having a problem accessing my usb flash drive

vadriaan · 01-24-2005, 11:57 PM

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.

DaHammer · 01-25-2005, 12:34 AM

Add an entry to your /etc/fstab, something like this:

Code:

/dev/sda1        /mnt/usbDrive   vfat        noauto,user,rw             0   0

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".

vadriaan · 01-26-2005, 01:11 AM

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)

guild · 01-26-2005, 01:18 AM

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.

vadriaan · 01-27-2005, 02:15 AM

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.