vfat partition's directories unbrowsable

omegaworks · 08-15-2004, 02:52 AM

Hello everyone. I am trying to mount a FAT32 partition on my Debian installation. My main reason for this is that I need a partition dedicated to storing files that I will need in both WinXP and Debian.

I started by modifying my /etc/fstab file, so that /dev/hde3 is mounted into the /media mount point. Here's how it looks:

Code:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>               <dump>  <pass>
/dev/hde6       /               ext3    errors=remount-ro       0       1
/dev/hde5       none            swap    sw                      0       0
proc            /proc           proc    defaults                0       0
/dev/fd0        /floppy         auto    sync,user,auto          0       0
/dev/hdc        /cdrom          auto    ro,user,auto            0       0
/dev/hde7       /usr            ext3    defaults                0       2
/dev/hde2       /boot           ext3    defaults                0       2
/dev/hde8       /home           ext3    defaults                0       2
/dev/hde9       /var            ext3    defaults                0       2
/dev/hde10      /tmp            ext3    defaults                0       2
/dev/hde3       /media          vfat    rw,user,auto            0       0

After doing this I rebooted. It complained about not finding /media, so I just created a directory named "media" in /, this seemed to work, and I could browse the root directory of this partition.

The problem is, is that Im not able to "open" (or cd into) directories inside /media within gnome or through the console (even logged in as root). They show up as files to ls as well.
I know certain things are directories and certain things are not, because my Windows installation doesn't have a problem with them.

I wish I could post a screenshot of it, but the forum doesnt allow uploads, my ISP's user-uploading capabilities are down, and I havent gotten apache set up yet

kilgoretrout · 08-15-2004, 07:16 AM

Try changing this:

/dev/hde3 /media vfat rw,user,auto 0 0

to this:

/dev/hde3 /media vfat umask=0,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,quiet 0 0

omegaworks · 08-15-2004, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kilgoretrout
Try changing this:

/dev/hde3 /media vfat rw,user,auto 0 0

to this:

/dev/hde3 /media vfat umask=0,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,quiet 0 0

I have a question about the quiet option. The description of quiet in mount's man page says "use with caution"... why?

omegaworks · 08-15-2004, 07:53 PM

When I changed that line in /etc/fstab to that, /media was no longer mounted on my user account's desktop automatically by gnome. I was able to access it by "Browsing to location..." and the folders appeared like folders!

Problem was, I couldn't open them. I thought it was a permissions issue, so I appended "user" onto the options for the mounting of the drive. After doing that, gnome mounted media onto my desktop again and the folders were openable!

Thanks a bunch kilgoretrout!

omegaworks · 08-15-2004, 08:32 PM

Im getting some odd problems with the partition, the directories will take a *very* long time to open, if they even open at all. I looked at my system log and was suprised:

Code:

Aug 15 19:58:26 debian kernel: MSDOS FS: IO charset iso8859-1
Aug 15 19:58:26 debian kernel: MSDOS FS: Using codepage 850
Aug 15 19:58:26 debian kernel: eth0: Setting 100mbps full-duplex based on auto-negotiated partner ability 45e1.
Aug 15 19:58:28 debian lpd[391]: restarted
Aug 15 19:58:32 debian kernel: apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x0b (Driver version 1.16)
Aug 15 19:58:49 debian gconfd (omega-664): starting (version 2.6.3), pid 664 user 'omega'
Aug 15 19:58:49 debian gconfd (omega-664): Resolved address "xml:readonly:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.mandatory" to a read-only config source at position 0
Aug 15 19:58:49 debian gconfd (omega-664): Resolved address "xml:readwrite:/home/omega/.gconf" to a writable config source at position 1
Aug 15 19:58:49 debian gconfd (omega-664): Resolved address "xml:readonly:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults" to a read-only config source at position 2
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=118906316, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=118906317, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=118906317, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=118906318, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=118906318, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=118906319, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=118906319, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=118906320, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: Filesystem panic (dev 21:03).
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel:   FAT error
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel:   File system has been set read-only
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: Directory 318: bad FAT
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=2142266828, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=2142266829, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=2142266829, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=2142266830, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=2142266830, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=2142266831, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=2142266831, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=2142266832, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: Filesystem panic (dev 21:03).
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel:   FAT error
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: Directory 319: bad FAT
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=482754240, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=482754241, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=482754241, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=482754242, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=482754242, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=482754243, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=482754243, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: attempt to access beyond end of device
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: 21:03: rw=0, want=482754244, limit=78116062
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel: Filesystem panic (dev 21:03).
Aug 15 20:00:55 debian kernel:   FAT error

The only other time Ive had problems with this partition is when I try to resize it (more accurately, make it bigger) with Partition Magic. It fails almost all the time, giving me "Error 2026: The requested FAT partition would have invalid parameters."

Why is Windows immune to these problems?

Please help, I really dont want to loose data atm

I really have no way to backup my data either.

kilgoretrout · 08-16-2004, 10:26 AM

Windows stores partition info differently than linux which is why your getting anomolous results. Usually it doesn't matter but I've seen goofy results using partitions created with PM in linux.

There's nothing magic about the "quiet" option. I generally use it on FAT32 partitions that linux will access because if you don't you will get annoying warnings whenever you copy a file from a linux partition to a FAT32 partition to the effect that the permisions on the linux file will not be preserved when transfered to a FAT32 partition. FAT32 has no permission structure so that's not surprising. For data this is generally not an issue and that's all anyone use FAT32 for in linux - copying and transferring data files.

Re your current problem - backup your data now to cd-r or another hard drive partition if you have room. The error messages indicate either a problem with the FAT32 filesystem or the partition itself. I would recomend backing up, deleting the partition, creating the partition anew and formating the the partition to FAT32 and then copying the data back to the new partition. Note, before you do this, comment out the fstab entry for this partition.
If you still have problems, download the manufacturer's hard drive diagnostics from their website and run them on that hard drive. You may just have some bad sectors. If the diagnostics show a lot of bad sectors on the drive, the drive may be on its last legs. If it's still under warranty contact the manufacturer for a warranty replacement.