I have 2 external hdds now ....the first one is a 100g and works fine, the 2nd one i just bought is a 160g and I am having trouble getting pclos to recognize it. I first booted windows xp and formatted it as NTSF and set the partition as active and all was fine in windows. I booted pclos and it doesn't recognise it....however in admin control center under detect hardware it does show....when I go to run config tool it only shows my 100g and my hda not the new drive. Also when I do fdisk -l it shows the 100g and hda but not the new one....cfdisk /dev/sdb says it cannot read device.

I booted puppy and puppy sees it no problem and I used puppy gparted to format it to reiserfs and still with puppy no problem........I am thinking that this trouble might have to do with my fstab and I have changed it to what I thought would work but still to no avail.

If there is something I haven't done or any suggestions I would really appreciate it.....Thanks folks.

Sorry I should mention I am running pclos with kernel 2.6.18.8.tex5..and puppy 3.0.1 can read and access as well as win xp.

I just booted Knoppix and it sees the hard drive and shows the icon on the desktop but when i try to open it Knoppix says "could not determine the file system type and none was specified" which I find very strange because 2 minutes ago I booted puppy and it could open it no problem. I have it formatted as reiserfs, when I opened Knoppix qtparted it says partition table empty....when i go to make a new partition table with qtparted it says not possible to make a new partition table..................Any suggestions at all?

Surprising about Knoppix. How about giving the results of (as root if necessary): for each of the Linuces. Preferable in "Code:" blocks (see the "#" icon above the text entry box) to preserve the formatting.

Ok will try anything.......he goes.

[root@localhost ~]# uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.18.8.tex5 #1 SMP Thu May 10 11:36:58 WST 2007 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.60GHz GNU/Linux


[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 739 5935986 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 740 4864 33134062+ 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 740 2375 13141138+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda6 2376 2506 1052226 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda7 2507 2899 3156741 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda8 2900 4864 15783831 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda2 1 1275 10241406 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 1276 12161 87441795 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1276 9561 66557232 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 9562 12161 20884468+ 83 Linux
[root@localhost ~]#

Sorry, I can't/won't strain my eyes reading CLI output whose formatting has been destroyed by not putting it in a "Code:" block. Please edit your post to do that. If you don't understand the LQ Edit function, or need more hints on "Code:" blocks, please just ask.

Sorry you lost me......is the above not what you asked for?

Are you using a laptop?

If the external drive is not properly powered it may not be reliably read.

However under normal circumstance an external hard disk recognised by a MS Windows and a Linux but not a second Linux is most usual, especially the second Linux is a modern one like PCLinuxOS.

Can you pull the 100Gb out and hook up the 160Gb unit to see if it is port-specific?

This is what I meant:

Ok I see what ya mean by hard to read the posting sorry.......I switched ports for the 100 gig and the 160 gig and the 100 gig is still read while going through a usb hub and the 160 is still not read and it's plugged directly into my laptop. The other thing you mentioned was power supply with laptops (which I wouln't have figured since puppy read it) but my 100 gig came with a separate dc power cord and my new 160 says power is supplied by usb alone....

If power is a factor then how is it that puppy can read it? and Knoppix sees it and adds a desktop icon but can't read it. Sorry I am at a loss.

I just thought I might try Tinyme as a live cd to see if like puppy it will recognise my 160g and it doesn't. Just like pclos if i go to the control center and the hardware section is does see it however when I try to start config tool only my hda and my 100g show up.

I believe a standard USB port specification can supply a maximum of only 0.5A current and that is inadequate for the majority of the external USB hard disks with 10Gb and above.

Nearly all external hard disk enclosures, factory-assembled or do-it-your-self, are now supplied with a twin head USB cable to draw power from two USB ports to run one hard disk. This arrangement works only if the hard disk current demand does not exceed 1A. The actual power consumption is stamped on the casing of every hard disk.

If a hard disk is powered by inadequate current the reliability of the read/write operations is not guaranteed.

Ok Saikee I understand exactly what you mean now .....I always wondered why there were 2 usb heads...lol....so now I have plugged both in and still nothing .....I assume that must mean that the hard drive I bought is not and won't get enough power, so I should just return it?
My current 100g does have it's own power supply but I paid a lot for the case wanting to connect it to my tv, however this new one is just a simple case.

Is there any way to increase the power to this box (if that is the problem) and why can both windows and puppy use the hard drive without trouble?

I have not had a case where a USB is recognised in a MS system and a Linux but not by another Linux.

May be you should post here the "fdisk -l" by Puppy.

Ok just used puppy to format the new hard drive back to ntfs so i can return it today.

Puppy fdisk -l readout shows the 160gb drive as follows

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 Bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
units= cylinders of 16065 x 512= 8225280 Bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 19457 156288321 83 Linux


uname -a
Linux puppypc 2.6.21.7

Sorry puppy wouldn't let me copy and paste this output so I wrote it down and typed it in myself.....I left out the 100 gb and the hda as they are the same as posted before.

Ok I went back to where I bought the hard drive and switched casings to a "better one" anyways I get home plug it in and it is now recognized by pclos....weird I know but it's working and that 's my main concern...........Thanks for the ideas and suggestions but finally problem is solved.