I have a linux disk in an external housing. I want to get data off it.
I am getting this
[root@localhost mnt]# mount -t ext2 /dev/sda1 external
mount: special device /dev/sda1 does not exist

Can anyone advise me ?

I am using Mandriva 2008

See if you can discover what it is that does not exist.

ls -l /dev | less

will show you all of your devices. Does /dev/sda exist?

/dev/sda1 has to be mounted on a directory. external is not a directory. In Mandriva the convention is to mount file systems on a directory within the /mnt directory. Use this command to see what mount points you have available to use:

ls -l /mnt | less

You may or may not have partition 1 available on /dev/sda. Use this command to list the partitions on /dev/sda:

fdisk -l /dev/sda

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Steve Stites

it is the /dev/sda1 that does not exist.

Is there something else that I should be using?

What is you hard drive configuration? Are you using IDE, SATA, or SCSI hard drives? What is the cable position of the drive? You can find the hardware address of your hard drive by running this command as root:

lshw | less

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Steve Stites

This is AN EXTERNAL USB CONNECTED drive. It is An EIDE drive.
It doesn't have a cable position and lshw shows nothing about it.

I don't know if this will help, but I also have an IDE drive in a container, which connects via USB. When I want to use the drive, I switch on the power (my container has an integral power on/off switch). Within a few seconds the drive is recognized by my system (the r/w led on the container flashes briefly) and icons appear for the partitions on the drive in system:/media/ in konqueror. To mount one of those partitions, I just click on its icon and the partition is mounted at /media/disk. I have no fstab entries for this drive.


Jim

OK, a USB drive should appear as /dev/sda when you plug it in. I found a thread that discusses what to do when plugging a USB drive in doesn't work the way that it should:


http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...s-vfat-413719/

I think that electro probably provided the best answer.

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Steve Stites

There was no sda so that thread didn't help. I have identified the problem.
It appears to be a hardware problem. I have been using a usb extension lead. When I plugged the drive into the other usb port directly the problem went away. Thanks for your help everyone.