Hi all,
I want to access a file(by its name)from USB memory stick without mounting it?
I tried to delve for file system in USB memory stick but was able to....
How does file addressing takes place in USB?
Thanks in advance.

the name of the file is stored in the file allocation table (FAT) how could you expect to access it by name without using the file system ?

I believe USB flash drives typically use the FAT32 file system.

http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/fat32.htm

Which commands to use to access data using FAT systems..

Thanks in advance.

Mounting it would be the first step... you could mount it as read only if you are concerned about changing data on the drive itself..

Hi,
The thing is I don't want to mount USB memory stick,I want to access it without mounting it.
I suppose I can do this by accessing some FAT table in memory stick.But I am now not able to figure it out how to get hold of this table which give block/sector/or some memory location corresponding to a file's name.
Is there any command to get to "this" table.
Thanks for any hint from anyone, I am searching for it too...

I still don't understand your aversion to mounting the drive..

So you plan to re-write the USB mass storage driver, and SCSI emulation ? sound's like re-inventing the wheel to me

Hi,
Is there any alternative to mount command to access usb on linux?
Thanks.

No, there isn't. If you want to read the files on a USB drive, you mount it first. That's just the way it works.

The only real alternative is to write your own program to directly access the USB device. Basically, you'd be reinventing the filesystem driver. I don't know why you'd want to do that, though. It's a lot more work than just mounting the drive and, to be honest, I can't really think of anything it would gain you.

Perhaps if you tell us what you're trying to accomplish by not mounting the drive, somebody could suggest a work-around.