[root@dan smb]# dd if=/dev/zero of=loopfile bs=1k count=1024
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
[root@dan smb]# losetup /dev/loop0 loopfile
[root@dan smb]# mkfs -t ext2 /dev/loop0
mke2fs 1.04, 16-May-96 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09
256 inodes, 1024 blocks
51 blocks (4.98%) reserved for the super user
First data block=1
Block size=1024 (log=0)
Fragment size=1024 (log=0)
1 block group
8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group
256 inodes per group
Writing inode tables: done
Warning: could not erase block 0: Attempt to write block from filesystem
resulted in short write
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
The kernel spits out many messages like:
loop: block 1 not present
end_request: I/O error, dev 07:00, sector 2
loop: block 2 not present
end_request: I/O error, dev 07:00, sector 4
loop: block 3 not present
end_request: I/O error, dev 07:00, sector 6
loop: block 4 not present
end_request: I/O error, dev 07:00, sector 8
-Dan