drive hard external won't connect??

Len Tyree · 10-31-2008, 12:15 AM

I have recently purchased a SEAGATE 160gb external hard drive for backup purposes, however it will not come up on the desktop or in the computer window.
The instructions say to make sure the jumper setting is in 'master' mode.
I opened the device up, but can not see anything to move/wiggle/bump that would change the settings?
This Seagate 2.5" SATA hard drive for USB 2.0.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Len Tyree.

P.S. I was led to believe that this thing would work with Linux. Am running Ubuntu.

Simon Bridge · 10-31-2008, 12:40 AM

unplugged - enter dmesg > before.log
plug it in - enter dmesg > after.log

then do diff before.log after.log changes.log

post the content of changes.log here.

(or just look in dmesg | tail after plugging it in)

Will your system mount a keydrive?

Len Tyree · 10-31-2008, 12:59 AM

Simon Bridge:
Thank you for the help, but to tell you the truth, I do not know how to do the things you say to do. Not that I won't, or don't want to, as I do.
But, you are talking to a real novice here, Linux wise. I have not yet learned how to navigate through this system. It is almost as if i have to be 'shown' which buttoons to push.
A little help would be in appriceated, if you have the time.
Thanks much, Len Tyree.

Simon Bridge · 10-31-2008, 01:41 AM

You need to learn how to use the terminal.

http://www.hbclinux.net.nz/HBCLUG/osc-tut/oscnotes.pdf
... this is a crash course in using ubuntu - including the terminal.

In the top panel see the applications menu? Click that, and find the entry which says "accessories". In there, you will find an entry marked "terminal", it's icon is a TV with a black screen. Click that.

A window will pop up with a command pompt - this is where you enter stuff. Which means you type it in and press enter at the end.

The crash course is only an hour or so.

Len Tyree · 11-01-2008, 05:08 AM

Have tried to comply with instructions by Simon Bridge as:
in terminal while unplugged: entered dmesg before.log
plugged hard drive in: entered dmesg after.log then
entered diff before.log after.log change.log
returned error: diff: extra operand 'change.log' diff: try 'diff --help' for information which gave a lot of data regarding files and what letters to use when using 'diff' and how to report a bug to bug-gnu-utils, etc.
I did this both within SUDO and outside, while usng the '-a' and '-i' addoms to diff, with the same results.
Also, when I entered just 'diff before.log after.log' it was unable to find the before and after logs.
I do not know how to pull in a new dmesg and diff routines, or even if I need them.

A little help would be appreciated. Thanks, Len Tyree.

onebuck · 11-01-2008, 06:47 AM

Hi,

Code:

excerpt from 'man diff';
NAME
       diff - compare files line by line

SYNOPSIS
       diff [OPTION]... FILES

DESCRIPTION
       Compare files line by line.

       -i  --ignore-case
              Ignore case differences in file contents.

       --ignore-file-name-case
              Ignore case when comparing file names.

       --no-ignore-file-name-case
              Consider case when comparing file names.

       -E  --ignore-tab-expansion
              Ignore changes due to tab expansion.

'Linux Documentation Project', 'Rute Tutorial & Exposition', and 'Linux Newbie Admin Guide' are just a few documents that you can use to learn Linux. The 'LDP' has loads of documentation that will assist you. Locally you can always use the 'man command' to find out the use of supported system command(s).

These links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

jschiwal · 11-01-2008, 09:11 AM

As a short cut run "ls /dev/sd*" before inserting the drive. Then insert it and run "ls /dev/sd*" after enough time for udev to create a device node for it. If you just had /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, etc. and you have /dev/sdb1 after, the /dev/sdb1 is the partition on the drive.

You can also run in the terminal "sudo tail -f /var/log/messages" before pluggin in the drive. The kernel will print out messages about the device & partition. If there are problems there may be a message explaining what it is. For example, if the filesystem has a problem, it won't mount. If the drive doesn't have partitions you will see a /dev/sdb device node but not a /dev/sdb1 device node.

You can print out a lot of information on the drive and partitions using the "udevinfo" command. Suppose that the drive is /dev/sdb.
Then enter "udev -q env -n /dev/sdb" for information on the drive. For information on the first partiton:
"udev -q env -n /dev/sdb1"

Pay particular attention on the filesystem on the drive.

Code:

 udevinfo -q env -n /dev/sdb1
ID_VENDOR=ATA
ID_MODEL=WD_My_Book
ID_REVISION=01.0
ID_SERIAL=SATA_WD_My_Book_WD-WCAU40606394
ID_SERIAL_SHORT=WD-WCAU40606394
ID_TYPE=disk
ID_BUS=scsi
ID_ATA_COMPAT=WD_My_Book_WD-WCAU40606394
ID_PATH=pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-5:0:0:0
ID_FS_USAGE=filesystem
ID_FS_TYPE=vfat
ID_FS_VERSION=FAT32
ID_FS_UUID=3272-D6D5
ID_FS_UUID_ENC=3272-D6D5
ID_FS_LABEL=ESATA
ID_FS_LABEL_ENC=ESATA
ID_FS_LABEL_SAFE=ESATA

Also make sure that you aren't in the safe mode booting up and that you don't use the "noacpi" boot option. These are the options listed on the bottom of the boot screen. There are two services that are used to auto mount external drives. The dbusd and hald daemons. They won't run if the "noacpi" option was used.

You didn't mention what filesystem is on your drive. If it is ntfs, make sure that you have the ntfs kernel module loaded:
"sudo /sbin/modprobe ntfs". If you want to write to the drive (for ntfs), make sure that the ntfs-3g package is installed. You will also need to install the "fuse" package.

If there isn't a filesystem or partition on the drive, you won't get a popup to mount it, because that would be impossible.
You can run your systems gui formatting program, or use "fdisk" to create a partition and "mkfs" to create the filesystem.

Also check your usb cable and try a different usb port.

---

A little background on how auto mounting works. When you insert a drive, the kernel signals the hal and udev daemons. The hal daemon identifies new hardware. The udev daemon creates new device nodes on the fly. HAL then signals your desktop ( KDE or Gnome ) and the desktop is what requests you what to do. Hal communicates with kde or gnome via the data bus interface (dbus).