USB hdd not accessible... [SOLVED]

[Bald Brick]

Hi blackbird

The fstab now:

# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=8864592a-6307-4d7d-af63-d97d3c7e4dc4 / ext3 defaults 1 1
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=4e3df53a-0042-49d2-a580-2d42abf47777 /home ext3 defaults 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=a37fec86-22b1-481a-ac75-49fc4c6f5562 swap swap defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0

This looks like a default setup. As you can see your two ntfs partitions do not have their own lines. Let's see if HAL can manage them instead. Precisely how did you access your video and music folder?

If it was plugged in when you booted, you should click "Go" on the menu bar and then do as Hankcurt wrote:

I just want to be sure that you know that you will have to go into konqueror in the Storage Media section and click on the drive to get HAL to mount it before you will see the contents,

There are other ways of mounting it, but this seems like the least complicated one. Is this what you have done or have you accessed it in another way?

Hankcurt continued:

unless you plug the drive in after you are logged into KDE and use the pop up dialog box to mount it.

This is another possibility.

My usb hdd has only 1 partition. Could I overcome future troubles by repartition the drive ?

I think it is better to leave it as it is for now.

gparted gives a warning that it can not find a mount point.

HAL should create the mountpoint on the fly. If you do the mounting through the Storage Media as explained above and still can't acces the troublesome directories, we will have to create the mountpoints manually and edit fstab. But let us first see how HAL does.


I can see that Hankcurt has posted while I was typing. I may be back when I've read his post.

Edit:

Yes, that was good advice. If you post what he asked for it will tell us a lot.

[OleWilly]

Hi

I tried to reboot, I could not. I took the power off the usb hdd. Then I could reboot. I turned the power on the usb hdd. And I could only see the icon for the usb hdd. Entrance was denied. A new fstab has been created during all that:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>

#Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=8864592a-6307-4d7d-af63-d97d3c7e4dc4   /   ext3   defaults   1   1
#Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=4e3df53a-0042-49d2-a580-2d42abf47777   /home   ext3   defaults   1   2
#Entry for /dev/sdd1 :
UUID=D27431CF7431B6D7   /media/Iomega\040HDD   ntfs-3g   defaults,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal,locale=da   0   0
#Entry for /dev/sda1 :
UUID=FEB8E7E2B8E79803   /media/sda1   ntfs   defaults,nls=utf8,umask=0222   0   0
none   /proc   proc   defaults   0   0
#Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=a37fec86-22b1-481a-ac75-49fc4c6f5562   swap   swap   defaults   0   0
none   /dev/pts   devpts   mode=0620   0   0

So back again. - I wonder what packages I have to NOT update after a reinstall ?

OW

[Bald Brick]

Oh my.

But don't panic: nothing is lost. (I sort of suspect that you've done something in gparted that you shouldn't have.)

Unfortunately I'm on my way out. I will be back after a few hours.

[hankcurt]

Hi again,

I was re-reading the earlier part of this thread, and noticed you had installed ntfs-config before, but I was wondering if you had installed it since you re-installed the operating system.  If so, have you tried to run it and set up the ntfs-3g mount since the re-install?

Maybe silly questions, but I thought I would ask.

Oh, and I would request again that you mount the usb hdd and then post the contents of /etc/mtab.  That will let us see exactly what options were actually used to mount it.

thanks.

[OleWilly]

Hi hankcurt

I installed and configured it.
I have made a new reinstall. And this time I did NOT make a fully update. Usb hdd is working fine. I only installed programs that I use often. A fully update ruins my system. The only thing I could not get going is screenlet. It will not start. Thanks a lot for trying to help.

OW

[Bald Brick]

I was re-reading the earlier part of this thread, and noticed you had installed ntfs-config before, but I was wondering if you had installed it since you re-installed the operating system.  If so, have you tried to run it and set up the ntfs-3g mount since the re-install?

I installed and configured it.

