Hi mates! I'm not a wizard in linux but I have some modest knowledge. I have RH9 working perfectly in my laptop and everythig is well configured but my 120 GB external had disk connected via USB 2.0. My external drive is detected fine but I don't know how to access to its files. Since NTFS isn't well implemented yet under linux, my only intention is access to it in read-only mode. I've already tried the next command unsuccessfully:

mount -t ntfs /dev/sda /mnt/usb



So, the big question is: How to mount a massive storage device using NTFS via USB (2.0)? I'm using NTFS because I need my drive to accessible under Windows as well.

If you have any suggestion for me and linux user's community, it'll be really great.

Thanks!!

PD. Useful information is described below:

lspci command output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133] (rev 80)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133 AGP]
00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 42)
00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586/B/686A/B PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB (rev 1a)
00:07.4 Bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 40)
00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
00:09.0 Communication controller: Conexant HSF 56k HSFi Modem (rev 01)
00:0a.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. VT8636A [ProSavage KN133] AGP4X VGA Controller (TwisterK) (rev 01)
02:00.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 41)
02:00.1 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 41)
02:00.2 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB 2.0 (rev 02)

The latter USB data is from my PCMCIA USB 2.0 Card.

lsusb command output:


Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 9 Hub
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 1
bMaxPacketSize0 8
idVendor 0x0000
idProduct 0x0000
bcdDevice 2.04
iManufacturer 3 Linux 2.4.20 ehci-hcd
iProduct 2 PCI device 1033:00e0
iSerial 1 02:00.2
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 25
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0x40
Self Powered
MaxPower 0mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 1
bInterfaceClass 9 Hub
bInterfaceSubClass 0
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type none
wMaxPacketSize 2
bInterval 12
Language IDs: (length=4)
0000 (null)((null))

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 05e3:0702 Genesys Logic, Inc.
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 0 Interface
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 64
idVendor 0x05e3 Genesys Logic, Inc.
idProduct 0x0702
bcdDevice 0.02
iManufacturer 0
iProduct 1 USB TO IDE
iSerial 0
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 32
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xc0
Self Powered
MaxPower 96mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 2
bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage
bInterfaceSubClass 6 SCSI
bInterfaceProtocol 80 Bulk (Zip)
iInterface 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type none
wMaxPacketSize 512
bInterval 1
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type none
wMaxPacketSize 512
bInterval 1
Language IDs: (length=4)
0409 English(US)

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 1.00
bDeviceClass 9 Hub
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 8
idVendor 0x0000
idProduct 0x0000
bcdDevice 0.00
iManufacturer 0
iProduct 2 USB UHCI-alt Root Hub
iSerial 1 1800
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 25
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0x40
Self Powered
MaxPower 0mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 1
bInterfaceClass 9 Hub
bInterfaceSubClass 0
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type none
wMaxPacketSize 8
bInterval 255
Language IDs: (length=4)
0000 (null)((null))

any chance of actually telling us *WHY* it didn't work??

After doing the command I said before I get that:

bash# mount -t ntfs /dev/sda /mnt/usb
mount: /dev/sda no es un dispositivo de bloques válido

(English-> Not a valid block device)

... and I don't know how to solve it.

If you still need to know anything else, just let me know.

Thanks!

You used a whole drive instead of a partition. You can mount a partition.

# How are the hard drives partitioned
fdisk -l

# Managing drives
LNAG - Accessing my drives
Rute - Device Mounting

# Redhat links
RedHat Linux Manuals
Get your mp3 support here
Maximum RPM
rpmfind
Easier software management: apt4rpm - Red Carpet
RedHat 8.0 Tips & Tricks

# Redhat 7.3 down configuration commands
setup leads to several configuration tools

# Redhat 7.3 up configuration commands
Configure soundcard:
redhat-config-soundcard
Configure X server:
redhat-config-xfree86
Configure network:
redhat-config-network
Manage software:
redhat-config-packages

# Handling NTFS
New Technology FileSystem (NTFS) HOWTOs
Linux NTFS project

I had the same problem with my 15gig hdd. What I had to do is reboot or boot my computer with the external hdd connected. Then I would type: mount -t ntfs /dev/sda1 /mnt/exhdd -o uid=username gid=groupname and that worked for me. Hope this helps.

Hey. I am a newbie to Linux and i tried to mount my external 40GB hdd with NTFS partition. It gave me an error saying that NTFS is not supported by kernel. So what does this means and how can i access the contents of that drive....I have the Red Hat 9

I'm afraid of either you will have to upgrade you kernel to that has ntfs support or you'll have to build your own kernel and inclucle the ntfs support manually. There are lots of tutorial about how to build (compile) the kernel across the Internet.

I hope this helps!

Thanks man. So i will just upgrade it to some latest version......

Musikolo,

You didn't specify the partition in the mount command. Try this.