I tried to write a Buster image to a new microSD card (Samsung Evo Plus)
using a usb-microSD adapter supplied with the card. It seemed to work,
but slowly, following the directions at
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/linux.
md

using my existing Pi3B+ running Stretch.

However, the resulting image seems a bit out of whack.
bob@raspberrypi:~/Downloads $ sudo fsck /dev/sdb2
[sudo] password for bob:
fsck from util-linux 2.29.2
e2fsck 1.43.4 (31-Jan-2017)
ext2fs_open2: Bad magic number in super-block
fsck.ext2: Superblock invalid, trying backup blocks...
fsck.ext2: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sdb2

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a valid ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 
 or
    e2fsck -b 32768 
I tried the second suggestion and my Pi replied:
bob@raspberrypi:~/Downloads $ sudo e2fsck -b 32768 /dev/sdb2
e2fsck 1.43.4 (31-Jan-2017)
e2fsck: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sdb2

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a valid ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem.  If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
    e2fsck -b 8193 
 or
    e2fsck -b 32768 

Before simply starting over, might there be some way to salvage the
insttallation? Or, at least figure out what I did wrong?

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05