At least that explains where the new lines in /etc/fstab came from. Writing to fstab is what ntfs-config does. It's not a bad program, so what it writes makes sense more often than not. Manually configuring /etc/fstab gives you more control though. And not knowing that you've run the program can make diagnosing a problem very much harder.

But I'm glad you've got a working system, even if not updating fully is usually a bad idea in a rolling distro. It probably won't be long before you can install a new iso of the whole system.

I hope your current /etc/fstab isn't identical to the last one you posted. That one would have made your other ntfs partition (not the USB drive) non-writable - in two different ways.

[OleWilly]

Hi blackbird

This is my current fstab:

# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=8864592a-6307-4d7d-af63-d97d3c7e4dc4 / ext3 defaults 1 1
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=4e3df53a-0042-49d2-a580-2d42abf47777 /home ext3 defaults 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=a37fec86-22b1-481a-ac75-49fc4c6f5562 swap swap defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0

and if I issue fdisk -l :

Disk /dev/sdb: 8100 Mb, 8100773888 byte
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 984 cylinders
Units = cylindre of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0000be5e

    Enhed Opstart   Start         Slut     Blokke   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1         984     7903948+   7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdc: 1031 Mb, 1031798272 byte
32 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1015 cylinders
Units = cylindre of 1984 * 512 = 1015808 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xde8e7bb0

Dette ligner ikke en partitionstabel
Du har nok valgt den forkerte enhed.

    Enhed Opstart   Start         Slut     Blokke   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   ?     1522439     1522695      253319   e4  SpeedStor
Partition 1 har forskellig fysisk/logisk begyndelse (ikke-Linux?):
     fys=(190, 120, 0) logisk=(1522438, 25, 51)
Partition 1 har forskellig fysisk/logisk endelse:
     fys=(544, 125, 44) logisk=(1522694, 5, 24)
Partition 1 slutter ikke på en cylindergrænse.
/dev/sdc2   ?      507340     1509340   993984023   98  Ukendt
Partition 2 har forskellig fysisk/logisk begyndelse (ikke-Linux?):
     fys=(1010, 16, 43) logisk=(507339, 24, 10)
Partition 2 har forskellig fysisk/logisk endelse:
     fys=(205, 205, 22) logisk=(1509339, 24, 55)
Partition 2 slutter ikke på en cylindergrænse.
/dev/sdc3   ?      855155     1822849   959953209   7d  Ukendt
Partition 3 har forskellig fysisk/logisk begyndelse (ikke-Linux?):
     fys=(252, 139, 46) logisk=(855154, 3, 54)
Partition 3 har forskellig fysisk/logisk endelse:
     fys=(367, 195, 2) logisk=(1822848, 28, 25)
Partition 3 slutter ikke på en cylindergrænse.
/dev/sdc4   ?       17342       21538     4161536    0  Tom
Partition 4 har forskellig fysisk/logisk begyndelse (ikke-Linux?):
     fys=(0, 10, 0) logisk=(17341, 29, 59)
Partition 4 har forskellig fysisk/logisk endelse:
     fys=(0, 0, 0) logisk=(21537, 1, 2)
Partition 4 slutter ikke på en cylindergrænse.

Partitionstabellens indgange er ikke i disk-rækkefølge

I can see and access all my drives.

OW

[Bald Brick]

Hi OleWilly,

This is my current fstab:

# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=8864592a-6307-4d7d-af63-d97d3c7e4dc4 / ext3 defaults 1 1
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=4e3df53a-0042-49d2-a580-2d42abf47777 /home ext3 defaults 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=a37fec86-22b1-481a-ac75-49fc4c6f5562 swap swap defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0

This is what I hoped for. The lines for your two ntfs partitions have been eliminated, so if you still can access the partitions, the mounting is handled by HAL. And it seems to work. If you want them to be automatically mounted at boot, we have to create new entries in fstab, but I wouldn't bother. If it works, it works.



