usb stick

Lunar_Lamp · 01-20-2006, 05:05 AM

Ok, I am relatively new to linux I guess, but on all other distros I have experimented with, mounting a USB stick has been a variation of mount /dev/sda1

However, when I plug in the usb stick the output of tail -f /var/log/messages gives me this (relevant info copied over as not posting from same pc):

Code:

darkstar kernel: hub.c: new USB device 00:01.2-1, assigned address 2
darkstar kernel: hub.c: new USB device 00:01.2-1, assigned address 3

the command "mount /dev/sda1 /media/stick" (having previously created /media/stick), gives the error "/dev/sda1 is not a valid block device".

I have tried with both sda2 and sda3 also.

What am I doing wrong here? Please help! I have tried googling, but I couldn't find anything that I could work out how it applied to my situation, though I am sure it is there.

KMcD · 01-20-2006, 05:10 AM

next time you plug it in have a look at the output from dmesg

Lunar_Lamp · 01-20-2006, 05:42 AM

oh.

Well, I have no idea how it happened, but now "mount /dev/sda1 /media/stick" works. Now all I need to do is edit my /etc/fstab to make it all nicer - thanks for pointing me to read dmesg.

Thanks a lot KMcD!

elyk · 01-20-2006, 02:59 PM

"fdisk -l" should list the usb stick and where it's located once you plug it in.

Pepto · 01-20-2006, 08:34 PM

perhaps I missed what the solution was? I have the same exact problem that Lunar_Lamp describes, with one other twist. If I plug in the stick before I boot the box, then I can mount it as sda1 which sounds like it's getting picked up in the hardware probe at boot time. If I plug it in after the box is up and running, all I get is the invalid block device error as described above. Dmesg shows no new entries since the boot up finished. fdisk -l shows only hda1 and the swap space. this is running 10.2 with the 2.4.31 kernel.

intox · 01-20-2006, 09:52 PM

Pepto: As root try this:

# . /etc/rc.d/rc.hotplug restart

then

# fdisk -l

to see if it got loaded...

Pepto · 01-20-2006, 10:17 PM

Yep, that worked. doing
# . /etc/rc.d/rc.hotplug restart
and I could see the led on the stick blinking a few times while hotplug was running. when that was done, then fdisk reported it as /dev/sda1 and I could mount it. Thanks for the quick solution!!

intox · 01-20-2006, 11:20 PM

Not a problem

IntoX

skisoccer13 · 01-21-2006, 12:46 PM

I'm kind of having the same problem. I just compiled the 2.6.15 kernel and now my I can't mount my usb hard drive anymore (can't find /dev/sda1 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab). I'm sure it's just something that I didn't include in the compile or something else that's simple. It doesn't show up with fdisk -l and the hotplug restart didn't work. I'm guessing it's just something that I forgot to check in the menuconfig. I would post the config but I can't get the internet working on my linux box either.

silenas · 02-26-2006, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by intox

Pepto: As root try this:

# . /etc/rc.d/rc.hotplug restart

then

# fdisk -l

to see if it got loaded...

I had exactly same problem as Pepto. and this worked fine for me as well. Thanx, intox!!!!! However, could anyone tell me how to mount my USB flash disk without restarting rc.hotplug??I mean, how to make sda device seen by fdisk automatically when the disk to sda is inserted.

Sorry, if i'm completely misunderstanding things and said something really stupid, but it's my second day with Linux...

silenas · 02-26-2006, 01:21 PM

Problem solved!!!ignore my previous message.thanx again for all help.