external ext3 drives always mount as read-only!

Gilrad · 06-25-2008, 01:18 AM

I have been having this issue and nobody seems to be able to help me. I'm running Ubuntu hardy on an eeepc700, and for some reason, no matter what my fstab says, if the external drive has any variant of ext as it's file system, it will mount as readonly.

Here's my fstab:

Code:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=f028fe62-bc39-4a5d-91b8-01de8214315d /               ext2    noatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0
/dev/sdc1	/media/external1	ext3	auto,user,exec,rw,sync	0	0

The last entry is what I added in myself (after reading up a bit on the specifics to fstab). It is reading the fstab correctly, because instead of using automount options, it mounts to the proper directory (/media/external1), but it just doesn't mount as read/write.

Any ideas? Though I have been working hard on breaking myself into linux, I'm still a bit new, so if you suggest something, I would appreciate a link or a detailed explenation.

opc · 06-25-2008, 10:28 AM

Gilrad,

First of all, are permissions set properly on /media/external1?

If not, type the following:

sudo chmod 777 /media/external1

Also, what happens when you type the following?

sudo mount -t auto /dev/sdc1 /media/external1

Regards,
OPC

Gilrad · 06-25-2008, 02:11 PM

okay,

here's my log:

Code:

gilrad@kerjigger:~$ sudo chmod 777 /media/external1
[sudo] password for gilrad: 
gilrad@kerjigger:~$ sudo mount -t auto /dev/sdc1 /media/external1
mount: /dev/sdc1 already mounted or /media/external1 busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sdc1 is already mounted on /media/external1
(I then unmounted the drive)
gilrad@kerjigger:~$ sudo mount -t auto /dev/sdc1 /media/external1
gilrad@kerjigger:~$

After both operations, the drive continued to be read-only.

Gilrad · 06-26-2008, 10:47 AM

bump to page one

opc · 06-27-2008, 05:21 AM

Gilrad,

Sorry for the delay. I was distracted by other duties.

Try simplifying your fstab entry, for example like this:

/dev/sdc1 /media/external1 ext3 rw,defaults 0 0

and try mounting it again.

If that fails, I don't know what the problem is. Have you ruled out physical problems? Does the drive work properly with an other OS? Have you tried it with a live CD like Puppy Linux or Knoppix? Is there a write protection lock on the drive? Has the cable been chewed by a dog? Maybe there is a conflict in a USB hub - try a different USB port on the PC.

An other thing is to look in the sub-directories under /dev/disk/ and make sure nothing looks strange for this drive. For example, the symbolic links might indicate that /dev/sdc should be used instead of /dev/sdc1. Or maybe there is no entry at all for the drive in question. Do an "ls -las /dev/disk/by-id" with the drive disconnected and again with it connected. You should see an entry appear for your drive.

Regards,
opc

opc · 06-27-2008, 05:35 AM

...by the way, does /etc/mtab also list the drive as read only?

-opc

Gilrad · 06-28-2008, 12:06 AM

Thanks! Simplifying it worked out, actually. With a few annoying exceptions (such as having to manually change the readwrite permissions on each and every currently existing file and folder), everything is working just fine