On the other hand the output from fdisk -l is something I haven't seen before and do not understand:

Your /dev/sda has disappeared completely.
Your /dev/sdb has shrunk from almost a terabyte to less than a gigabyte.

And then we have /dev/sdc. Where did that come from? A relatively small drive without a partition table, a drive that fdisk thinks is "the wrong unit".

Did you possibly have a pendrive or some other new USB unit plugged in when you ran fdisk?
The partitions listed don't make sense to me, and two of them don't make sense to Linux either.
The only thing I understand about this drive is that the partition table entries don't come in disk order (and that isn't serious).

I think we should probably check the integrity of all your disks, but before that: what the heck is this /dev/sdc?

[OleWilly]

Hi

Most likely I presume that I had pendrive attached. On this Dell Inspiron 8300 P4 3GHz cpu 2Gb ram 128 Mb nVidea FX5200 there is too many usb ports, I think there are 7 on the rear and 2 on the front of the box. Now the pc is standing on the floor and therefore I have a Logitech box on my table with 4 holes to usb pen drives.- Thats a mess! Now if I try to start gparted from a console I am asked for root pasword, and when given the console tells me this:  

[ole@localhost ~]$ gparted
error: libhal_acquire_global_interface_lock: org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.InterfaceAlreadyLocked: The interface org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Storage is already exclusively locked either by someone else or it's already locked by yourself
[ole@localhost ~]$

What to do about it? - Anyway I can easily access my usb hdd now, but I do not dare to make a fully update here because I am afraid I will be back to start. But in the long term I have to do it.

Funny thing is that I can operate gparted if I call the program from the menu. And here is a picture of it. There is a tryangular warning sign!?

Many thanks for help and a Merry Xmas and a happy 2010

OW
 


[attachment deleted by admin]

[Bald Brick]

Hi

Most likely I presume that I had pendrive attached. On this Dell Inspiron 8300 P4 3GHz cpu 2Gb ram 128 Mb nVidea FX5200 there is too many usb ports, I think there are 7 on the rear and 2 on the front of the box. Now the pc is standing on the floor and therefore I have a Logitech box on my table with 4 holes to usb pen drives.- Thats a mess! Now if I try to start gparted from a console I am asked for root pasword, and when given the console tells me this:  

[ole@localhost ~]$ gparted
error: libhal_acquire_global_interface_lock: org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.InterfaceAlreadyLocked: The interface org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Storage is already exclusively locked either by someone else or it's already locked by yourself
[ole@localhost ~]$

What to do about it?

If you want to start gparted from the command line, try gksu -l gparted as the command instead of plain gparted. (It's faster than finding an offending lock file.)

But I've been wondering about one thing: you seem to use gparted quite a lot. Why? I only need a partitioning program once a year or so. And gparted is very powerful and consequently also a bit dangerous.

- Anyway I can easily access my usb hdd now, but I do not dare to make a fully update here because I am afraid I will be back to start. But in the long term I have to do it.

When you're ready we'll try to help you. If all goes well, you'll be able to start with a new official iso.

Funny thing is that I can operate gparted if I call the program the menu. And here is a picture of it. There is a tryangular warning sign!?

Yes, the warning sign is a bit ominous. But I don't know what it's warning you about.

Many thanks for help and a Merry Xmas and happy 2009.

And a very merry Christmas to you too!

[OleWilly]

Hi

I had to reinstall and make a fully update. I also formatted my home after I moved the content to my external usb drive. - But now if I open some folders in my usb hdd they are empty. But they are really not because I can easily see the content in windows.

