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

[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