Commands used to initialise a harddisk for use on Raspberry Pi (debian)

hddcreate

    # 1. Connect the harddrive via USB
    # 2. Find out the allocated device name

$ lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda           8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk
└─sda1        8:1    0 931.5G  0 part
mmcblk0     179:0    0   3.8G  0 disk
├─mmcblk0p1 179:1    0   128M  0 part /boot
└─mmcblk0p2 179:2    0   3.6G  0 part /

    # ^^^^ note that the device name is /dev/sda

    # 3. Create a new partition table and add partition(s)
$ sudo fdisk /dev/sda
   # delete all partitions
Command (m for help): d
Selected partition 1
Partition 1 has been deleted.
    # create a new GPT partition table
Command (m for help): g
Created a new GPT disklabel (GUID: 9E9FFB58-63A8-43DB-A0CC-EFE6A5D301A6).
    # create a new partition (iterate for each next partition
Command (m for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1): ##use default##
First sector (2048-1953525134, default 2048): ###use default###
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-1953525134, default 1953525134): ###use default or enter size###

Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 931.5 GiB.
    # display the result
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 9E9FFB58-63A8-43DB-A0CC-EFE6A5D301A6

Device     Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1   2048 1953525134 1953523087 931.5G Linux filesystem
    # write the table to disk
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered.
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.

    # We can check the partition for badblocks now or we let fsck do it after the filesystem is created or during the fs creation.
$ sudo badblocks -nsv /dev/sda -o bad-blocks-sda
    # -nsv : non-destructive read-write mode; be verbose
    # -o <file> : dump badblocks to a file

    # Create a filesystem on the new partition
$ sudo mkfs.ext4 -cc /dev/sda1
    # -cc read/write test for badblocks
    
    # or using the badblocks output file:
$ sudo mkfs.ext4 -l bad-blocks-sda /dev/sda
    # -l <file> : store results in the named file
mke2fs 1.42.12 (29-Aug-2014)
Creating filesystem with 244190385 4k blocks and 61054976 inodes
Filesystem UUID: 48364ce0-9d1e-4a97-ae31-d7fd86cbabd0
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
	32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
	4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616, 78675968,
	102400000, 214990848

Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

$ sudo fsck -fpv -kcc /dev/sda1 |logger -t fsck -p 7
    # -f : force checking
    # -k : preserve old bad block mappings
    # -p : automatically repair the fs
    # -cc: scan for badblocks and map them out. 2nd `c` = Non-destructively.
    # -v : verbose

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/badblocks