Dolphin question SOLVED

[Just17]

Right click on a blank area of the tray in the panel and select "System Tray Settings" ........  tick the Device Notifier box under Extra Items to display.
You will then have Device Notifier in your tray.

[dougmack]

Yes, I already had that checked--it must be a default, I don't ever remember doing it. As someone remarked in another thread today  (New Topic Hard to Read),  this notification just pops up
and disappears so fast you can't even read it all, much less take any action. so I don't know if this is the notifier or not, since the correspondents here can't seem to agree.
At any rate, I'll have to see if other thumb drives behave the same way or not.  I guess the "standard" format is some kind of Microsoft file system, and that's just fine, since that's where the
file I copy is most likely going.

Thanx for the input.  If I learn anything else, I'll be back.  --doug

[Just17]

If it is present it will have an icon .......  a USB icon.

Still waiting for the fdisk info ........

[dougmack]

OK.  I always thought that the icon you refer to as a USB icon was an icon for an audio connection!  Anyway, I snapped on that icon, and I get the notifier, which indicates the thumb drive.
I don't know if it would have if I hadn't been "priming th epums" so to speak, by doing various things to access the plug-in.

Here's f-disk, for what it's worth:
[doug@Linux1 ~]$ df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda9              33G  8.5G   23G  28% /
/dev/sda11            208G   14G  195G   7% /home
/dev/sdb1             299G  207G   92G  70% /media/FreeAgent_Drive
/dev/sda8             353M   65M  289M  19% /media/sda8
/dev/sdd1             3.8G  810M  3.0G  22% /media/disk
[doug@Linux1 ~]$ fdisk -l /dev/sdd1
Cannot open /dev/sdd1
[doug@Linux1 ~]$ fdisk -l /media/disk
last_lba(): I don't know how to handle files with mode 40755

Whatever that means!  To repeat what I mentioned earlier, I have written a directory and files to that drive and then read and copied them onto a Win7 computer, where they work.

--doug

[T6]

"I have written a directory and files to that drive and then read and copied them onto a Win7 computer, where they work."

yes, this is why i said that you can copy the files to another place in windows and then reformat the device, this time in linux and copy files back

[Just17]

[doug@Linux1 ~]$ fdisk -l /dev/sdd1
Cannot open /dev/sdd1

Do

fdisk -l /dev/sdd

You do not use the partition number when trying to get info about the whole disk device 

[Bald Brick]

Well, I don't guess I know what Device Notifier is, then.  Perhaps I don't have it. If I snap on the little triangle, I get a little box that says Notifications and Printer Applet.  There was another icon that I snapped on, and it mentioned
notifications also, but now it's gone--I guess I only get one shot at it.  I'll try a couple of other thumg=drives, and see if the system recognizes them, as well as Dolphin.  --doug

By default the Device Notifier icon looks like this:



(whether it is in the systray or installed as a stand-alone panel widget).

Try clicking it.

[The Chief]

I always thought that the icon you refer to as a USB icon was an icon for an audio connection!

If you look closely, it is embossed on the top side of every standard USB connector (the ones that plug into your computer, not the mini ones for portable devices).

[dougmack]

Well now I know what the symbol means. ONe one plug I inspected thru a magnifying glass, the symbol was precede by SS.

Looks like fdisk doesn't like the thumb-drive (sdd). Thought maybe fdisk can't read a mounted drive, so tried to unmount it.  Here's the sequence:

[doug@Linux1 ~]$ df -a
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda9              33G  8.5G   23G  28% /
none                     0     0     0   -  /proc
none                     0     0     0   -  /dev/pts
/dev/sda11            208G   14G  195G   7% /home
/dev/sda8             353M   65M  289M  19% /media/sda8
none                     0     0     0   -  /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
sunrpc                   0     0     0   -  /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs
nfsd                     0     0     0   -  /proc/fs/nfsd
/proc                    0     0     0   -  /var/lib/named/proc
/dev/sdd1             3.8G  810M  3.0G  22% /media/disk
/dev/sdb1              59G   52M   56G   1% /media/disk-1
/dev/sda6             555M  137M  390M  26% /media/disk-2
/dev/sdb5              39G   48M   37G   1% /media/disk-3
/dev/sda1              62G   15G   48G  24% /media/Windows
/dev/sda7             2.1G  159M  1.9G   8% /media/disk-4
[doug@Linux1 ~]$ fdisk -l /dev/sdd                                                                                                               
Cannot open /dev/sdd                                                                                                                             
[doug@Linux1 ~]$ ^C                                                                                                                             
[doug@Linux1 ~]$ umount /dev/sdd
umount: /dev/sdd is not mounted (according to mtab)

Anyway it seems to be available to use now.  I don't know why it gave me trouble before--more than once.

Thanx for the interest--doug

[Just17]

[doug@Linux1 ~]$ fdisk -l /dev/sdd                                                                                                               
Cannot open /dev/sdd   

Can you try that as root to see if there is a difference in the output?

[T6]

fat32 partitions can fail if unmounted improperly on windows, for some reason linux reacts in weird ways to this

try to do what i mentioned before, save files out of the device and then delete and recreate the partition to copy files back

[dougmack]

OK, you're right--root produces this:

Disk /dev/sdd: 4029 MB, 4029677568 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 489 cylinders, total 7870464 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
Disk identifier: 0xee885a9c

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1   *           1     7870463     3935231+   b  W95 FAT32

As far as copying off the files--why?  I can read them now and I can write to the device. And I said already that I *want* an MS-compatible file system.

--doug

[T6]

because the fat 32 partition has errors

when you use linux to create the partition again you can keep fat32 or if you want you can use ntfs so you don't loose compatibility with windows

i would copy the files if i was you, and then delete the partition, recreate it on linux and put files back but is your decision, i am just saying what i would do

[Just17]

(edit)


You should follow T6's advice for the sake of your data's safety.
I would go even further and delete the partition table completely by writing zeros to the first 1MB or so and create a new one and a new partition.

Your choice .....  but if you don't ......

[dougmack]

Thanx to all.  There's nothing critical on the thumb drive, so in a day or so when I'm sure I don't need the files anymore,  I'll reformat it to NTFS.

I'm going to mark this SOLVED, even tho it comes to a rather messy and incomplete end.  I do appreciate all the input from the various contributors.

--doug