Please help:
I am having problems Mounting a Flash USB memory device (DELL128 MB High Speed USB 2.0 Memory Key). It belongs to my wife (sdb1).

I already own a Lexar Flash USB memory device that I mount with no problem (sda1).

This is what my /etc/fstab file looks like:

LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/hda5 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0
/dev/hda1 /osshare ntfs umask=000 0 0

/dev/sda1 /mnt/usbstick vfat user,noauto,umask=0 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/Dell_usbmemory auto user,noauto,umask=0 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0

Originally I tried to make the "sdb1" entry just like the "sda1" but that did not work so I tried: vfat, auto, and fsusb. None works.

This is the error that I get after trying to mount (mount -v /mnt/Dell_usbmemory

mount: you didn't specify a filesystem type for /dev/sdb1
I will try all types mentioned in /etc/filesystems or /proc/filesystems
Trying vfat
mount: /dev/sdb1 is not a valid block device

I also checked on the directory /dev to see if /sdb1 existed and it does????

Please help. I am trying to convice my wife into trying Linux, so I want to make sure she can do everything she used to do in her old OS.

ThAnKs

It seems like you've got a simple filesystem config mistake. I noticed that your other stick's filesystem is set to vfat, and this one is auto. Try doing a mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /mnt/Dell_usbmemory and see what you get.

Good luck

I tried to mount using the suggested command:
mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /mnt/Dell_usbmemory
But I get the following error:
mount: /dev/sdb1 is not a valid block device

So far I have tried vfat, auto....

Other suggestions????

Thanks

Are you absolutely sure that the drive's device node is /dev/sdb1? Sometimes these things can get wierd when it omes to that. Also, it's possible that your kernel might not be picking it up. Can you post the output of cat /proc/scsi/scsi with the flash drive plugged in?

I not sure that the drive's node is /dev/sdb1.

How can I find out what is the real node?? I thought I assigned the "sdXX"?


Here is the output of cat /proc/scsi/scsi

Attached devices:
Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
Vendor: SONY Model: CD-RW CRX230E Rev: QYS1
Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Host: scsi1 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
Vendor: SMART G2 Model: Dell Memory Key Rev: 1.04
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02

The good news is that the kernel can see it OK. But, figuring out which node name the kernel gives it entails some guesswork. But, the file /proc/partitions might be able to help us out. Make sure the drive is plugged in still, and post the output of

cat /proc/partitions

Ok,
Here is the output for cat /proc/partitions

major minor #blocks name rio rmerge rsect ruse wio wmerge wsect wuse running use aveq

8 0 125952 sda 14 39 105 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 10
8 1 84344761 sda1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 2 934940732 sda2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 4 1717556736 sda4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 0 80418240 hda 127690 86241 1709741 1019600 268575 1685747 15643118 3297170 -37 2621884 16458333
3 1 28081588 hda1 34842 87 278825 116510 0 0 0 0 0 116500 116500
3 2 104422 hda2 52 84 272 810 23 12 70 2860 0 2170 3670
3 3 51705202 hda3 89385 69569 1271642 857780 265002 1662604 15424896 3241630 0 853150 4099370
3 4 1 hda4 1 0 2 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 10
3 5 522081 hda5 3405 16495 158960 44450 3550 23131 218152 52680 0 39490 97860

From looking at this can you tell which one it is??? The memory is a 128MB.

By the way, thanks so much for the help I am sort of new to Linux. I like it so far and I like learning all that I can about it.

Thanks

From the looks of it I'd say it's /dev/sda in this case. That could be because it's the only flash drive plugged in right now. This drive may not always be sda, especially if you plug other drives in. The only consistent advice I can give you right now is to make sure you only use one of these drives at a time, and mount manually, like this:

mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/Dell_usbmemory

I know this is a pain, but bear with me. Linux can be hard when you're a newbie. I've been there myself

Unfortunately it didn't work.

This is the output after trying to mount:
# mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/Dell_usbmemory
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1, or too many mounted file systems

Well, from your partitions, I did notice that /dev/sda has a few partitions on it. (It has 3 of them--I'm not really sure why). Try mounting /dev/sda2 and see if it works...if that doesn't work, try mounting /dev/sda4. I know it sounds strange, but that's what's in the file.

Hey Free Thinker,
got the same problem... exactly same...
any luck with the solution ?!
Please let me know too...
am struggling...

whats the way around this ?!
got to know, got to know, or my brains shall turn into mush pretty soon...