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TL;DR:

# mkntfs --label media1 --fast /dev/sdb 
/dev/sdb is entire device, not just one partition.
Refusing to make a filesystem here!

Why does the script "refuse to make a filesystem on the entire device"?

In detail:

What are the possible downsides if the whole disk is formatted as NTFS? I.e. not one single big partition taking up all the space, but the disk itself.

I imagine that as a system disk (i.e. for running Windows) it would not work, because there would be no space for a boot loader. (Or would be? Does formatting the whole disk also overwrite the MBR area?)

But what if the disk is used only as a data storage? (This is the part that is more relevant to me at the moment.) Would all the OS-es that support NTFS (Windows/Linux/...) still be able to correctly read and write files? Would all other devices handle it correctly? (E.g. HDD connected to a TV via USB.)

Or is there any chance that this could cause irreversible damage to the disk? (This is what is preventing me from simply trying it out.)

Remarks:

  • I know that I could force formatting the whole drive with the mkntfs -F flag, so the question is not how to do it, but whether I should or not?

  • Why would I want to do that in the first place, you may ask? The answer is, why waste space on the partition metadata, if I'm going to use the whole disk as data storage anyway? (But I'm interested in the system-disk POW too, just for broadening my perspective.)

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  • First of all: TIL that what I want to do is called a "superfloppy". I think the linked Q&A implicitly answers the question I posed, i.e.: the disk will definitely not be damaged, but many devices might have a problem correctly accessing it, unless you do an extra hack (writing zeros at the beginning), which probably solves the issue.
    – Attilio
    Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 14:24
  • The question got closed early for some reason...? Anyway, your summary is correct. The disk will not be damaged because from its perspective it's no different than any other disk operation; it's just writing some data somewhere. Partitioning is purely conventional. (unlike, for example, NVMe namespaces, which exist below the data layer)
    – gronostaj
    Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 14:28
  • For the sake of completeness, formatting without partitioning is very common with the ZFS filesystem, which relies on direct drive access for its built in data protection and provides subvolumes which are a more advanced alternative to partitions. NTFS doesn't offer these.
    – gronostaj
    Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 14:31
  • > The question got closed early for some reason...? It might have been me: there was a message box at the top asking if the question is a duplicate of the other one, and I said yes. (I had the impression it is just private feedback for myself.) Anyway, I learnt a lot today :)
    – Attilio
    Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 14:34
  • 1
    More general question: Uses of single-partition disk configuration.
    – Kamil Maciorowski
    Commented Feb 18, 2021 at 20:51

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