EX200 Create and configure file systems Practice Question
Exhibit
# parted /dev/sdc print Error: /dev/sdc: unrecognised disk label # lsblk /dev/sdc NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT sdc 8:32 0 20G 0 disk # fdisk -l /dev/sdc Disk /dev/sdc: 20 GiB, 21474836480 bytes, 41943040 sectors Disk model: Virtual Disk 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: dos Disk identifier: 0x00000000 Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sdc1 2048 41943039 41940992 20G 83 Linux # blkid /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdc1: UUID="abcdef12-3456-7890-abcd-ef1234567890" TYPE="xfs" # mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/backup mount: /mnt/backup: can't read superblock on /dev/sdc1.
Refer to the exhibit. An administrator tries to mount the partition /dev/sdc1 and gets a superblock error. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Red Hat often tests the distinction between a partition existing (created with fdisk/gdisk) and a filesystem existing on that partition (created with mkfs), leading candidates to confuse partition table corruption with a missing filesystem.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The filesystem has not been created; mkfs.xfs was not run
The superblock error indicates that the kernel cannot read the filesystem metadata at the start of the partition. This most commonly occurs when no filesystem has been created on the partition — i.e., mkfs.xfs was never run on /dev/sdc1. Without a valid filesystem superblock, the mount command fails with a 'wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock' message.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The filesystem is not recognized; need to install xfsprogs
Why it's wrong here
The error "can't read superblock" means the kernel opened the block device and attempted to validate an XFS superblock at offset 0, but the magic number was not found. If XFS support were missing, the mount command would fail with "unknown filesystem type 'xfs'" before any superblock I/O, and blkid would not identify the partition as xfs because libblkid probes filesystem signatures independently of kernel modules. Installing xfsprogs may still be necessary to run mkfs.xfs or xfs_repair later, but the immediate failure is an invalid or absent superblock, not a missing package.
- ✗
The partition table is corrupted
Why it's wrong here
A corrupted partition table would prevent fdisk from showing a valid partition table, or the kernel would not create /dev/sdb1 at all; typical errors would be "invalid partition table" or "no such device". Since the exhibit shows a valid partition table and /dev/sdb1 exists, the partition's starting sector and size are intact. The superblock lives inside the partition's data area, one layer above the partition table, so a partition-table problem would never surface as a filesystem-level superblock read failure.
- ✓
The filesystem has not been created; mkfs.xfs was not run
Why this is correct
Although blkid shows a UUID and type, the superblock error indicates the filesystem is not valid. This can happen if the partition was created but not formatted, yet blkid might show leftover metadata. Typically, you must run mkfs.xfs to create the filesystem.
- ✗
The mount point /mnt/backup does not exist
Why it's wrong here
The mount command performs a VFS path lookup on the mount point before opening the underlying block device; if /mnt/backup did not exist, the error would be "mount point does not exist" and the superblock would never be read. The presented error specifically says "can't read superblock" from /dev/sdb1, meaning the mount point lookup succeeded and the kernel moved on to interpreting the filesystem structure. The superblock read happens after path resolution and device open, so a missing directory is not the cause of this error.
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