[TriLUG] cant mount USB HDD....ubuntu

[Joseph Mack NA3T]

On Fri, 13 Jan 2006, Carl Crider wrote:

> hey there, i've got a box loaded with ubuntu, well, kubuntu 5.10 actually.

is this 2.4?

if 2.6, do you have a working udev?

> anyway, i think i may be having a total brain-fart moment 
> here, as i cant seem to get the drive mounted.
>
> here's my fstab:
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> # /etc/fstab: static file system information.
> #
> # <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
> proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
> /dev/hdb1 / ext3
> defaults,errors=remount-ro,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid,nouser 0 1
> /dev/hdb5 none swap sw 0 0
> /dev/hdc        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
> /dev/hdd        /media/cdrom1   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
> /dev/sda1 /media/usb0 auto ,atime,auto,rw,dev,exec,suid,user 0 0

in 2.4 usb devices are named in the order of kernel 
discovery. If you plugged two usb drives in, the 2nd one 
will be /dev/sdb. Look in the logs to see that a device 
(/dev/sd[a-z]) has been recognised. Mount the name you see. 
There's no point in having an entry in /etc/fstab, as the 
device won't have the same name each time you insert it.

You could go the LABEL route. LABEL your drive, then use a 
line like

LABEL=pny       /pny            ext3    noauto  0 0

in your /etc/fstab. Of course then all external drives have 
to be labelled, or mount won't mount an unLABELled removable 
drive. I don't know the fix for that, and no-one else here 
seems to either.

In 2.6, udev assigns names based on udev rules. You don't 
mount the device discovered by the kernel (/dev/sda) but
udev's mapping on it eg /dev/pny (the name I give my PNY 
brand flash disk). If this is the case, look up the HOWTOs 
for writing udev rules.

Joe

-- 
Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map
generator at http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml 
Homepage http://www.austintek.com/ It's GNU/Linux!