Cannot List Contents of USB Filesystem

eljefe7000 · 05-23-2006, 09:59 AM

Hi All,

I'm trying to list the contents of a USB filesystem in Slackware 2.4, but am having trouble.

I mounted the drive like so:

Code:

root@machine:/mnt# mount -t usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbdrive

But whenever I list the contents, I get the following:

Code:

root@machine:/mnt# ls usbdrive
001/  devices  drivers

I ran fdisk and got this output:

Code:

root@machine:/mnt# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1       19457   156288321    b  W95 FAT32

Disk /dev/hda: 20.4 GB, 20419854336 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2482 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1         973     7815591   83  Linux
/dev/hda2             974        2481    12113010    7  HPFS/NTFS

...so I tried to umount and remount it as a FAT32 system:

Code:

root@machine:/mnt# umount usbdrive

root@machine:/mnt# mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 usbdrive
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1,
       missing codepage or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

This returned an error, so I followed the instructions:

Code:

root@machine:/mnt# dmesg | tail
shpchp: shpc_init : shpc_cap_offset == 0
shpchp: shpc_init : shpc_cap_offset == 0
shpchp: Standard Hot Plug PCI Controller Driver version: 0.4
pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5
pciehp: PCI Express Hot Plug Controller Driver version: 0.5
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
NTFS driver v1.1.22 [Flags: R/O MODULE]
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.

It looks as though it cannot read my drive as a FAT32 system. I can view the drive in NT, so I think it's okay. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Regards,
Jeff

KarlosDaJackel · 05-23-2006, 10:15 AM

Is this usb device a 160GB hard disk?

according to fdisk sda = a 160GB hard disk. Just making sure that is your usb device not a sata/scsi disk.

Try this
Shut down.
Detach the disk.
Reboot and type 'modprobe usb-storage'
plug the usb disk into the machine.

then run
dmesg | tail

hopefully it will say something like "new usb storage device attached at /dev/sdb1" and then we can mount it.

Also can you explain this
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
NTFS driver v1.1.22 [Flags: R/O MODULE]
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.

Did you try mount the disk as ntfs before hand or where you mounting other partitions? It looks from fdisk that the partition type is set as fat but the file system may actually be ntfs. Hopefully with more info I can help you more.

marozsas · 05-23-2006, 10:46 AM

I think FAT32 filesystem size is limited to 32Gbytes.
Can you check your usb disk is 160GB in size and it has a valid FAT32 filesystem ? You can plug this usb disk on a windows XP machine and check/fix the filesystem on it.

eljefe7000 · 05-23-2006, 01:45 PM

Thanks for your reply.

It is a USB device. However, when I follow your instructions, it does list as you say:

Code:

USB Mass Storage support registered.
hub.c: new USB device 00:1f.2-2.3, assigned address 3
scsi1 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: Seagate   Model: External Drive    Rev:     
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 312581808 512-byte hdwr sectors (160042 MB)
 sda: sda1
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 3

After following the instructions, I tried to mount the drive again, but got the same error:

Code:

root@machine:/mnt# mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 usbdrive
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1,
       missing codepage or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

root@machine:/mnt# dmesg | tail
scsi1 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: Seagate   Model: External Drive    Rev:
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 312581808 512-byte hdwr sectors (160042 MB)
 sda: sda1
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 3
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.

Also, I did try mounting the filesystem as NTFS, but got the same error:

Code:

root@machine:/mnt# mount -t ntfs /dev/sda1 usbdrive
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1,
       missing codepage or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

root@machine:/mnt# dmesg | tail
  Vendor: Seagate   Model: External Drive    Rev:
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 312581808 512-byte hdwr sectors (160042 MB)
 sda: sda1
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 3
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
NTFS driver v1.1.22 [Flags: R/O MODULE]

I have read that Slackware 2.4 has FAT32 support built-in. Is this correct?

Regards,
Jeff

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarlosDaJackel

Is this usb device a 160GB hard disk?

according to fdisk sda = a 160GB hard disk. Just making sure that is your usb device not a sata/scsi disk.

Try this
Shut down.
Detach the disk.
Reboot and type 'modprobe usb-storage'
plug the usb disk into the machine.

then run
dmesg | tail

hopefully it will say something like "new usb storage device attached at /dev/sdb1" and then we can mount it.

Also can you explain this
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
NTFS driver v1.1.22 [Flags: R/O MODULE]
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.
VFS: Can't find a valid FAT filesystem on dev 08:01.

Did you try mount the disk as ntfs before hand or where you mounting other partitions? It looks from fdisk that the partition type is set as fat but the file system may actually be ntfs. Hopefully with more info I can help you more.

eljefe7000 · 05-23-2006, 01:53 PM

Thanks for your reply.

I have been using it in Win2K Advanced Server and XP Pro. The Win2K OS lists it as a FAT32 system. Also, the info that I've found says that FAT32 supports up to 2 terabytes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by marozsas

I think FAT32 filesystem size is limited to 32Gbytes.
Can you check your usb disk is 160GB in size and it has a valid FAT32 filesystem ? You can plug this usb disk on a windows XP machine and check/fix the filesystem on it.

Regards,
Jeff