Hi all, profuse apologies for posting this, but I am (as the user name suggests) a complete noob to Linux. I have been given a second hand (previously enjoyed I am told the term is now!) Aspire 1 with Linux on. I am enjoying the Linux experience, apart from the fact that I am unable to get any of my USB sticks working. I get an error message which says

"FAILED TO MOUNT 524M Removable volume. Given device "/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/volume_part_1_size_524288000" is not a volume or drive.

I have been through the instructions on here, and am still unable to get it to mount.

Short of a solution, I am thinking of trying a restore, but given that the use of a USB is called for in a restore, I am a bit nervous about doing so.

Any help gratefully recieved.

Thanks all.

I like pre-loved

Okay, plug the disk in and post the output of
and we'll go from there

Thanks for the swift reply - sorry for my delay in getting the info back to you.
Right, done what you asked, pasted the output below.

Adding 1052248k swap on /dev/sda2. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:1052248k
usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 3
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
usb-storage: device scan complete
scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro 8.02 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] 15695871 512-byte hardware sectors (8036 MB)
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 45 00 00 08
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] 15695871 512-byte hardware sectors (8036 MB)
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 45 00 00 08
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sdb: sdb1
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0


Thanks

Ok, i have also done the following.
[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 14462 116165983+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 14463 14593 1052257+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 524 MB, 524288000 bytes
17 heads, 59 sectors/track, 1020 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1003 * 512 = 513536 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x73696420

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 ? 1914209 2457017 272218546+ 20 Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(356, 97, 46) logical=(1914208, 5, 40)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(357, 116, 40) logical=(2457016, 16, 59)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 ? 1326206 1863570 269488144 6b Unknown
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(288, 110, 57) logical=(1326205, 9, 57)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(269, 101, 57) logical=(1863569, 13, 16)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb3 ? 537378 1931558 699181456 53 OnTrack DM6 Aux3
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(345, 32, 19) logical=(537377, 4, 25)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(324, 77, 19) logical=(1931557, 10, 42)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb4 * 1390457 1390478 10668+ 49 Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(87, 1, 0) logical=(1390456, 5, 1)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(335, 78, 2) logical=(1390477, 9, 38)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order
Does this mean that the usb is not formatted in the correct way for linux?

Your USB drive is being seen as /dev/sdb

It does not seem to have a proper partition table. So it needs re-partitioning with fdisk or gparted (GUI partitioning tool)

Once you have deleted the bad partitions (if any) you'll need to create a new one, which will be seen as
/dev/sdb1

Then you can format it as ext3 VFAT whatever you like.

Then it should be usable.

Thanks for the help Tredegar - much appreciated. What may seem a dumb question follows - can one usb stick be used with linux and windows ?

Hi,

yes this is possible but only if you format it as vfat. Do not use a linux specific format because windows can not read it. Also do not use ntfs under winXP because some older linux distros might not be able to handle it.

You mean to transfer/share files between the two OS's?

Yes, one stick can be used, but it will need to be formatted in one of the few formats that Windows understands, such as FAT32 or FAT16 or NTFS.

If it's NTFS, you'll need the ntfs-3g package on your Linux, in order to read/write to the stick. ntfs-3g is more common these days and apparently works well, and it is probably included with your Linux already; if not, it's very likely that your package manager can get it for you.

Sasha

In a round about way yes it can be done. Is it easy? Well that depends on who you ask. Check out this Forum posting to get some more info, http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...indows-447076/

Well, you can load drivers for ext3 or Reiser for Windows. I don't because when I dual boot Windows, I like it to be ignorant of my Linux file systems -- That way any malicious code can't easily damage my Linux partitions

@ ewaller -- I think I'd agree with you -- plus, I dunno how well I would trust the Win Ext drivers to be reliable and work without destroying something.