having a problem accessing my usb flash drive
 

I am using SuSE 8.2 and Mandrake 9.2. on the same machine. (O, and winMe). I can access the flash drive only as root. I can not change the ownership or permissions of the /mnt/usbDrive folder. When I am logged is as root, I get the message that I do not have enough permission to change that.

Add an entry to your /etc/fstab, something like this:
Then any user on the system can mount /dev/sda1 at /mnt/usbDrive and read/write the files on it, using either "mount /dev/sda1" or "mount /mnt/usbDrive".

Tried it (with that exact entry in fstab), no go. My main puzzle is why can I change any hardware settings as root but not the flash drive?

The drive was automatically installed as /dev/sda1 with root as owner and the mount point as /mnt/usbDrive and permissions as drwx--x--x. Tried to change ownership as well as change permissions, not allowed. (all this as logged in as root)

what are the specifics on the usb device?

Can you access it as a normal user in EITHER suse or mandrake?

Did you reboot after adding the lines to /etc/fstab (not sure this matters but it might).

If you are logged in as a normal user - what happens when you insert the USB device?


For me - if I am logged in as a normal user and then insert the usb device then I can mount it with the normal mount command.

Standard (cheapest) 128M usb 2.0 flash drive from Memorex. Both SuSE and Mandrake give the same problem. When I insert the drive, it mounts normally, but I have to use super user mode to access it.

I sort of solved the problem by reinstalling the drive using Mandrake hardware detection. Found an option there that allows the user to access the drive. Seems I used the default setting the first time. Now I wonder what script of file contains those alternative settings. Defnitely not fstab.