Hi,

I am new to Linux (I am running Ubuntu 7.10 on a Gateway Pentium III with 1 GIG RAM) and am trying to access an external IDE HDD through a USB connection.

I cannot see the USB device in my Places>Computer and I'm not sure how else to see whether it's there.

If it's not recognized by Linux, what can I do to fix that? Also, is there a GUI solution?

I have data I would like to access on the drive, so I would prefer not to re-format the drive...

BTW, I also have a Vista laptop and the HDD was formatted in XP.

Thanks,
Josh

GUI solution? No clue.
But, if you open a terminal, type "dmesg", have a look at the last few lines, connect your external USB-drive, and keep on typing in "dmesg", you should see something similar appear:
Afterwards create somewhere an empty directory (only the first time) and type in the shell "mount -v /dev/sdb1 /pathtoyourdirectory" (change "sdb1" with what appears in your output) and you'll have the contents of your drive visible in that directory.
When you've done what you want to do execute "umount -v /pathtoyourdirectory" (and check the output - you'll have to close all programs that are accessing that filesystem otherwise it won't unmount the drive) in order to avoid losing data that you were writing to it.
The drive will probably be formatted using ntfs, so I hope you have ntfs-support compiled in your kernel.

Thanks for your help!

I plugged in the USB drive and typed "dmesg" and here is the output-- apparently the system recognizes my hard drive. But I get an error what I try the mount command:

josh@gateway:~$ mount -v /dev/ehci_hcd /pathtoyourdirectory
mount: only root can do that

Am I typing in the right name for my hard drive? Is my syntax correct? I tried researching the error message but couldn't find anything that helped.

Here is the output from dmesg:

[277894.560000] usb 5-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
[277903.480000] usb 5-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[277903.480000] scsi7 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[277903.480000] usb-storage: device found at 7
[277903.480000] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[277908.480000] usb-storage: device scan complete
[277908.480000] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic USB Disk 9.02 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[277908.480000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] 781422768 512-byte hardware sectors (400088 MB)
[277908.480000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[277908.480000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[277908.480000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[277908.480000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] 781422768 512-byte hardware sectors (400088 MB)
[277908.484000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[277908.484000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[277908.484000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[277908.484000] sdb:<6>sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277912.756000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277912.756000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277912.756000] printk: 29 messages suppressed.
[277912.756000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277917.008000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277917.008000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277917.008000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277917.008000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277921.264000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277921.264000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277921.264000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277921.264000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277925.516000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277925.516000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277925.516000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277925.516000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277929.768000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277929.768000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277929.768000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277929.768000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277929.768000] ldm_validate_partition_table(): Disk read failed.
[277934.020000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277934.020000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277934.020000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277934.020000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277938.276000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277938.276000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277938.276000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277938.276000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277942.528000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277942.528000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277942.528000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277942.528000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277946.780000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277946.780000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277946.780000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277946.780000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277946.780000] Dev sdb: unable to read RDB block 0
[277951.032000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277951.032000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277951.032000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277951.032000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277955.288000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277955.288000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277955.288000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277955.288000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277959.548000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277959.548000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277959.548000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277959.548000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277963.800000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277963.800000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277963.800000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277963.800000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277963.800000] unable to read partition table
[277963.804000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
[277963.808000] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[277968.136000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277968.136000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277968.136000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277968.136000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[277972.392000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[277972.392000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[277972.392000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[277972.392000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278002.504000] usb 5-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
[278041.524000] usb 5-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
[278080.552000] usb 5-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
[278119.576000] usb 5-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
[278158.604000] usb 5-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
[278197.632000] usb 5-3: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
[278206.552000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_ABORT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK,SUGGEST_OK
[278206.552000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 8
[278206.552000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 1
[278215.132000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278215.132000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278215.132000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278215.132000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278219.416000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278219.416000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278219.416000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278219.416000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278223.672000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278223.672000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278223.672000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278223.672000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278227.924000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278227.924000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278227.924000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278227.924000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278232.176000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278232.176000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278232.176000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278232.176000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278236.428000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278236.428000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278236.428000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278236.428000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278240.684000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278240.684000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278240.684000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278240.684000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278244.936000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278244.936000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278244.936000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278244.936000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278249.188000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278249.188000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278249.188000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278249.188000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278253.440000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278253.440000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278253.440000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278253.440000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278257.692000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278257.692000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278257.692000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278257.692000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278261.948000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278261.948000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278261.948000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278261.948000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278266.200000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278266.200000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278266.200000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278266.200000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278270.452000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278270.452000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278270.452000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278270.452000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278274.704000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278274.704000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278274.704000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278274.704000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278278.960000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278278.960000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278278.960000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278278.960000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278283.212000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278283.212000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278283.212000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278283.212000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278287.464000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278287.464000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278287.464000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278287.464000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278291.716000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278291.716000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278291.716000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278291.716000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278295.972000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278295.972000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278295.972000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278295.972000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278300.224000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278300.224000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278300.224000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278300.224000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278304.476000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278304.476000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278304.476000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278304.476000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278308.728000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278308.728000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278308.728000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278308.728000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278312.984000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278312.984000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278312.984000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278312.984000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278317.236000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278317.236000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278317.236000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278317.236000] Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 0
[278321.488000] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdb] Device not ready: <6>: Sense Key : Not Ready [current]
[278321.488000] : <<vendor>> ASC=0xff ASCQ=0xffASC=0xff <<vendor>> ASCQ=0xff
[278321.488000] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0
[278321.488000] Buffer I/O error on

