ExampleForChooseADevice

HOWTO guides sometimes need to tell the user to find a specific physical device (e.g. to format it). This template provides standard instructions:

Typing the wrong device name can destroy all information on your hard disk, so follow these instructions to select the right device name:

# Make sure your device is disconnected or turned off, then do:
ls /dev/disk/by-id/* | grep -v -- '-part[0-9]*$' | tee /tmp/disks.txt

# Make sure your device is connected and powered up, then do:
ls /dev/disk/by-id/* | grep -v -- '-part[0-9]*$' | diff /tmp/disks.txt -
# You should see something like:
# 10a11
# > /dev/disk/by-id/<identifier-of-your-disk>

# Make a variable with the device from the previous command:
TARGET_DEVICE=/dev/disk/by-id/<identifier-of-your-disk>

# Check you typed it correctly by reading one byte from the disk:
sudo head -c1 "$TARGET_DEVICE" > /dev/null
# Disconnect your device, then try again:
sudo head -c1 "$TARGET_DEVICE" > /dev/null

If you did everything right, the head command should only work when the device is plugged in. You can now use $TARGET_DEVICE instead of the name of your device in future commands.

The instructions below often refer to $TARGET_DEVICE. If you create a variable as described above, you can paste those exact instructions. Otherwise, change $TARGET_DEVICE to your actual device name.