USB Thumb Drive Will Not Mount Unless Present During Boot.

IamI · 09-09-2005, 04:21 PM

Actually, the title sort of says it all. I've set my thumb drive up in my fstab, but it will only mount if it was plugged in during boot. Otherwise, I get the following error:

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda,
or too many mounted file systems

I'm guessing this has something to do with hotplug, though it was my understanding that hotplug operates all the time, not just at boot.

Anyway, I can't figure out what I'm not doing, and would appreciate assistance.

Poetics · 09-09-2005, 04:43 PM

have you tried mounting /dev/sda1 instead of just /dev/sda ? That was my problem at first as well.

IamI · 09-09-2005, 04:49 PM

Yup, I just tried it again, and sda1 is still not a valid block device.

mdg · 09-10-2005, 12:35 AM

After plugging the drive in, use the following command to check how the drive is identified:

Code:

tail -s 3 -f /var/log/messages

then mount it as the identified device.

The output on my system after plugging in my camera is

Code:

tail -s 3 -f /var/log/messages
Sep 10 08:28:54  kernel: SCSI device sda: 494753 512-byte hdwr sectors (253 MB)
Sep 10 08:28:54  kernel: sda: assuming Write Enabled
Sep 10 08:28:54  kernel: SCSI device sda: 494753 512-byte hdwr sectors (253 MB)
Sep 10 08:28:54  kernel: sda: assuming Write Enabled
Sep 10 08:28:54  udev[18731]: creating device node '/dev/sda'
Sep 10 08:28:54  kernel:  sda: sda1
Sep 10 08:28:54  kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Sep 10 08:28:54  kernel: Attached scsi generic sg0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0,  type 0
Sep 10 08:28:55  udev[18739]: creating device node '/dev/sda1'
Sep 10 08:28:55  udev[18755]: creating device node '/dev/sg0'

so I would mount it with "mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/camera" (if I had a directory "camera" under /mnt)

rkrishna · 09-10-2005, 06:22 AM

r u enabled hotplug start, do u enabled it in kernel

do a dmesg after plugging the usb, if u have enabled hotplug
c what the device is labeled as most probably it will b in /dev/sda1

if so u could mout it as u desire if u want u count mount it in /mnt/cdrom hi

IamI · 09-10-2005, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mdg
After plugging the drive in, use the following command to check how the drive is identified:

Code:

tail -s 3 -f /var/log/messages

then mount it as the identified device.

The output on my system after plugging in my camera is

Code:

tail -s 3 -f /var/log/messages Sep 10 08:28:54 kernel: SCSI device sda: 494753 512-byte hdwr sectors (253 MB) Sep 10 08:28:54 kernel: sda: assuming Write Enabled Sep 10 08:28:54 kernel: SCSI device sda: 494753 512-byte hdwr sectors (253 MB) Sep 10 08:28:54 kernel: sda: assuming Write Enabled Sep 10 08:28:54 udev[18731]: creating device node '/dev/sda' Sep 10 08:28:54 kernel: sda: sda1 Sep 10 08:28:54 kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0 Sep 10 08:28:54 kernel: Attached scsi generic sg0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0, type 0 Sep 10 08:28:55 udev[18739]: creating device node '/dev/sda1' Sep 10 08:28:55 udev[18755]: creating device node '/dev/sg0'

so I would mount it with "mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/camera" (if I had a directory "camera" under /mnt)

Okay, judging from the output of tailing /var/log/messages, my system is acknowledging the presence of the drive, but not really creating any device for it. This is what I get when I plug the thing in and out hot:

Code:

Sep 10 21:17:39 darkstar kernel: usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:10.2-1 address 6
Sep 10 21:17:39 darkstar kernel: usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:10.2-1.1 address 7
Sep 10 21:19:05 darkstar kernel: hub.c: new USB device 00:10.2-1, assigned address 8
Sep 10 21:19:05 darkstar kernel: hub.c: USB hub found
Sep 10 21:19:05 darkstar kernel: hub.c: 1 port detected
Sep 10 21:19:06 darkstar kernel: hub.c: new USB device 00:10.2-1.1, assigned address 9
Sep 10 21:19:35 darkstar kernel: usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:10.2-1 address 8
Sep 10 21:19:35 darkstar kernel: usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:10.2-1.1 address 9
Sep 10 21:19:47 darkstar kernel: hub.c: new USB device 00:10.2-1, assigned address 10
Sep 10 21:19:47 darkstar kernel: hub.c: USB hub found
Sep 10 21:19:47 darkstar kernel: hub.c: 1 port detected
Sep 10 21:38:31 darkstar -- MARK --

And that's all she wrote. I have no idea what to do about it, though. What is not happening now that evidently happens during boot?

