External Harddrives

[amaresu]

I have a Seagate external harddrive and I haven't been able to access the data on it since I switched to Ubuntu. I was wondering if there was anyway to access this information or if I'm better off just getting a new external. And if I do have to get a new external can I buy any brand?

Comments

[onceamy]

What sort of connector does it use?

I've not run into any problems with any of the storage devices I have, which run the gamut from phones to external hard drives.

[amaresu]

USB 2.0

[onceamy]

Hmm, weird!

Can you mount it as root - i.e. sudo mount /dev/sda#n, where sda#n is your drive?

[amaresu]

How do I find out what my drive is?

[onceamy]

sudo fdisk -l will give you a list of all drives detected. You can identify yours by the file system type (if you formatted it as NTFS or FAT, for example).

I'm sorry if I'm being too vague, but it is hard to specifically tell you what to look for, as I am not there to see your drive.

[amaresu]

I'm sorry if I'm being too vague, but it is hard to specifically tell you what to look for, as I am not there to see your drive.

No, you are being awesome. I'm just worried there's something more I should be telling you so you can help me.

This is what I got:

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xa07c6d7c

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13075 105023913+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 13076 60801 383359095 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 13076 60052 377342721 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 60053 60801 6016311 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xab93a363

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 30401 244196001 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


I have no idea what any of that means. I know this, I have a 500GB harddrive, partitioned into 100GB on the Windows Vista side and 400 GB on the Ubuntu 9.02 side. My external is 250 GB, and so I think it's saying that it reads the existence of my external.

So, if I wanted to mount the root I would go: sudo mount /dev/sbd ?

[onceamy]

Oh, coolies! I was worried :)

Okay, you would go sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/sdb/, but you might need to create /media/sdb with sudo mkdir /media/sdb.

It's definitely found it! But mounting as root means that you don't have write access as a general user, and I haven't found a solution for that yet (it used to be a program called pmount, but that doesn't work anymore).

[amaresu]

Okay, it's telling me I must specify filesystem type. Is that the NTFS or FAT part?

Thank you so much for taking the time to walk me through this.

[onceamy]

Hey, no worries! It's something I struggled with as a baby!penguin :)

Okay, try just sudo mount /dev/sdb /media/sdb - sometimes it is weird about partitions.

Let me know how that goes?

[amaresu]

Still asking for filesystem type.

But my external is making noises and other signs of electronic life.

[onceamy]

Okay dokey - try sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb /media/sdb.

Yay, external life!

[onceamy]

Now, pmount may work for a Lucid Lynx install (the latest Ubuntu). If you go sudo apt-get install pmount and try it with pmount /dev/sdb1, it should mount it in user-space (meaning you can write and read from it as a non-root user).

[amaresu]

That would mean I'd have to update to Lucid Lynx then? I've never updated before. It kinda worries me to be honest.

[onceamy]

Which version are you on?

I'd save updating till you're more confident, as it can be a pain in the bum sometimes.

[amaresu]

Jaunty Jackalope.

[onceamy]

Ooh, definitely save it for later! We'll get this working first ;)

[amaresu]

I've been planning to leave it until I had to update. XD


Thank you so much. Again.

[amaresu]

I got a different message!

wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

I typed in dmesg and got a whole bunch of this:

[1595104.463475] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:1b:b9:f3:25:21:00:1b:d5:fe:82:e2:08:00 SRC=74.183.255.192 DST=24.131.144.148 LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x20 TTL=110 ID=15968 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=59823 DPT=51413 WINDOW=16384 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
[1595110.472029] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:1b:b9:f3:25:21:00:1b:d5:fe:82:e2:08:00 SRC=74.183.255.192 DST=24.131.144.148 LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x20 TTL=110 ID=15991 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=59823 DPT=51413 WINDOW=16384 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
[1595121.208421] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:1b:b9:f3:25:21:00:1b:d5:fe:82:e2:08:00 SRC=114.79.55.68 DST=24.131.144.148 LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x20 TTL=107 ID=47989 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=25518 DPT=51413 WINDOW=16384 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
[1595124.304065] Inbound IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=00:1b:b9:f3:25:21:00:1b:d5:fe:82:e2:08:00 SRC=114.79.55.68 DST=24.131.144.148 LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x20 TTL=107 ID=48264 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=25518 DPT=51413 WINDOW=16384 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0

Tail appears to be something that might take awhile.

[onceamy]

Tail is a constant process, darl. It stops when you CTRL-C it.

Okay, try it with /dev/sdb1 instead - as I said, the partitions are silly thing.

[amaresu]

Tail is a constant process, darl. It stops when you CTRL-C it.

/o\

Well, that's good to know.



AND IT WORKED! IT WORKED IT WORKED IT WORKED!

It's been quite a while since I've had access to this stuff. I had a defective harddrive and was more concerned about getting that replaced before anything else. You have no idea how happy I am right now.

If there's anything I can do for you, let me know.

Thank you so much.

[onceamy]

\o/

Tail is a way to keep track of updates to files in real time - the file/command updates, and tail lets you know :)

I'm so glad it worked!

Let me know when/if you want to upgrade, as I'd be quite happy to walk you through it :D

[amaresu]

There is so much to learn, but the people are so very nice.

When I feel up to upgrading I will definitely let you know. You get the awesome award.

[onceamy]

Oh, I forgot to link to a page I meant to: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mount/USB

It lists commands and useful info for mounting USB devices in general.

[amaresu]

And you keep giving me stuff. XD