Here are some info about the present set up:

[ole@localhost ~]$ mount
/dev/sda5 on / type ext3 (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0620)
/dev/sda7 on /home type ext3 (rw)
/dev/sdd on /media/removable type vfat (rw)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
/dev/sde1 on /media/Iomega HDD type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096)
/dev/sda1 on /media/sda1 type ntfs (rw,nls=utf8,umask=0222)

[ole@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>

#Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=8864592a-6307-4d7d-af63-d97d3c7e4dc4       /       ext3    defaults       11
#Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=4e3df53a-0042-49d2-a580-2d42abf47777       /home   ext3    defaults       12
#Entry for /dev/sde1 :
UUID=D27431CF7431B6D7   /media/Iomega\040HDD    ntfs-3g defaults,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal,locale=da     0       0
#Entry for /dev/sda1 :
UUID=FEB8E7E2B8E79803   /media/sda1     ntfs    defaults,nls=utf8,umask=0222   00
#Entry for /dev/sdd :
UUID=13D7-1D49  /media/removable        vfat    defaults        0       0
none    /proc   proc    defaults        0       0
#Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=a37fec86-22b1-481a-ac75-49fc4c6f5562       swap    swap    defaults       00
none    /dev/pts        devpts  mode=0620       0       0

[ole@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/mtab
/dev/sda5 / ext3 rw 0 0
none /proc proc rw 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts rw,mode=0620 0 0
/dev/sda7 /home ext3 rw 0 0
/dev/sdd /media/removable vfat rw 0 0
none /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc rw 0 0
none /sys/fs/fuse/connections fusectl rw 0 0
/dev/sde1 /media/Iomega\040HDD fuseblk rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs rw,nls=utf8,umask=0222 0 0

[ole@localhost ~]$ df
Filsystem            Størr Brugt  Tilb Brug% Monteret på
/dev/sda5              12G  5,9G  5,5G  52% /
/dev/sda7             347G  6,3G  341G   2% /home
/dev/sdd              982M  597M  385M  61% /media/removable
/dev/sde1             932G  411G  521G  45% /media/Iomega HDD
/dev/sda1              98G   17G   82G  17% /media/sda1
[ole@localhost ~]$
 
I am unable to figure that out. I think I have to move the content of the folders to new created ones in Win.

OW

[OleWilly]

Hi

I booted Win XP and made a folder and put the content of the folder that I could not see in PCL into that folder.
I rebooted in PCL only to find out that now I could not even open the usb hdd. 
Then I started the ntfs-3g config tool and unmarked everything. And then I could access everything again.

OW 

[Bald Brick]

Hi

I booted Win XP and made a folder and put the content of the folder that I could not see in PCL into that folder.
I rebooted in PCL only to find out that now I could not even open the usb hdd.  
Then I started the ntfs-3g config tool and unmarked everything. And then I could access everything again.

OW  

That doesn't surprise me. What I was hoping for in my last posts was a setup without the changes that ntfs-config writes to /etc/fstab. That would give you a chance to see whether HAL can handle your ntfs partitions (which is the default today). If it can't, or if you want more control, fstab can be edited by hand. But now it seems that Hal can manage by itself.

I just think you are a bit trigger-happy: always ready to run ntfs-config first and ask questions afterwards. That's OK of course, testing different possibilities is a good thing.

But you tend to do it without telling anybody precisely what you've done. And we can't know it unless you tell us. We can deduce some things from the listings you provide, but diagnosing a problem is much easier if one actually knows when you've run a program that might have modified your configuration.

Let's hope your system continues working.

[OleWilly]

Hi blackbird

Thanks for help. - Yes I think You are right me being trigger happy. - I think now that all the trouble I have had is due to ntfs-3g and ntfs-3g config. At first it were some folders with 'nothing in' and that must have been due to an update I guess.

OW

[OleWilly]

Hi

The joy did not last for long.    At the next boot still the same. So a new install and not a fully upgrade, because it ruins my system so that I can not use my usb-hdd. About 14 days ago everything worked just splendidly and I had update-notifier running and updated as soon as I could. I am pretty sure that it has something to do with ntfs-3g.
Reading the forum it looks like it causes trouble. For now everything works fine but without update.

OW