Unable to Mount External USB 120GB HD
 

Hi,
I'm running SuSE 9.0 Prof on my PB iGo 6208 laptop. I have a 120GB External USB 2 Hard disk, made by Archos. It has a FAT32 File System.
I've tried to mount it, both using the KDE GUI, a using the command line. However, i always get the following error:

linux:/etc # mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /media/sda1
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1,
or too many mounted file systems



I've checked the fstab file, and I can see the hd there:

linux:/etc # more fstab
/dev/hda6 / reiserfs defaults 1 1
/dev/hda1 /windows/C vfat users,gid=users,umask=0002,
iocharset=iso8859-1,code=437 0 0
/dev/hda2 /windows/D ntfs ro,users,gid=users,umask=00
02,nls=iso8859-1 0 0
/dev/hda5 swap swap pri=42 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
usbdevfs /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs noauto 0 0
/dev/cdrecorder /media/cdrecorder auto ro,noauto,user,exec 0 0
/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom auto ro,noauto,user,exec 0 0
/dev/dvd /media/dvd auto ro,noauto,user,exec 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto noauto,user,sync 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 auto sync,noauto,user,exec 0 0 #HOTPLUG B3Fu.bHN8WWiSh78
/dev/sda2 /media/sda2 auto sync,noauto,user,exec 0 0 #HOTPLUG B3Fu.bHN8WWiSh78
/dev/sda3 /media/sda3 auto sync,noauto,user,exec 0 0 #HOTPLUG B3Fu.bHN8WWiSh78
/dev/sda4 /media/sda4 auto sync,noauto,user,exec 0 0 #HOTPLUG B3Fu.bHN8WWiSh78






Here's the fdisk output





linux:/etc # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 123.5 GB, 123522416640 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 15017 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 ? 119512 153402 272218546+ 20 Unknown
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 ? 82801 116350 269488144 6b Unknown
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 ? 33551 120595 699181456 53 OnTrack DM6 Aux3
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda4 * 86812 86813 10668+ 49 Unknown
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/hda: 60.0 GB, 60011642880 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7296 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 252 2024158+ 1b Hidden Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda2 * 253 2520 18217710 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda3 2521 7296 38363220 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 2521 2631 891576 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda6 2632 7296 37471581 83 Linux




I'm pretty much a :newbie: , so this is about as much as I can do. I've had a look through the forum here, but no matter what I try, I get the same error msg :scratch:

Would it maybe matter that the HD is a USB 2.0, but my laptop only has USB 1.1

:confused: :confused: :confused:

Does the drive work in windows on the same laptop?

The output of fdisk doesn't show a valid FAT or NTFS partition

Yes it does. Though I haven't tried it recently, as I formatted over my Windows OS a couple of weeks ago. I know that the HD still works though, as I tried it on a friends PC just yesterday.

I've seen similar threads where linux couldn't mount a large vfat partition.

Really? If this is the problem, is there any way around it?

It was a thread posted by braveheart1980 and the solution was to create a smaller partition.

I'm not sure if it is a limitation of the vfat module.

Oh. How small do these partititons have to be? I have several movies on this HD which themselves are 1GB a piece. Could it not maybe be another problem?

The max filesize on a VFAT is 2GB.

From Microsoft's website
"Although the theoretical maximum size for FAT32 is 8 TB, Windows98's scandisk only supports 128Gb, and Windows2000 does not permit the creation of FAT32 disks larger than 32Gb. "

I've googled but didn't find anything on the limitation of the vfat module.

I have a similar drive. Mine is 112 GB.
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/scsi/host1/bus0/target0/lun0/part1
112G 31G 82G 28% /mnt/win_c2

Here is the fstab entry for this drive:
I'm using Mandrake 10 Beta 2, but that shouldn't matter.

I've got a Maxtor USB2 200GB disk which I can connect either by USB2 or Firewire.
The Firewire connection works -- no prob both in 'DOZE XP and SUSE 9.

USB2 I have a pcmcia 2 port USB2 card (belkin) -- this also works as I connect a USB2 IOMEGA multi format DVD writer to it.

Don't seem to have any problem with the disk --


can make Windows or ext2 filesystem

device however is /dev/sr1 (or /dev/scd1)

I've split disk into 100 GB FAT32 (VFAT) and 100GB ext2 Linux.

Use dmesg to see what happens at boot -- ensure you mount the correct device.

I tried a similar fstab entry to yours, but still it comes up with the error msg I mentioned in my first post.


:scratch: :scratch: :scratch: :scratch: :scratch: :scratch: :scratch: :scratch:

Think I'm going bald.

I think USB is working fine because of the entries added automatically in fstab for the HD. But the problem then is mounting them. I've just ran the Automatic Repair option in YaST2, with the external hard disk attached. It also tried to auto mount the partitions in the HD. However, that failed. It looks like the FS type isn't being recognized at all. Strange that my HD works on windows though. Also strange that it is in four partitions. It is only supposed to be one large partition. When I plug it in under windows, only one icon for one drive comes up for me too access, so I'm not sure why I've got four under SuSE.

I justs loaded the USB View tool in SuSE.
There I can see that the USB connection is fine. Looks like the HD is recognized properly (The USB view info shows the HD's manufacturer, serial number, Number of EndPoints, and loads loads more), so I'm assuming the USB connection is good, there HD is working properly.
I know it's a FAT32 FS. I've tried changing the Fstab entry. But I really can't seem to mount it.
Does anyone have any ideas?

Also, does anyone if it matters that my PC only has USB 1.1, and my HD is USB 2.0?


This from 'lsusb -vv'