[SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

Cippa Lippa · 2008-01-05 20:28:42

Dear all

I know this might upset someone as this is not a complicated problem, I assume

I am using Arch linux at the moment and it doesn't seem to want to mount my usb key as a rw filesystem
I can mount it and see the files with mount /dev/sdb1 /media/mydrive but it is mounted as a read-only filesystem

I tried to chmod 777 the directory to no avail as root
I tried to use pmount as I don't have a specific entry in fstab for this kind of thing and it still mounts as read-only

The thing I hate is that I never had such problem with Ubuntu. What is the script that allows ubuntu to mount the same usb key automatically as rw while I can't mount it in arch?

P.S. by the way I can mount safely and correctly a firewire external harddrive formatted as ext3

Cheers

Cippa

Last edited by Cippa Lippa (2008-01-13 13:19:33)

twiistedkaos · 2008-01-05 20:42:47

Are you using HAL?

Zer0 · 2008-01-06 01:43:18

What filesystem on the usb key?

Cippa Lippa · 2008-01-06 02:42:25

sorry guys, yepo I am using hal and I have been following the instructions on the wiki about it.
The filesystem is a W95 FAT16, according to fdisk -l

sorry for not being more specific before :-(

ozar · 2008-01-06 04:14:20

/dev/sdb1    /mnt/flash   vfat          user,noauto,noatime     0      0

There's my entry from fstab if it helps any. My read/write access works fine.

Agent69 · 2008-01-06 05:15:07

I just mounted a USB flash drive today (using the directions on the wiki) and the first thing I noticed is I couldn't write to it as a non-root user. A search of the forums reveiled some work arounds but since I rarely mount USB drives, I have decided to just use su when I need to do this.

Last edited by Agent69 (2008-01-06 05:15:40)

ozar · 2008-01-06 05:18:46

Guess I should add that you'll probably need to be a member of the "storage" group, too.

Cippa Lippa · 2008-01-06 15:07:22

Dear Ozar

thanks for the suggestion. I am member of the storage group
The entry in fstab is great but the problem is that when I connect my external ext3 harddrive it is also labeled as sdb1. How can I distinguish between my beloved ext3 harddrive and my usb key upon mounting?
In ubuntu when I was connecting my usb key it was automatically mounted in a folder under media with the name equal to the label of the usb drive. The folder was created upon plugging and removed upon unplugging.

I would like to be able to do the same.

In any case, regarding the fstab entry, my attempt to do the mounting with pmount (which allows to mount filesystems without an entry in fstab, gave the same problem, so I guess it sounds more like a hal problem or something like that.

----
my fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x41ab2316

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 10 80293+ 6 FAT16
/dev/sda2 * 11 2621 20971520+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 2622 14593 96165090 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 2622 2634 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 2635 4592 15727603+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 4593 6550 15727603+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 6551 14332 62508883+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 14333 14593 2096451 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 2063 MB, 2063597568 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 7872 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x24a1751a

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 7872 2015216 e W95 FAT16 (LBA)

----
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0

/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom iso9660 ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0
/dev/dvd /media/dvd udf ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0
/dev/sda5 /boot ext2 defaults,noatime 0 1
/dev/sda6 / ext3 defaults,noatime 0 1
/dev/sda7 /home ext3 defaults,noatime 0 1
/dev/sda8 /media/share ext3 defaults,noatime 0 1
/dev/sda9 swap swap defaults 0 0

cheers

Cippa

kraluz · 2008-01-06 16:05:00

If you are using hal there shouldn't be no need to add any entry to fstab. Try to add yourself to groups "dbus" and "hal".

ozar · 2008-01-06 18:31:55

It's a little bit of work, but maybe using a persistent naming scheme would fix this for you:

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Per … ice_naming

Zer0 · 2008-01-06 19:12:14

Are you a member of the "Disk" group?

I dont' think adding yourself to the hal/dbus groups will fix this issue. I am not a member of the hal/dbus groups and hal works perfect for both my external drive and USB flashdrive. In fact I'm still not sure what those groups are for.

kraluz · 2008-01-06 20:14:54

Zer0 wrote:

I dont' think adding yourself to the hal/dbus groups will fix this issue.

It does for me. But I must confess, never tried to add myself to the disk group.

Cippa Lippa · 2008-01-07 12:36:17

is the group Disk spelled with capital D???

Cippa Lippa · 2008-01-07 12:41:05

mmm... ok I tried adding me to disk hal and dbus groups with no luck whatsoever.... :-(

Cippa Lippa · 2008-01-07 12:50:34

I tried also persistent naming. I have the feeling that the problem lies in dbus and hal

I attach my rc.conf

----

# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
#
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
TIMEZONE="Canada/Pacific"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Scan hardware and load required modules at bootup
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
# Module Blacklist - modules in this list will never be loaded by udev
MOD_BLACKLIST=()
#
# Modules to load at boot-up (in this order)
# - prefix a module with a ! to blacklist it
#
MODULES=(acpi-cpufreq slhc tg3 iwl3945 snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-hwdep snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd snd-hda-intel nvidia soundcore gspca ide-scsi)
# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
HOSTNAME="ocivodul"
#
# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available
# interfaces.
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
# - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
# - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
#
# Note: to use DHCP, set your interface to be "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
#
lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(lo !eth0)
#
# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
# - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
#
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up. These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
# - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
# - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network-profiles
#
#NET_PROFILES=(main)

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
# - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
# - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng alsa !network dhcdbd netfs crond hal fam kdm acpid cpufreq udev networkmanager)
# End of file
----

byte · 2008-01-07 14:02:12

Irrelevant sidenote: udev is not a daemon.

sjg · 2008-01-07 15:27:24

Is it just me or is dbus missing from the DAEMONS line?

