journal #### date Fri Feb 20 04:14:26 PM WET 2026 sudo fsck -y /dev/sda1 sudo fsck -y /dev/sda1 [sudo] password for toby: fsck from util-linux 2.37.2 e2fsck 1.46.5 (30-Dec-2021) Superblock has an invalid journal (inode 8). Clear? yes *** journal has been deleted *** Superblock has_journal flag is clear, but a journal is present. Clear? yes Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes Journal inode is not in use, but contains data. Clear? yes Pass 2: Checking directory structure Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity Pass 4: Checking reference counts Pass 5: Checking group summary information Block bitmap differences: +8388608 +8388624 +(8388640--8389151) +8912896 +8912912 +(8912928--8913439) +9437184 +9437200 +(9437216--9437727) +9961472 +9961488 +(9961504--9962015) +10485760 +10485776 +(10485792--10486303) +11010048 +11010064 +(11010080--11010591) +11534336 +11534352 +(11534368--11534879) +12058624 +12058640 +(12058656--12059167) +12582912 +12582928 +(12582944--12583455) +(13107200--13107204) +(13107216--13107220) +(13107232--13109791) +13631488 +13631504 +(13631520--13632031) +14155776 +14155792 +(14155808--14156319) +14680064 +14680080 +(14680096--14680607) +15204352 +15204368 +(15204384--15204895) +15728640 +15728656 +(15728672--15729183) +16252928 +16252944 +(16252960--16253471) +16777216 +16777232 +(16777248--16777759) +17301504 +17301520 +(17301536--17302047) +17825792 +17825808 +(17825824--17826335) +18350080 +18350096 +(18350112--18350623) +18874368 +18874384 +(18874400--18874911) +19398656 +19398672 +(19398688--19399199) +19922944 +19922960 +(19922976--19923487) +20447232 +20447248 +(20447264--20447775) +20971520 +20971536 +(20971552--20972063) +21495808 +21495824 +(21495840--21496351) +22020096 +22020112 +(22020128--22020639) +22544384 +22544400 +(22544416--22544927) +23068672 +23068688 +(23068704--23069215) +23592960 +23592976 +(23592992--23593503) +24117248 +24117264 +(24117280--24117791) +24641536 +24641552 +(24641568--24642079) +25165824 +25165840 +(25165856--25166367) +25690112 +(25690127--25690128) +(25690143--25690655) +(25697824--25698335) Fix? yes Free blocks count wrong for group #401 (0, counted=32768). Fix? yes Free blocks count wrong for group #402 (0, counted=32768). Fix? yes Free blocks count wrong for group #403 (0, counted=32768). Fix? yes Free blocks count wrong for group #404 (0, counted=32768). Fix? yes Free blocks count wrong (25656552, counted=25787624). Fix? yes Recreate journal? yes Creating journal (131072 blocks): Done. *** journal has been regenerated *** monolith: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***** monolith: 11/6553600 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 557848/26214400 blocks ### eject monolith via file manager ### remove monolith date Fri Feb 20 06:05:27 PM WET 2026 #### date Fri Feb 20 06:22:48 PM WET 2026 # insert monolith into USB port monolith appears on file browser # select monolith in file browser Unable to access "monolith" Error mounting /dev/sda1 ... #### There are various counterfeit USB sticks and memory cards on the market. These frequently appear to have a much larger capacity than they actually do have. The more clever fakes are designed to pass simple tests and be actually usable... until you attempt to store more data than their actual capacity is. At that point, you will get data corruption and errors. The behaviour you're seeing might fit this situation. You might try checking your USB stick with a program that is dedicated to detecting fake storage devices. Here are a few examples, in no particular order: https://www.raymond.cc/blog/test-and-detect-fake-or-counterfeit-usb-flash-drives-bought-from-ebay-with-h2testw/ https://www.geckoandfly.com/22803/detect-fake-usb-flash-drives-sd-cards-ssd-disk/ #### #### I am thinking that monolith is a fake 1 TB drive. ####