Arch Linux

fatblueduck

Member

From: Long Beach

Registered: 2005-04-20

Posts: 39

why is there no /dev/sda* for my external hard drive?

First, I am extremely happy with arch.

My problem is that for some reason there does not exist a /dev/sda* in my arch system. When I plug my external hard drive or my digital camera into the usb port /dev/sda1 does not appear.

I've read in these forums that arch finds these devices in /dev/sda* as other linux systems do. Does anyone know what the problem here is. Where am I supposed to mount these usb devices from?

Using arch 0.7 with udev. Thanks

Chris

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: why is there no /dev/sda* for my external hard drive?

Do tail -f on your everything.log, then plug in a device. See what shows up, and post it here if you want.

Bralkein

Member

Registered: 2004-10-26

Posts: 354

Re: why is there no /dev/sda* for my external hard drive?

Something else to take a look at is what kernel modules are loaded. Put in 'lsmod' at the command line and see if sd_mod (SCSI disk support) and usb_storage are in the list, as they should be loaded automatically when you plug the USB drive in and it is detected. If they are not loaded, you should check your kernel configuration. If in your kernel configuration they are not compiled as modules or into the kernel image, then you should recompile your kernel with those options enabled.

whargoul

Member

From: Odense, Denmark

Registered: 2005-04-04

Posts: 546

Re: why is there no /dev/sda* for my external hard drive?

Oh, I'm listning. I got the same problem. So it will really be help if you find the problem.

---

Arch - It's something refreshing

mico

Member

From: Slovenia

Registered: 2004-02-08

Posts: 247

Re: why is there no /dev/sda* for my external hard drive?

See if you have /dev/sda. For my usb memory card reader only /dev/sda is created. Then I read something from it and /dev/sda1 appears. Funny, eh? I usually do this:

head -c 1 /dev/sda >/dev/null

And then I can mount /dev/sda1

fatblueduck

Member

From: Long Beach

Registered: 2005-04-20

Posts: 39

Re: why is there no /dev/sda* for my external hard drive?

THANKS for all of the responses. The problem seems to be fixed and I'm not sure why. I upgraded my system for the first time in several months and restarted it. Now everything is working. There must have been some problem with the hotplugging.

Its so cool that I can upgrade my entire system with -Syu (kernel and all) and have everything work perfectly upon reboot. People are so generous with their help in these arch forums. I love this distro.

Thank you

Chris