How do I mount a USB key?

invictus · 12-31-2003, 02:39 PM

Happy new year, everyone!

I'm running Woody Debian, kernel 2.4.21, with USB support compiled in, to the best of my knowledge. I've failed to mount a USB key. The following are the relevant lines (I think?) from my /etc/fstab and /etc/mtab files.

fstab:

Code:

# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>               <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults                0       0
none            /proc/bus/usb   usbfs   defaults                0       0

mtab:

Code:

proc /proc proc rw 0 0
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0

I attempted the following:
alpha:~# mount -t usbfs /proc/bus/usb /usb

This had the unfortunate effect of mounting the contents of /pro/bus/usb onto /usb.

alpha:~# mount /proc/bus/usb/ /usb
mount: /proc/bus/usb/ is not a block device
(which means... what exactly?)

I also believe that the key was originally formatted to work with MacOS, so if you can tell me the likely file system type, that'd be great.

Thanks!

llamakc · 12-31-2003, 03:11 PM

the keys use the vfat (or fat?) filesystem for storage.

mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/yourdir

That does it.

edit /etc/fstab as such also.

invictus · 12-31-2003, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by llamakc
the keys use the vfat (or fat?) filesystem for storage.

mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/yourdir

That does it.

edit /etc/fstab as such also.

Thanks, but it didn't quite do the trick.

The following error is returned:

alpha:~# mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /usb
mount: /dev/sda1 is not a block device

The same is returned when trying /dev/usb, /dev/sda* (any of the ones tried), or /dev/usb/ez0

It's so close I can taste it!

acid_kewpie · 12-31-2003, 05:40 PM

when you plug it in and run "dmesg" you should be able to clearly see the driver create a /dev entry...

llamakc · 12-31-2003, 05:40 PM

Since you are using Debian I can help more.

apt-get install hotplug sg3-utils

Then plug the USB in after those install. Now, do

sg_scan -i

this will give you RAW output from SCSI that looks like:

/dev/sg1: scsi1 channel=0 id=0 lun=0 [em] type=0

SOME PRODUCT NAME 1.00 [wide=0 sync=0 cmdq=0 sftre=0 pq=0x0]

# NOW do this:

sg_map

this will map your SCSI to the device table and will look like:

/dev/sg1 /dev/sda

Then my mount command should work. Sorry I forgot this.

invictus · 12-31-2003, 05:48 PM

Hmmm... Thank you both, BUT...

First, dmesg has no mention of anything remotely resembling USB. The only thing it gives me is...

Code:

03:01: rw=0, want=16117, limit=1
Directory sread (sector 0x7de9) failed
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:01: rw=0, want=16117, limit=1
Directory sread (sector 0x7de9) failed
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:01: rw=0, want=16117, limit=1
Directory sread (sector 0x7de9) failed

Any clues as to the significance of that?

As for your suggestion, llamakc, here're the results.

Installed without problems, but sg_scan -i returns only my CDRW drive, as follows:

Code:

alpha:~# sg_scan -i
/dev/sg0: scsi0 channel=0 id=0 lun=0 [em]  type=5
    AOPEN     CD-RW CRW2440     2.02 [wide=0 sync=0 cmdq=0 sftre=0 pq=0x0] 

alpha:~# sg_map
/dev/sg0  /dev/scd0

This seems to say that USB support is not compiled/enabled on the system, which is passing strange.

Any suggestions on how I proceed are most welcome.

llamakc · 12-31-2003, 05:52 PM

Let's see the output of uname -r and lsmod.

invictus · 12-31-2003, 06:22 PM

Here they are:
alpha:~# uname -r
2.4.21Test1
alpha:~# lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
alpha:~#

I should mention that all the necessary modules were included in the kernel itself at compile time, so I'm not sure how to get at them. Modprobe keeps screaming about errors, too, for the same reason.

llamakc · 12-31-2003, 06:25 PM

You compiled your own kernel and forgot usb mass_storage support. If you continue to use your own kernel, you'll want a quick recompile. This will fix it. Any of the errors the modprobe spits out are related to the file /etc/modules which dictates modules that get loaded at boot. You can comment them out if you compiled that same functionality into the kernel.

Once you compile that function INTO the kernel, it's in. You can't remove it. That's the ease and coolness about modules: you can remove them from the kernel.

Recompile with usb support for mass storage devices. You'll be a-okay.

r_jensen11 · 01-01-2004, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by invictus
Happy new year, everyone!

I'm running Woody Debian, kernel 2.4.21, with USB support compiled in, to the best of my knowledge. I've failed to mount a USB key. The following are the relevant lines (I think?) from my /etc/fstab and /etc/mtab files.

fstab:

Code:

# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 none /proc/bus/usb usbfs defaults 0 0

mtab:

Code:

proc /proc proc rw 0 0 none /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0

I attempted the following:
alpha:~# mount -t usbfs /proc/bus/usb /usb

This had the unfortunate effect of mounting the contents of /pro/bus/usb onto /usb.

alpha:~# mount /proc/bus/usb/ /usb
mount: /proc/bus/usb/ is not a block device
(which means... what exactly?)

I also believe that the key was originally formatted to work with MacOS, so if you can tell me the likely file system type, that'd be great.

Thanks!

use vfat instead of usbfs, that's how I have mine set up.