Mounting iPod

the1sephiroth · 05-11-2007, 12:05 PM

i plugged my ipod in, after doing so many times on other machines i naturally type

Code:

mount /dev/sda2 /media/ipod

but this time,

Code:

tjones:~ # mount /dev/sda2 /media/ipod
mount: special device /dev/sda2 does not exist

so i did the following to clearly see that it recognizes that it is plugged in:

Code:

tjones:~ # lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:c03e Logitech, Inc. Premium Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 05ac:1209 Apple Computer, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Then i found this, but i could not mount the device:

Code:

tjones:~ # cd /dev/bus/usb/001/; ls -l
total 0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 189, 0 2007-04-20 10:43 001
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 189, 4 2007-05-11 12:26 005
tjones:/dev/bus/usb/001 # mount 005 /media/ipod
mount: 005 is not a block device

it's a 5th gen ipod and i'm running on kernel 2.6.18.2-34-default on opensuse 10.2

David the H. · 05-11-2007, 12:36 PM

The output of dmesg or udevmonitor should tell you what /dev device entry gets created when you plug it in. 'cat /proc/partitions' will list all the block devices available on your system.

the1sephiroth · 05-11-2007, 12:39 PM

Code:

tjones:~ # cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   3     0   58615704 hda
   3     1   58605088 hda1
   3    64   78150744 hdb
   3    65    2104483 hdb1
   3    66   20972857 hdb2
   3    67   55070820 hdb3

i read dmesg upon plugging ipod in, it shows it, but does not tell any entry being created in /dev that i could find.

vlad1977 · 05-12-2007, 03:05 PM

Do I understand correctly that you have a problem viewing the content of your iPod in amarok?
What do you have in /media/ipod/iPod_Control/iTunes ?
Do this:

Code:

ls -l /media/ipod/iPod_Control/iTunes | grep ock

If it shoes an iTunesLock file like this:

Code:

vlad@linux-rulez1:/media/ipod/iPod_Control/iTunes> ls -l | grep ock
-rwxr-xr-x 1 vlad root        0 2007-05-12 15:49 iTunesLock

then move this file somewhere and try to see content of your ipod again with amarok or banshee or whatever media player you are using. This should enable your ipod for viewing in amarok (at least worked for me). After this another iTunesLock file is created automatically by media player so check for it and if it's been created and ipod is working fine - then go to where you moved your old iTunesLock file and delete it permanently. I believe this zero-byte file is created by every program using the ipod to disable viewing or editing content by another media player.
Sorry if I misunderstood your question. Good luck.
Vlad

the1sephiroth · 05-12-2007, 03:56 PM

No, no. not getting it to work in amarok, getting it to work period. For some reason it doesn't work like the other times it has worked as sda (scsi disk?) am i missing some drivers for it?

unknownmosquito · 05-13-2007, 02:59 AM

if you are running a relatively new kernel, try this:

navigate to /dev/disk/
type ls.
you will notice four folders,
by-id; by-label; by-path; by-uuid

These are devices plugged into your computer identified by more familiar means.
For instance, in iTunes in 'Doze I named my (now deceased, RIP) 4th gen iPod BEAN, and when I threw this:

Code:

/dev/disk/by-label/BEAN /mnt/ipod       auto    noauto,user,uid=1000                                   0 0

into my /etc/fstab, the iPod not only worked (

) great, but automounted as well.
Note you must have scsi support for this to work, and also check to make sure you have libipod.

David the H. · 05-13-2007, 02:36 PM

Whoops! Sorry, I made a mistake. It's not dmesg that shows the device creation logging, it's /var/log/messages.

I personally prefer to use udevmonitor for this purpose anyway. Just run the program in a root terminal and it will show you what udev is doing in real-time. But both should show you if and what /dev entries are being created.

At first I would've suspected that you just had the wrong device, say sdb instead of sda. But if the messages output or /proc/partitions isn't showing anything, then there probably aren't any device entries being created at all, including the ones in /dev/disk that unknownmosquito suggested. Something seems to be keeping udev from doing it's job.

I think what we really need to know is more of the details behind the problem. What, if anything, did you change about your system before it stopped working? A distro upgrade, for example? Actually, it's not even clear from the previous posts whether this is a machine that used to work but stopped for some reason, or a completely new one.

Also try confirming that it's not a hardware problem. Just because the system can detect the device doesn't mean there aren't problems. Does the ipod mount on other systems? How about the cable? Try booting with a live distro and see if you can mount there.

Let's try narrowing it down a bit, in other words.

the1sephiroth · 05-14-2007, 11:18 AM

Thanks for all of the posts.
It has worked on this machine before, and then i had to reinstall the OS and i did a "smart upgrade" on it to get the latest packages. I know the cable works and it can mount on other machines.

Unfortunately the machine is my work machine and i won't be back until Wednesday to do further tests.

The ipod worked on this machine before the reinstallation of opensuse, but not after.

I will try a live distro, any suggestions with which one? Knoppix perhaps?

the1sephiroth · 05-18-2007, 01:56 PM

woohoo problem solved. Made sure i had all of the libraries and rebooted, now it autodetects/mounts Thanks for everyone's help