Ubuntu
util-linux package

USB drives not mounted properly

Asked by Salter-lee

Hi all. I upgraded to Natty (when everything was working fine) but since then Ubuntu refuses to automatically mount USB storage devices, and the manual mount doesn't let me write to disk. The USB flash drive I have works on my Ubuntu (Natty) netbook and on my XP installation on my desktop (so there's nothing wrong with the device or computer), but nothing happens when I plug it in on my desktop - the mouse works fine!

I can force with
lee@lee-desktop:~$ sudo mount /dev/sde1 /media/usbflsh
I can't eject them via nautilus, I have to umount, which only works sometimes, but I cannot write.

PLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEASSE help as I really need to work!!!!

PLEASE can someone with a bit of experience HELP?!!!!

I've ran this:
lee@lee-desktop:~$ sudo blkid
/dev/sda1: LABEL="2nd1" UUID="50F45961F45949FC" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda3: LABEL="2nd2" UUID="01C6A9EAB5687100" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda5: UUID="be06f940-f320-4a71-a75a-66a367249d92" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda6: UUID="5f96f190-c1c7-44db-b9c0-95f769e3b927" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Windows" UUID="E434FC7334FC4A56" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="New Volume" UUID="5276E69976E67D5B" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdd1: UUID="ACA4E9EFA4E9BC48" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sde1: UUID="901E-2C40" TYPE="vfat"

The last two entries are my external HDD and USB flash drive respectively.

FStab (Which I DO NOT understand) looks like this
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=be06f940-f320-4a71-a75a-66a367249d92 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
#Entry for /dev/sda1 :
UUID=50F45961F45949FC /media/2nd1 ntfs-3g defaults,nosuid,nodev,locale=en_GB.utf8 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sda3 :
UUID=01C6A9EAB5687100 /media/2nd2 ntfs-3g defaults,nosuid,nodev,locale=en_GB.utf8 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sdc1 :
UUID=5276E69976E67D5B /media/New_Volume ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_GB.utf8 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sdb1 :
UUID=E434FC7334FC4A56 /media/Windows ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_GB.utf8 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sdd1 :
UUID=ACA4E9EFA4E9BC48 /media/sdd1 ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=5f96f190-c1c7-44db-b9c0-95f769e3b927 none swap sw 0 0

When I try to click on unmount it doesn;t - it just gives me this error message
"umount: /media/usb0 is not in the fstab (and you are not root)"

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu util-linux Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Salter-lee
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Salter-lee (salter-lee) said : 		#1

Can't see my DVD drives either :(

Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#2

Please verify if the package 'usbmount' is installed, remove it and test usb again.

Revision history for this message
Salter-lee (salter-lee) said : 		#3

Hi. Thanks for your advice. I will uninstall it right now if it is there. Just to mention, Disk Utility simply won't start! Will let you know in a moment. Thanks.

Revision history for this message
Salter-lee (salter-lee) said : 		#4

It was installed - I think I installed it after I started having this problem. But the problem is still there. I've managed to get it so I can sort of mount the USB storage, but it has turned all of my drives into "Removable Media", has given me 3 entries in Nautilus for one USB flash drive (sdd1) and the inability to remove the other (usb0) "umount: /media/usb0 is not in the fstab (and you are not root)"

I am pretty sure that Disk Utility not opening is something to do with it (it just appears on the lower panel saying loading (or some such) and then disappears. Will uninstall and reinstall and see what happens.

Thanks so much for your time on this.

Revision history for this message
Salter-lee (salter-lee) said : 		#5

Removed Disk Utiliy without reinstalling and it works a little better - it's just that it keeps trying to mount removable drives at start up (so I have to press "S" to continue), and it leaves the "holder" (don't know what it's called (e.g. sdd1) in nautilus once I have ejected. I can remove the USB drives now though.

There are still not DVDs visible in nautilus, though I know Ubuntu can "see" them. My Fstab looks like this:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=be06f940-f320-4a71-a75a-66a367249d92 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
#Entry for /dev/sda1 :
UUID=50F45961F45949FC /media/2nd1 ntfs-3g defaults,nosuid,nodev,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sda3 :
UUID=01C6A9EAB5687100 /media/2nd2 ntfs-3g defaults,nosuid,nodev,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sdc1 :
UUID=5276E69976E67D5B /media/New_Volume ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sdb1 :
UUID=E434FC7334FC4A56 /media/Windows ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sde1 :
UUID=ACA4E9EFA4E9BC48 /media/sde1 ntfs-3g users,user,owner 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=5f96f190-c1c7-44db-b9c0-95f769e3b927 none swap sw 0 0
#Entry for /dev/sdd1 :
UUID=901E-2C40 /media/sdd1 vfat uid=lee,users,user 0 0
      0 0
UUID=ACA4E9EFA4E9BC48 /media/sdh1 ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0

Thanks again!!!!!

Revision history for this message
Salter-lee (salter-lee) said : 		#6

Just in case anyone has the same problem (and like me you get bugger all help here! Sorry, but grrr), it came down to an error in the Partition Tables (which tell Ubuntu which drives are which), presumably caused simply by upgrading to Natty 11) which in turn seems to have prevented Ubuntu reading any drives properly (esp USB storage and DVDs). In the end I had to do a fresh install (and have lost 250gigs somewhere!!!) - there was no alternative - it's all a bit too much of a reminder of Windows really, but I'll try to stick with it for a bit.

Revision history for this message
Jessie (iluminameluna) said : 		#7

It may not be JUST usbmount .. ck this post from Ubuntu Forums out:

I've been having the same problem for a while, and I went for the solution posted here (modyfing the etc/fstub) then I finally went to test it with the laptop of a friend that recently installed Ubuntu 10.04, and on his computer everything worked fine.

So I checked out the Synaptic packages he had installed by default, and I realized that I had some more that probably were creating some conflicts/problems.

Now it works again!!

Here is what i did:

- start the "synaptic package manager"
- insert "usb" in the quick search
- compare your installed packages with the following list (these are the one installed by default):

usbmuxd
usbutils
libusbmuxd1
libusb-0.1-4
libusb-1.0-0
xserver-xorg-video-sisusb
libmtp8
usb-creator-gtk
usb-creator-common
libmobiledevice0
libgphoto2-port0
libgphoto2-2
media-player-info
libhpmud0
hpijs
hplip

- remove those packages that have been added by you or that may cause conflicts, in my case I had all the previous ones and I removed the following that I added months ago messing up with my laptop:

usbmount (yep it sound weird, but now is working properly in my laptop!)
pyton usb
usb creator
gnome pilot