[SOLVED] Cannot automount external NTFS drive

mesaprotector · 2024-10-10 23:44:17

I have an external HDD I infrequently need to connect to my laptop. Since switching to Nemo file manager, the process is simple - plug in drive, open Nemo, click on its icon in the sidebar. This worked as recently as 9 days ago. Suddenly today it does not mount, with an error:

Error mounting /dev/sda1 at /run/media/asuka/WD My Passport: fsconfig system call failed: No such file or directory

If I manually create the directory it complains about, the error still occurs, but now the path is /run/media/asuka/WD My Passport1. I can, however, mount it manually as long as I specify the filesystem type, such as with "udisksctl mount --no-user-interactions -b /dev/sda1 -t ntfs". The drive is fine and perfectly usable once mounted; it mounts to the same path the error complains about. Without the "-t ntfs" option it fails.

Nemo (which uses gio to mount partitions) does not seem to be able to figure out the filesystem type. I would be willing to write an entry in /etc/fstab for this HDD so it no longer needs to mount in /run/media, but I'm not sure whether Nemo will recognize it if I do that; to repeat, I connect this HDD only infrequently, so I don't ever want it mounted at boot, which seems to be the usual use case for fstab; I just want it to mount, without fuss, when I plug it in and open the file manager. If someone thinks fstab will work for this, I'll put the effort into trying it.

I have ntfs-3g installed; not sure what else to add.

EDIT: relevant system journal messages (everything from plugging in the drive, failing to mount it without -t ntfs, to the successful mount): https://0x0.st/X6bQ.txt

Last edited by mesaprotector (2024-10-12 18:07:33)

seth · 2024-10-11 08:51:46

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NTFS
udisks should default to ntfs3 at this point, see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Udisks … nt_options
(The default will be "# ntfs_drivers=ntfs3,ntfs")

What kind of error do you from udisksctl when not providing a type?
There's a good chance for the external device to have the dirty bit set and ntfs3 is less lenient than ntfs-3g itr?
If you can, chkdsk the drive on windows, ntfsfix will only remove the dirty bit, but afaik not properly sanitize the filesystem.

mesaprotector · 2024-10-12 18:07:20

Booting into Windows and running chkdsk three times seemed to at least make it usable. The behavior still hasn't returned to what it was before - I now need to click on the sidebar in Nemo to get it to mount - but at least no terminal commands needed.

ntfs3 never worked properly for me, which is why I have ntfs-3g installed in the first place.

seth · 2024-10-12 18:19:24

hasn't returned to what it was before - I now need to click on the sidebar in Nemo to get it to mount

since switching to Nemo file manager, the process is simple - plug in drive, open Nemo, click on its icon in the sidebar.

?

ntfs3 never worked properly for me, which is why I have ntfs-3g installed in the first place.

Check

mount | grep ntfs

after mouting it w/ nemo, it's very likely you're using ntfs3 right now if you haven't changed the udisks config.

mesaprotector · 2024-10-12 18:57:13

seth wrote:

hasn't returned to what it was before - I now need to click on the sidebar in Nemo to get it to mount
since switching to Nemo file manager, the process is simple - plug in drive, open Nemo, click on its icon in the sidebar.
?

It used to mount before I clicked on it (showing empty disk space, etc.), and clicking was just to navigate to it. Now it doesn't try to mount until I click.

ntfs3 never worked properly for me, which is why I have ntfs-3g installed in the first place.
Check
mount | grep ntfs
after mouting it w/ nemo, it's very likely you're using ntfs3 right now if you haven't changed the udisks config.

I changed the udisks config (/etc/udisks2/mount_options.conf) a while ago. Though I just tried changing it back and it didn't seem to cause any additional problems, so I'll leave it as default.

seth · 2024-10-12 19:19:27

There was some fuzz about what counts as removable device, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=295958
Does udisks now label your drive as UDISKS_SYSTEM=1 or UDISKS_AUTO=0 ?

mesaprotector · 2024-10-12 20:05:43

I think we already discussed this kind of thing a while ago, with the same external drive: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=295398

As best as I can tell, it is not marked as removable (/sys/block/sda/removable is 0; I cannot see how to check the udisks ENV attributes, only how to set them with a udev rule), but it still works acceptably. I can try the same steps I followed before in that thread, and there's probably not much more that can be said until I do that. I'm okay with the current behavior anyway if I have to be.

Last edited by mesaprotector (2024-10-12 20:07:52)

seth · 2024-10-12 20:18:28

udisksctl info -b /dev/sda

resp. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 4#p2169004
I suspect the ID environment is set too late for the rule to apply, nb that you went w/ 40-* while the wiki moves it to the very end at 99-*

Arch Linux

#1 2024-10-10 23:44:17

[SOLVED] Cannot automount external NTFS drive

#2 2024-10-11 08:51:46

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot automount external NTFS drive

#3 2024-10-12 18:07:20

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot automount external NTFS drive

#4 2024-10-12 18:19:24

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot automount external NTFS drive

#5 2024-10-12 18:57:13

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot automount external NTFS drive

#6 2024-10-12 19:19:27

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot automount external NTFS drive

#7 2024-10-12 20:05:43

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot automount external NTFS drive

#8 2024-10-12 20:18:28

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot automount external NTFS drive

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