[SOLVED] can't access files in usb drive in terminal

sequimbob · 08-24-2013, 12:59 PM

I am a pretty much of a novice with Ubuntu, but slowly learning as I go along. I am switching from WIN 7. I want to use the 'convert' utility to add captions to photos. These photos are on a USB HDD. I cannot seem to access these files in terminal. (GUI is no problem but the convert program must run in Terminal). When I cd to media and do an ls, it shows all of my USB HDD in all CAPS and the color is dark blue. When I try to cd to the drive itself it returns 'No such file or directory'. I have checked and the drive is mounted according to the properties page in the gui display. What am I doing wrong. I have checked all of the threads but have not found an answer. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I have searced the web but have not come up with an answer.

yancek · 08-24-2013, 01:47 PM

Might be entering the 'cd' command incorrectly but we don't know what command you used so...?
Run an ls -l on the /media directory which shows permissions, owner:group.

Doc CPU · 08-24-2013, 02:35 PM

Hi there,

Quote:

Originally Posted by sequimbob

I am a pretty much of a novice with Ubuntu, but slowly learning as I go along. I am switching from WIN 7.

coming from Win7, almost anything else must be a relief. ;-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by sequimbob

When I cd to media and do an ls, it shows all of my USB HDD in all CAPS and the color is dark blue. When I try to cd to the drive itself it returns 'No such file or directory'.

Don't mind the colors for the moment; it's a convenience of ls when used in a color-enabled terminal. The colors are used as an additional means for visualizing file types and access rights. But back to the "all CAPS" part: Did you enter the directory name in all caps when issuing the 'cd' command? Unlike Windows, Linux wants to have it *exactly*. So if there's a media listed as 3A91-04E7, you can't address it as 3a91-04e7. This is a typical tripwire for people being used to Windows.

By the way, there's a typing aid: Type the first two or three characters of the file or directory name, and hit the TAB key. The name will automatically be extended if it's distinct by what you typed.

[X] Doc CPU.

John VV · 08-24-2013, 04:41 PM

also if there is a blank space in the name the terminal will NOT like it
the terminal uses a blank space to define an option

for example the folder name
"Program Files" ( a default windows folder )
can NOT be cd'd into without using quotes or "escaping" it

Code:

cd "/media/Program Files"
-- or --
cd /media/Program\Files

sequimbob · 08-24-2013, 05:21 PM

Yancik: I don't know why it would not work before but it now is working. I must have mistyped a cmd.
Doc CPU: The drives are named with upper case. I cannot change that for some reason. WIN 7 is where they were name and WIN 7 will not let me change the names to lower case. Any how, as I said, it is now working. Don't know what was wrong. Thanks for your answers. I will close this thread out.