Ubuntu cannot read USB hard drives.

oakridge · 12-19-2015, 10:46 AM

I have two Ubuntu machines; one 12.04 which I use generally and the other 14.04 which is largely used as a file server for the three of us. Unfortunately the motherboard on my 12.04 machine has died so I am having to use the 14.04 for general use for the time being. I have found that this machine will not read the 2TB USB backup drive, but tries to open it with VLC.

What do I need to do.

Thank you,

Malcolm

rokytnji · 12-19-2015, 11:07 AM

Quote:

What do I need to do.

Maybe just right click it and pick open with file manager instead of vlc is all.

Does

Code:

sudo parted -l

show it as mounted?

oakridge · 12-19-2015, 11:21 AM

Cor, that was quick, thank you.

This is the report I get:

Model: ATA Hitachi HDS72105 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 496GB 496GB primary ext4 boot
2 496GB 500GB 4022MB extended
5 496GB 500GB 4022MB logical linux-swap(v1)

Model: Asmedia ASMT105 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 500GB 500GB primary ext4

oakridge@oakridge:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA Hitachi HDS72105 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 496GB 496GB primary ext4 boot
2 496GB 500GB 4022MB extended
5 496GB 500GB 4022MB logical linux-swap(v1)

Model: Asmedia ASMT105 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 500GB 500GB primary ext4

Model: WD My Passport 0827 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 2000GB 2000GB primary ntfs

The 'Asmedia' is a 500GB stabdard HD in a USB caddy and the 'My Passport' is a solid state drive.

Malcolm

yancek · 12-19-2015, 12:14 PM

How are you trying to access the 2TB drive? Drive partitions are generally available to access under the /media/username directory. In your case, /media/oakridge where they will show by the UUID.

oakridge · 12-19-2015, 12:52 PM

Hmmm.. Having been retired for 8 years I am clearly pretty rusty on command line code because 'cd..' does not work. I must do some revision.

Malcolm

273 · 12-25-2015, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oakridge

Hmmm.. Having been retired for 8 years I am clearly pretty rusty on command line code because 'cd..' does not work. I must do some revision.

Malcolm

If that's exactly what you're typing you are just missing the space after the 'cd'. Have to admit I've done that myself before now.

oakridge · 12-25-2015, 08:30 AM

Thank you for your reply 273. Who is most sad you or me for writing here today?

What is very frustrating is I have been accessing this 2TB drive for backups for some time using 12.04, but 14.04 will not do exactly the same thing. It must have something to do with 14.04 rather than the drive methinks.

Anyway I can get as far /Media but as the response to 'cd oakridge' is 'bash: cd: oakridge: Permission denied' which I don't understand.

The real problem though is why doesn't something that worked perfectly well in 12.04 doensn't work now. I can open it with an old XP laptop.

273 · 12-25-2015, 08:36 AM

I think you may have inadvertently set Ubuntu's automatic actions upon plugging in a USB drive to opening with VLC rather than mounting it and opening it in your browser. The fact you get a message about not having permission to cd to the directory suggests to me that it's there but it's set so that only root can access it which is odd but may possibly be explained by guess about the cause of your issues above. There may be something in your system settings to change that? If I can I'll install Ubuntu in a VM and have a look.

yancek · 12-25-2015, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Anyway I can get as far /Media but as the response to 'cd oakridge' is 'bash: cd: oakridge: Permission denied' which I don't understand.

First off, it needs to be media not Media. Maybe you just used uppercase here but to get to the drive from anywhere you would use:

Code:

cd /media/oakridge

Using the terminal,case sensitivity applies. In /media/oakridge you should see the partitions and the one you will be looking for is the one with a 16 character UUID with uppercase letters in it as that is the only windows partition on your drives (ntfs). The user directories under /media are owned by root in Ubuntu which you can verify by using this command:

Code:

ls -l /media/

You can change the owner to your user with the chown command

oakridge · 12-25-2015, 09:01 AM

There will be a short pause for Christmas Dinner.

Thank you both for your replies.

ondoho · 12-25-2015, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oakridge

I have found that this machine will not read the 2TB USB backup drive, but tries to open it with VLC.

you have to change that first, most probably in the file manager, preferences for automount options or some such.

rokytnji · 12-25-2015, 01:40 PM

Hmmmm. Not Ubuntu but

Code:

harry@biker:~
$ cd /media
harry@biker:/media
$ ls -l
total 24
drwxr-xr-x 2 root  root  4096 Sep 19 19:11 cdrom
drwxr-xr-x 2 root  root  4096 Sep 19 19:11 cdrw
drwxr-xr-x 2 root  root  4096 Sep 19 19:11 dvd
drwxr-xr-x 2 root  root  4096 Sep 19 19:11 dvdrw
drwxr-xr-x 2 root  root  4096 Sep 19 19:11 sr0
drwxrwxrwx 1 harry harry 4096 Dec 25 13:28 TOSHIBA EXT
harry@biker:/media
$ mount
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,relatime,size=10240k,nr_inodes=200755,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,size=821980k,mode=755)
/dev/sda2 on / type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=continue,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=writeback)
tmpfs on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=5120k)
pstore on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=1643940k)
/dev/sda1 on /home type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=continue,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=writeback)
rpc_pipefs on /run/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw,relatime)
/dev/sdb1 on /media/TOSHIBA EXT type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,default_permissions,allow_other,blksize=4096)

What I am doing is backing up a few things on my 1TB Toshiba usb external drive.

http://i.imgur.com/jg16qPf.jpg

Quote:

There will be a short pause for Christmas Dinner.

Cool. We started this morning with Tamales fried in eggs with cheese. Also biscuits and sausage gravy on the side. With strong Coffee for beverage and I am pigging out on eggnog also.

Enjoy dinner.

oakridge · 12-25-2015, 01:44 PM

Yes, that is the problem. If it was a file then that can be changed, but it is a USB drive, and my DSLR, which is a bit more awkward.

273 · 12-25-2015, 03:30 PM

I had to google it but I may have found where the settings are. If you go to System Settings then open Details there's a section for removable media in there. I couldn't tell you exactly which settings it is as in my Ubuntu VM I don't see anything that refers to USB storage but, at a guess, it may be thinking that your drive is a music player. Hopefully if you check the settings something will jump out at you as being wrong.

BW-userx · 12-28-2015, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oakridge

Hmmm.. Having been retired for 8 years I am clearly pretty rusty on command line code because 'cd..' does not work. I must do some revision.

Malcolm

try

Code:

cd ..

instead notice space between cd and ..