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Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 13:57:58 -0600 (MDT)
From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com>
To: Gary Aitken <freebsd@dreamchaser.org>
Subject: Re: gpart -- label an ntfs partition on usb stick?
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On Tue, 16 Sep 2014, Gary Aitken wrote:

> I'm trying to reformat a USB stick to take large files.  It was my understanding
> that gpart could do this, and that the proper file type was ntfs.  It seems to
> work with no label, but when I attempt to label the partition, it objects.  I
> thought the label was part of the partitioning scheme, and as such should be
> independent of the partition type.  What am I missing?
>
> # gpart show -l da0
> =>        1  125031679  da0  MBR  (59G)
>          1         31       - free -  (15k)
>         32  125031648    1  (null)  (59G)
>
> # gpart delete -i 1 da0
> da0s1 deleted
> # gpart show -l da0
> =>        1  125031679  da0  MBR  (59G)
>          1  125031679       - free -  (59G)
>
> # gpart add -t ntfs -l ntfs da0
> gpart: Invalid argument
> # gpart add -t ntfs da0
> da0s1 added
> # gpart show -l da0
> =>        1  125031679  da0  MBR  (59G)
>          1         62       - free -  (31k)
>         63  125031564    1  (null)  (59G)
>  125031627         53       - free -  (26k)

With GPT, labels are part of the partition scheme.  But MBR does not 
support partition labels.  glabel(8) suggests that NTFS supports volume 
labels.