Mounting FAT fs on usb stick

K05T9 · 05-05-2007, 04:13 PM

'mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbstick' is not working.

Error message:
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

how do i get my usb flash mounted as fat fs?

macemoneta · 05-05-2007, 04:21 PM

Flash storage doesn't usually have a partition table, so try mounting the entire device:

mount -t vfat /dev/sda /mnt/usbstick

manwichmakesameal · 05-05-2007, 04:22 PM

You have to make sure you have support for FAT filesystem enabled in the kernel. Which kernel are you using? If it's a 2.6 the you should have something like:

Code:

/dev/sdf1        /mnt/sandisk     vfat        noauto,user,rw   0   0

in your /etc/fstab if you don't want to have to manually mount it every time. And the directory you are mounting it at has to exist.

K05T9 · 05-05-2007, 04:22 PM

the same error

K05T9 · 05-05-2007, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manwichmakesameal

Which kernel are you using?

Where can i see that?

LazyP · 05-05-2007, 05:00 PM

You can see your kernel release by issuing the command: uname -r. You can "man uname" for more info.

K05T9 · 05-05-2007, 05:05 PM

kernel version: 2.4.33.3

jschiwal · 05-05-2007, 05:17 PM

It could be the case that the filesystem on the pendrive is bad.

Code:

# file -s /dev/sdb1
/dev/sdb1: x86 boot sector, Microsoft DOS Bootloader, code offset 0x3c, OEM-ID "!CQ+GIHC", sectors/cluster 32, root entries 512, Media descriptor 0xf8, sectors/FAT 123, heads 16, hidden sectors 233, sectors 999703 (volumes > 32 MB) , serial number 0x3b691afd, unlabeled, FAT (16 bit)
hpamd64:~ # fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 512 MB, 512483328 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 993 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1         992      499851+   6  FAT16
 
# udevinfo  -q env -n /dev/sdb1
ID_VENDOR=SanDisk
ID_MODEL=Cruzer_Mini
ID_REVISION=0.1
ID_SERIAL=SanDisk_Cruzer_Mini_SNDK4F87642EAA601103
ID_TYPE=disk
ID_BUS=usb
ID_PATH=pci-0000:00:02.2-usb-0:2:1.0-scsi-0:0:0:0
ID_FS_USAGE=filesystem
ID_FS_TYPE=vfat
ID_FS_VERSION=FAT16
ID_FS_UUID=3B69-1AFD
ID_FS_LABEL=
ID_FS_LABEL_SAFE=

# fsck.vfat /dev/sdb1
dosfsck 2.11, 12 Mar 2005, FAT32, LFN
/dev/sdb1: 1388 files, 2116/31232 clusters
hpamd64:~ # cat /etc/fstab
...
/home/openSUSE-10.2-GM-DVD-x86_64.iso /SUSE102             iso9660    ro,unhide,loop=/dev/loop1,user 0 0
/dev/hda1       /windows                ntfs    rw,noauto,user,nls=utf8,uid=jschiwal,gid=jschiwal,user  0 0
UUID=b545812a-57af-43e8-bbd8-f9b43dd25fc8       /mnt/nd2                xfs     defaults,user,noauto            0 0
UUID=3B69-1AFD  /media/Cruzer vfat rw,noauto,nosuid,nodev,noatime,uid=1000,utf8,shortname=lower,user 0 0

You may not have hal support on your system. On my 2.6 system, I find using the uuid number instead of the device to be better because the next time you insert the usb pendrive, it could have a different device number, depending on the other devices plugged in, the order they are plugged in and the port used.

I would change the above advice to:

Code:

/dev/sdf1        /mnt/sandisk     vfat        noauto,user,uid=<yourusername>,gid=<yourgroupname>,fmask=0117,dmask=0007,noatime,rw   0   0

The "user" option will allow the user who matches the "uid=" value to mount the drive as a normal user. The "uid=" value will make the user the owner of the partition when mounting.

Using "users" will allow any user to mount the device. So the choice is yours.

K05T9 · 05-05-2007, 05:18 PM

i can mount flash by making it's fs to ext3 or ext2, but it's not working with vfat

K05T9 · 05-05-2007, 05:25 PM

i have ext3 fs on flash, how can i change it to fat16(as yours)?

K05T9 · 05-05-2007, 05:40 PM

Code:

root@localhost:~# file -s /dev/sda1
/dev/sda1: Linux rev 1.0 ext3 filesystem data
root@localhost:~# fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 132 MB, 132120576 bytes
5 heads, 51 sectors/track, 1011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 255 * 512 = 130560 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1        1011      128877    6  FAT16

I guess there is a problem?

jschiwal · 05-05-2007, 07:51 PM

Did you format the pendrive yourself, or is it as it was when you purchased it?

If it is the later, it probably has the the fat16 filesystem, but the partition type byte may have been altered somehow. You could use fdisk to change the type from 83 to 6.

K05T9 · 05-05-2007, 08:09 PM

flash drive has been changed. i used dd to wipe all to zeros, and then reformated flash to fat, but it's not working anymore.

I changed partition type to 6.
Now i can mount drive using:

Code:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbstick

But the code

Code:

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

returns error message

K05T9 · 05-05-2007, 09:03 PM

there are some other problems:
1) i can't see any files by opening flash drive from explorer
2) i can write just about 110mb in the flash(not 128, as it used to be)
3) why is it still blinking, when i use 'safely remove hardware'?

jschiwal · 05-05-2007, 10:59 PM

I may have missed one of your posts. If you can mount it, then you have the filesystem. Sometimes using "auto" for the filetype, the right one is selected. If you can see files in it, run "mount" by itself and see what filesystem was used.

Code:

/dev/hda5 on /boot type ext3 (rw,acl,user_xattr,debug,acl,user_xattr)

Then you could check the filesystem after umount'ing it.
In this case, I would use "sudo /sbin/fsck.ext3 /dev/hda5". If it said vfat, I would use the fsck.vfat program instead.

Since you are having problems with the device, it probably would be best if you backed up all of the files to your hard drive first. And since you will be doing that, reformatting the filesystem and copying back the files may be the best option.