Hi there, I am trying to read a USB memory stick on SUSE 9.2 (Gnome)

I took another postings advice and in /etc/fstab, I created:-

/dev/sda /mnt/removable vfat noauto,users,rw,exec,umask=002 0 0

and it is not reading 'sda' as a valid block device. I tried quite a few others and they were not accepted either.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

well sda without any number isn't a valid block device...try instead sda4 or sda1 or something like that. for me, one stick was sda4 but the one I have now is sda1 (when it works...this kernel I'm running doesn't like my usb-stuff too much, works sometimes and sometimes does not)

try reading dmesg or /var/log/messages when plugging the stick in, to get some clues...or /proc/bus/usb/devices or something....but I guess it's sdaX where X is some number..

thanks,

i did try many combinations of /sda# and none seem to be working...

does anyone have any other suggestions??

If you have other USB storage devices installed it might not be /dev/sda
I have a usbstick and a usb camera, the first one plugged into the USB is assigned /dev/sda(x) and the second one /dev/sdb(x)

As 'b0uncer' suggested:
dmesg
or
less /var/log/messages
or
less /var/log/syslog

SUSE 9.2 --- the device name of an USB MEMORY STICK can be found by:
step 1. program USBview; this will show the device serial number
(for me 7777777777777777)
NOTE: step 1 not necessary, but handy for a hardware check,
and this serial number is shown in YAST Hardware Info)

step 2. program Yast HardWare Info; this will show the device names
(for me under: DASD disks, Ultra Floppy, dev_names)
in my case three names:
1. /dev/sda
2. /dev/disk/by-path/usb-disk/by-path/usb-7777777777777777:0:0:0
3. /dev/disk/by-id/OTi-Ultra_Floppy
/dev/sda did not work, so I used the third device name

step 3. Create a directory where you want the device to be mounted on.
For me at this moment: /home/dewag/USBpen

step 4. Edit /etc/fstab and add the following with your own parameters:
/dev/disk/by-id/OTi-Ultra_Floppy /home/dewag/USBpen vfat
noauto,user,rw,exec,umask=002 0 0

step 5. Execute the command mount /dev/disk/by-id/OTi-Ultra_Floppy

Now, I can read and write to the Memory Pen via /home/dewag/USBpen

With the device plugged in type ' /sbin/fdisk -l ' It will tell if it sees it or not and what filesystem is on it as well.

Brian1