I followed Novell's website instructions to install my flash drive. Everything went smooth. I checked out my system configuration and found my flash drive listed, the light is on. I also looked at my YAST hardware listing and found it listed. /dev/sda. dev/flash. When I click on my desktop computer icon, then I right click the USB drive , then click properties, I get the following permission : -r--r--r--. On my desktop there is now a folder shown that says,"Flash", and it has a padlock in the upper right hand corner of that folder. When I check the permissions of that folder I get : drwxr-xr-x. and a 31.0GB free space??? Why is it not the 512MB free space? Its showing the space left on my hard drive. Also , when I drag a photo, or file to my "Flash" folder, it will not let me paste it. I guess because I have no permission to write to the USB flash drive. Also, when I'm done putting data on my flash drive, and want to remove it, what do I do? How do I unmount it? I don't want to screw up my data by not unmounting it before unplugging it. Thanks!

When I click the computer icon on my desktop, then double click my USB device, I get this: Unable to mount volume : mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /media/USBdisk: mount failed

Since I followed Novell's USB flash drive directions, NOW my DVD/CD ROM won't mount either! I get this>>> mount:can't find /dev/hdc in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab. Well, it's pretty obvious that my USB and DVD Rom both don't work because of a bad file I entered in either (fstab or mtab). Now what I need is someone who knows their stuff so I can correct the problem. Thanks.

One of the most common mistakes when editing /etc/fstab is to introduce a line break accidentally. This may render everything that follows unusable. Check that every device/mount has its own line.

I don't know which instructions you followed (provide a link, maybe?). Usually these devices are mounted automatically. If you can't access the mountpoint, you may need to change its permissions (when the device is not mounted!).

/dev/hda2 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1
/dev/hda1 swap swap defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0
/dev/dvd /media/dvd subfs noauto,fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocharset=utf8 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy subfs noauto,fs=floppyfss,procuid,nodev,nosuid,sync 0 0
/dev/sda /home/doug/Desktop/flash vfat users,noauto,uid=doug,gid=users 0 0
/dev/sda /home/doug/Desktop/flash vfat users,noauto,uid=doug,gid=users 0 0



***I didn't know that SUSE would do the install automatically, so I went to Novell's website and followed their USB Flash Drive installation instructions. How do I straighten out this mess? I see the breaks. How can I edit it and what should I type? Thanks, Doug

Your fstab looks fine to me in respect to line breaks (every device has its own line).

In a first approach, try to remove the two last lines (staring with '/dev/sda'). If the automatic recognition doesn't work (you should see a windows popping up), try to use /dev/sda1 instead of /dev/sda and add umask=000

when I open the fstab file, It shows all the lines UP TO the dvd one are all on one line. The DVD line is broken after subfs, and the rest is on the next line. the fdo one is also broken in a different spot.This is the link for the instructions I followed> www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/11637.html . Thanks again.

As I said, edit /etc/fstab so each device has it's own line, just like shown above. This will fix your general problem. You could use kwrite for example. From command-line (within KDE) try 'kdesu kwrite /etc/fstab'. This will give you root permissions to edit the file.

Concering the USB problem, see my last post.

Why is the dvd and fdo file soo much longer than the other listings? Do I need all that??? Are those commands suposed to be there? How do I put everything on one line?

There's probably an automatic line-wrap active. Check the settings and de-activate if necessary. But first try to use a broader window. If the lines re-arrange, don't worry.

And yes, you need all those settings for proper function.

Here is the new file:

/dev/hda2 / reiserfs acl,user_xattr 1 1
/dev/hda1 swap swap defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0
/dev/dvd /media/dvd subfs noauto,fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocharset=utf8 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy subfs noauto,fs=floppyfss,procuid,nodev,nosuid,sync 0 0
/dev/sda1 /home/doug/Desktop/flash vfat users,noauto,umask=000 0 0



** My Flash file on my desktop now reads 492MB free space, NOT the 31GB of my hard drive. Thats a good thing. Also, my dvd / cd rom now works. ONLY problem now is no permission to write my USB flash drive. If I drag a photo or file to the "Flash" folder on my desktop , there is not a paste function there. Also there is still a padlock on the folder. Thanks for all your help, almost there...LOL

Check the permissions of /home/doug/Desktop/flash when the drive is not mounted. You should have write permissions.

linux:~ # ls -l /home/doug/Desktop/flash
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 16384 Dec 31 1969 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 doug users 344 Apr 10 20:09 ..

the desktop "computer" icon. >>>Unable to mount selected volume:mount:/dev/sda1 already mounted or /home/doug/Desktop/flash is busy & mount:according to mtab /dev/sda1 is already mounted on home/doug/Desktop/flash. Does this just mean that my computer automatically mounted the USB flash drive and all I'm trying to do is mount it twice? Or do I have a problem here. Thanks

I am not completely sure, but it looks like the owner of /home/doug/Desktop/flash is root and the permissions only allow the owner write access. Try chown doug /home/dough/Desktop/flash or chmod 775 /home/doug/Desktop/flash

Yes, that is possible. As I said, SUSE will try to mount a USB drive automatically to a mountpoint created in /media (possibly /media/usbdisk). This could cause trouble with you manual mount. You can prevent this if you choose the same mountpoint that SUSE would choose (e.g. /media/usbdisk).