Try adding dbus (before hal) or start dbus manually and restart hal and see if that helps.

synorgy · 2008-01-07 16:54:33

First off, you don't need to add dbus to the DAEMONS line, hal starts it automatically on startup.

From what I can see, the best solution is probably ivman (or gnome-vol-mount but that's a bit overkill here I think). ivman allows you to specify rules for connected drives and such. 7The wiki has a great walkthrough, but unfortunately it's all in Russian. Google's translator does a decent job of, well, translating it. You can find a good tutorial on the Gentoo forums too.

I hope it works out for you.

Cippa Lippa · 2008-01-07 18:47:52

mmm thanks synorgy for the tip. I'll try that.

Can somebody explain in layman's terms how come there is no single protocol that would allow every usb to automount as rw in every linux box?

I'll let you know if I have any luck with ivman

Cippa

P.S. why gnome-vol-mount would be overkill?

lilsirecho · 2008-01-07 18:52:22

FWIW:

I have encountered the same problem in Faunos "live" system.

I cannot mount the booting flash drive as r/w with su root passwd root while the system is up and running. It mounts as r/o which is the expected outcome.

To mount it r/w, I have to end session and login as root...this places the system into archlinux desktop rather than the Faunos desktop.

While in this archlinux enviro I can mount the booting flash drive r/w and remove overlays and rename overlays which are r/w activities.

Thus, it may be that bootable flash drives are treated differently than non-bootable flash devices in the archlinux system. The change in my session may provide a clue to the problem you are having since the Desktop in KDE is re-installed in the archlinux session and the kernel is 2.6.21. In the FaunOS session the kernel26f prevails and the KDE desktop is much busier.

Faunos is archlinux based on kernel 2.6 but not the latest...2.6.21.

It mat be confusing to follow but basically suggests that the kernel may be the answer.

dmartins · 2008-01-08 03:11:48

Cippa Lippa, you mentioned Ubuntu and it's auto mounting. Are you using the Gnome desktop environment in Arch as well? If you are, I think the best way to get Ubuntu-like auto mounting would be to install gnome-volume-manager since it ties in nicely with the rest of the desktop. You can also install gnome-extra and this will pull in gnome-volume-manager, but maybe a bunch of stuff you don't want as well.

For gnome-volume-manager to work, your user needs to be a member of the storage group and after you have added yourself to that group, hal and dbus need to be restarted (or just reboot your PC)

Last edited by dmartins (2008-01-08 03:13:21)

lilsirecho · 2008-01-09 17:29:53

Perhaps you can utilize the following workaround;

In/etc/rc.local......enter....mount -o remount,rw /dev/sdxx...... (your ntfs partition)

This should make the partition rw on every boot-up if my entry is correctly made....haven't tried it for a partition but do use it for tmpfs extension to 3G size.

Cippa Lippa · 2008-01-09 22:43:42

thank you all

dmartins: I use kde also in ubuntu. in that case everything is perfect... I really have no idea why. I think I can install gnome-volume-manager also in kde right?

lilsirecho: I think I don't want to reboot to get a flash drive to mount.

After having removed udev from the daemons list I get arch to react after inserting the usb
It tries to open a konqueror page (god knows who told him to) in the address is listed system:media/sdb1 (I don't have a folder with that name) and he tells me in a dialog "permissions denied"

any clue???

Cippa

Cippa Lippa · 2008-01-09 23:12:10

can it be because my usb key is recognized as bootable???

lilsirecho · 2008-01-09 23:28:05

A note in passing...you do not have toreboot to use the ...mount -o remount,rw /dev/sdxx....

Just run it in root.

The /etc/rc.local allows it to be permanent.

I have bootable flash drives for FaunOS that can be connected and are recognized in arch. When so mounted, I can edit them. They are not W95 but do contain a 35MB fat16 first partition. I haven't tried to edit the first partition.

I will see if it is r/w and report back.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-01-05 20:28:42

[SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#2 2008-01-05 20:42:47

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#3 2008-01-06 01:43:18

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#4 2008-01-06 02:42:25

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#5 2008-01-06 04:14:20

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#6 2008-01-06 05:15:07

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#7 2008-01-06 05:18:46

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#8 2008-01-06 15:07:22

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#9 2008-01-06 16:05:00

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#10 2008-01-06 18:31:55

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#11 2008-01-06 19:12:14

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#12 2008-01-06 20:14:54

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#13 2008-01-07 12:36:17

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#14 2008-01-07 12:41:05

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#15 2008-01-07 12:50:34

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#16 2008-01-07 14:02:12

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#17 2008-01-07 15:27:24

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#18 2008-01-07 16:54:33

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#19 2008-01-07 18:47:52

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#20 2008-01-07 18:52:22

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#21 2008-01-08 03:11:48

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#22 2008-01-09 17:29:53

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#23 2008-01-09 22:43:42

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#24 2008-01-09 23:12:10

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

#25 2008-01-09 23:28:05

Re: [SOLVED]Problems with getting a darn USB key to mount as rw filesystem

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