Centos – Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy

centosfdiskhardwarelinuxusb-drive

When re-partitioning the USB drive on CentOS 6.x getting following error.

Disk /dev/sdb: 31.5 GB, 31466323968 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3825 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0e693bd9

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1        3826    30727808    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
[root@csc ~]# fdisk /dev/sdb

WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to
         switch off the mode (command 'c') and change display units to
         sectors (command 'u').

Command (m for help): d
Selected partition 1

Command (m for help): 1
1: unknown command
Command action
   a   toggle a bootable flag
   b   edit bsd disklabel
   c   toggle the dos compatibility flag
   d   delete a partition
   l   list known partition types
   m   print this menu
   n   add a new partition
   o   create a new empty DOS partition table
   p   print the partition table
   q   quit without saving changes
   s   create a new empty Sun disklabel
   t   change a partition's system id
   u   change display/entry units
   v   verify the partition table
   w   write table to disk and exit
   x   extra functionality (experts only)

Command (m for help): d   
No partition is defined yet!

Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-3825, default 1): 
Using default value 1
Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (1-3825, default 3825): 
Using default value 3825

Command (m for help): 
Command (m for help):  
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): 86
Changed system type of partition 1 to 86 (NTFS volume set)

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at
the next reboot or after you run partprobe(8) or kpartx(8)
Syncing disks.

Best Answer

Looks like this device is mounted. Run umount /dev/sdb1 and try again.

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