IamI · 09-11-2005, 11:08 AM

Now the damn thing doesn't work at all. It worked once, but I haven't changed anything. What the hell?

mdg · 09-11-2005, 11:26 AM

Well, I don't know what the problem is, maybe the fstab entry, maybe modules not loading?

Anyway, here's the page I used to set up my usb stick, have a look through and compare.

IamI · 09-11-2005, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mdg
Well, I don't know what the problem is, maybe the fstab entry, maybe modules not loading?

Anyway, here's the page I used to set up my usb stick, have a look through and compare.

Line for line, that's preciesly what I did, except that it showed up as /dev/sda. And it worked twice: the first time immediately after I set everything up, and then once after a reboot cycle. Now, it does not work at all no matter what I try, and I haven't changed anything permanent. I've modprobed usb-storage out the wazoo, and that does not appear to be the problem.

I dunno. Something must be different, but I can't for the life of me pin down what it is. It's not the stick itself; it still performs happily in XP.

IamI · 09-11-2005, 02:33 PM

Oh, so *now* it's /dev/sdb. I wonder how long that will last.

~Edit~

Okay, that was my problem. Slack decided to pull a fast one on me.

pnellesen · 02-19-2006, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamI

Oh, so *now* it's /dev/sdb. I wonder how long that will last.

~Edit~

Okay, that was my problem. Slack decided to pull a fast one on me.

I know this is an old thread, but I've been fighting this issue for about a week, and this is the FIRST post that gave me any idea of what to look for - specifically, I noticed that my system was pointing to the thumb drive as "/dev/sdd1" instead of "/dev/sda1" like my other usb devices (I didn't know that was even a possibility???.) I WAS able to mount the thumb drive when I pointed to /dev/sdd1. Possible stupid question - would it be worthwhile to add an additional line to my /etc/fstab file to account for this situation? I just tried my Olympus camera as well while typing this - THAT device went to /dev/sdb1??? Can somebody possibly explain what's happening here? I haven't read anything anywhere about Linux/Slackware rotating/changing which scsi device path different devices get assigned - if there IS a page somewhere describing this I'd appreciate it if somebody posted a link to it.

Thanks.

IamI · 02-20-2006, 04:47 AM

Thanks for the thread necromancy. I'd forgotten about it, and I still have this irritating problem with Slack.

cwwilson721 · 02-20-2006, 04:58 AM

GNU/Linux assigns devices by the order they are originally detected.

For example: first USB device it finds maybe /dev/sda, but if you unplug it hot, then plug back into another port, it may decide that it's /dev/sdb.

If you do it enough with enough devices/ports, you can easily get to /dev/sdz. After that, I have no idea....... /dev/sd@ or sd+.....

Any ideas? Hmm.....Sounds like an interesting research project....

pnellesen · 02-20-2006, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwwilson721

GNU/Linux assigns devices by the order they are originally detected.

For example: first USB device it finds maybe /dev/sda, but if you unplug it hot, then plug back into another port, it may decide that it's /dev/sdb.

So, any ideas on how one sets up /etc/fstab for this? I played with it a few more times last night, and it "appeared" that the devices maintained their assignments, meaning no matter how many times I disconnected the thumb drive it was assigned the same device path, and the same behavior for my camera. As long as this behavior's consistent, it's not a problem, though I'd hate to have to create an entirely new mount point for each and every new device I'd attach.

Note that this is all on the same USB port - I haven't connected 1 device to 1 port, the next to another (I've only got 2 ports on the machine anyway...)

Thanks,

IamI · 02-20-2006, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pnellesen

So, any ideas on how one sets up /etc/fstab for this?

Or perhaps more to the point: is there any way to reserve /dev devices that will remain stable and be assigned only to a specific device that may or may not be present at any given time?