can't mount fs on external hard drive

fatblueduck · 06-10-2005, 02:24 AM

I've never done this before, so I am probably doing something wrong here.

I am following this tutorial from linux questions. I'm using the same external hard drive that the tutorial uses, the 80gb maxtor IDE. Gentoo linux is my distribution.

/dev/sda exists in my computer, but there are no directories inside of it (as there are in the tutorial)

I added THIS line to my fstab

Code:

/dev/sda   /home/duck/bak  vfat   noauto,user,ro   0 0

after creating the /bak directory in my home directory

/bak is not mounted at boot
when I try to

Code:

mount -t vfat /dev/sda /home/duck/bak

the command line tells me that the fs type is wrong and that there is a "bad superblock on /dev/sda or there are too many mounted filesystems"

how do I get this hard drive mounted?

masand · 06-10-2005, 05:00 AM

run
fdsik -l /dev/sda

ths way u get to know the partitions then u can mount those partitons
u cannot mount sda but u need to mount different partitions in sda

fatblueduck · 06-10-2005, 05:06 AM

ok. fdisk -l /dev/sda yields

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 81.9 GB, 81964302336 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9964 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        9964    80035798+   b  W95 FAT32

masand · 06-10-2005, 05:53 AM

so u should try mounting
sda1 instaead of sda

mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /home/duck/bak

will work for u

regards

fatblueduck · 06-10-2005, 06:12 AM

when I
"ls /dev/sda1" or "ls /dev/bak"
the directories are empty, yet I have files on them ( which I can see on window's partition)

michaelk · 06-10-2005, 06:39 AM

If the partition was mounted then your files are in the directory
/home/duck/bak

fatblueduck · 06-10-2005, 06:51 AM

when I write "ls /home/duck/bak" the command line returns nothing; blank. nada. zero. zip.

shouldn't the files that I saved to the hard drive appear there?

masand · 06-10-2005, 07:26 AM

what do u get for
running

df

regards

fatblueduck · 06-10-2005, 07:30 AM

df

Quote:

Filesystem.............1K-blocks.........Used.............Available........Use%......Mounted on
/dev/hda4..............26217272.........9530996......16686276.......37%........./
/dev/hda2..............54444................8061.............43572..............16%........./boot
none........................452228..............0....................452228............0%.........../dev/shm

michaelk · 06-10-2005, 08:01 AM

The output indicates that sda1 is not mounted.

masand · 06-10-2005, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by fatblueduck
df

yes u need to mount ur sda1 as i mentioned that in my last post

mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /home/duck/bak

regards

fatblueduck · 06-10-2005, 03:03 PM

thank you. that did the trick.