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DrLlap

Member

Registered: 2024-10-20

Posts: 31

[SOLVED] Mount removable device

I'm trying to create a bootable onto a microSD card for Raspberry Pi. I have installed  rpi-imager and both optional dependencies, udisks2 and dosfstools.

I have a USB Card Reader plugged in, with the microSD card inserted, but when I open up rpi-imager and chose storage the SD card doesn't show up.

The udisks2.wervice is runninng:

$ systemctl status udisks2.service
● udisks2.service - Disk Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/udisks2.service; disabled; preset: disa>
     Active: active (running) since Thu 2025-04-10 00:18:24 GMT; 23h ago
 Invocation: 2accd988cacb4f8fb9db4f036ed7f894
       Docs: man:udisks(8)
   Main PID: 4190 (udisksd)
      Tasks: 6 (limit: 18747)
     Memory: 8.3M (peak: 9.3M)
        CPU: 22.502s
     CGroup: /system.slice/udisks2.service
             └─4190 /usr/lib/udisks2/udisksd

Apr 10 00:18:24 arch-noob systemd[1]: Starting Disk Manager...
Apr 10 00:18:24 arch-noob udisksd[4190]: udisks daemon version 2.10.1 starting
Apr 10 00:18:24 arch-noob systemd[1]: Started Disk Manager.
Apr 10 00:18:24 arch-noob udisksd[4190]: Acquired the name org.freedesktop.UDisks2 o>

Some new devices show up when I plug in the Card Reader:

$ lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sdf           8:80   1     0B  0 disk
sdg           8:96   1     0B  0 disk
sdh           8:112  1     0B  0 disk
sdi           8:128  1     0B  0 disk
sdj           8:144  1     0B  0 disk

But they all show up with zero size?

If I try to manually mount any of the devices I get this:

$ udisksctl  mount -b /dev/sdj
Object /org/freedesktop/UDisks2/block_devices/sdj is not a mountable filesystem.

$ sudo dmesg
[87096.203296] usb-storage 2-8:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[87096.205008] scsi host6: usb-storage 2-8:1.0
[87097.231879] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Generic- Compact Flash    1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[87097.233619] scsi 6:0:0:1: Direct-Access     Generic- SM/xD-Picture    1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[87097.235440] scsi 6:0:0:2: Direct-Access     Generic- SD/MMC           1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[87097.237188] scsi 6:0:0:3: Direct-Access     Generic- MS/MS-Pro/HG     1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[87097.239151] scsi 6:0:0:4: Direct-Access     Generic- SD/MMC/MS/MSPRO  1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[87097.243156] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdf] Media removed, stopped polling
[87097.244691] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdf] Attached SCSI removable disk
[87097.244983] sd 6:0:0:1: [sdg] Media removed, stopped polling
[87097.245453] sd 6:0:0:1: [sdg] Attached SCSI removable disk
[87097.247850] sd 6:0:0:3: [sdi] Media removed, stopped polling
[87097.248425] sd 6:0:0:3: [sdi] Attached SCSI removable disk
[87100.860518] sd 6:0:0:4: [sdj] Media removed, stopped polling
[87100.860723] sd 6:0:0:4: [sdj] Attached SCSI removable disk
[87100.861847] sd 6:0:0:2: [sdh] Media removed, stopped polling
[87100.862049] sd 6:0:0:2: [sdh] Attached SCSI removable disk

Last edited by DrLlap (2025-04-12 02:50:34)

goro9922

Member

Registered: 2019-04-12

Posts: 45

Re: [SOLVED] Mount removable device

Seems like the devices shown by lsblk don't have mountable filesystems and they are just raw disks. I have no experience with rpi, but a quick google search showed that you need to create file systems first.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,323

Re: [SOLVED] Mount removable device

I'm pretty confident that you're not supposed to mount the device you're trying to write an image onto, since the partition and filesystem shall likely be replaced.
So sounds more like a permission problem if there wasn't also

But they all show up with zero size?

For those card readers it's common to allocate a slew of unused devices but one would be taken and what about sd[a-e]?
Plug in the empty reader first, run

dmesg -W

and then plug the sd card into the reader and post the output that generates.

Finally: make sure the card is properly seated in the reader and you cannot push it forward anymore even if your thumb hurts.
Does it work in other readers?

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DrLlap

Member

Registered: 2024-10-20

Posts: 31

Re: [SOLVED] Mount removable device

Well, this is awkward.
Turned out I was turning the card upside-down
Interestingly, there is a light on the card reader that turns on when I insert the card and it also turns on when I put it in upside-down.

Now when I put the card correctly in:
when inserting the card

$ sudo dmesg -W
[176386.515375] sdj: detected capacity change from 62333952 to 0
[176403.094564] sd 6:0:0:4: [sdj] 62333952 512-byte logical blocks: (31.9 GB/29.7 GiB)
[176403.095159] sdj: detected capacity change from 0 to 62333952
[176403.108508]  sdj: sdj1

and after

$ lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sdf           8:80   1     0B  0 disk
sdg           8:96   1     0B  0 disk
sdh           8:112  1     0B  0 disk
sdi           8:128  1     0B  0 disk
sdj           8:144  1  29.7G  0 disk
└─sdj1        8:145  1  29.7G  0 part

But now when I try to mount it:

udisksctl mount --block-device /dev/sdj1
Error mounting /dev/sdj1: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.UDisks2.Error.Failed: Error mounting /dev/sdj1 at /run/media/<me>/6233-3264: Filesystem type vfat not configured in kernel.

Edit: Turned out the above was because I hadn't rebooted after updating my kernel (I think)

Last edited by DrLlap (2025-04-12 02:41:40)