Hi again,
I realized that the reason I was getting the error message was because I was not logged in as root.

I logged in as root and now I get this message... at least I making SOME progress (I think...):

root@gateway:~# mount -v /dev/usb5 /home/josh/Desktop/idehd
mount: you didn't specify a filesystem type for /dev/usb5
I will try all types mentioned in /etc/filesystems or /proc/filesystems
Trying fuseblk
mount: /dev/usb5 is not a block device

What do you recommend I do now?

Thanks,
Josh

What filesystem did you format the drive as? Fat32 or NTFS?

Take a look at "file -s /dev/sdb1".

All of those error messages don't look good. I hope that your filesystem isn't currupt.

Look at the output of "cat /proc/filesystems". It will list the filesystems that the kernel can use. Is vfat & NTFS listed?
Another way to access NTFS filesystems is to mount the "fuse" module and use ntfs-3g. This will give you read-write access.
Use the filetype "ntfs-3g" in your mount command.

Also try including the filesystem type in your mount commands. However, if you find that you need to load a kernel module, the automount system may kick in.

Good Luck!

Here is the output. I am not sure that I should have typed the file -s/dev/sdb1 literally... should that reference the location of the idehd folder I created? (Also, this is a NTFS drive).
Thanks,
Josh

root@gateway:~# file -s /dev/sdb1
/dev/sdb1: ERROR: cannot open `/dev/sdb1' (No such file or directory)
root@gateway:~# cat /proc/filesystems
nodev sysfs
nodev rootfs
nodev bdev
nodev proc
nodev cpuset
nodev debugfs
nodev securityfs
nodev sockfs
nodev pipefs
nodev anon_inodefs
nodev futexfs
nodev tmpfs
nodev inotifyfs
nodev devpts
cramfs
nodev ramfs
nodev mqueue
nodev fuse
fuseblk
nodev fusectl
nodev usbfs
ext3

I don't see the "vfat" file system which would be used for a fat filesystem. A smaller pendrive may use fat16 and a larger one fat32. If the usb drive uses fat, then enter "sudo /sbin/modprobe fat32".

For mounting it with the ntfs filesystem, either "sudo /sbin/modprobe ntfs" or use the ntfs-3g filesystem. I see that the fuse module seems to be loaded. You can check with:
/sbin/lsmod | grep fuse

If it isn't then simply modprobe: "sudo /sbin/modprobe fuse".

I just went through manually mounting my Windows partition:
The force option was needed because the filesystem was marked as in-use. Otherwise it wouldn't be needed. I used the uid= and gid= option to change the ownership. The fmask and umask options give the directories in this partition rwxrwx--- permissions and the files rw-rw---- permissions.
This will allow you to read and write to the drive, but not another user logged in.

You may need to install the ntfs-3g package if it isn't already.

---

However, all of those errors still worry me. Why not try modprobing both the vfat and the ntfs kernel modules before plugging in the drive. Then try the "file -s <dev>" command I gave in my first message. Keep in mind that for external drives, another device may be used. Such as /dev/sdc1 instead of /dev/sdb1 for example. If the filesystem is OK, and you know which device it is using currently, you can find out the UUID number of the filesystem with the command:
udevinfo -q env -n /dev/<device>

For example:
For this vfat filesystem you could use:
I didn't need to, because the udev system automounted it for me, even selecting a cf disk icon for it.