Cannot mount external USB NTFS disk on boot

geo909 · 2008-10-11 16:59:23

Hello everybody, I have an external USB disk in ntfs.
I have it always attached on my laptop and want it to be automounted read/write
on each startup..
I looked around a little bit and found many wikis about this. Though, I cannot get it to work.
Here is my fstab:

[jorge@myhost Music]$ cat /etc/fstab 
# 
# /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   auto    ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
/dev/dvd /media/dvd   auto    ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
UUID=49f59398-28a7-4aed-888b-ccde003cf248 swap swap defaults 0 0
UUID=53535681-ecb0-4397-828d-f0dcda58dd77 / ext3 defaults 0 1
UUID=b0f6dfd5-3321-4d9f-80c0-1d5cba0e9e76 /home ext3 defaults 0 1
UUID=cae5b2ad-8be9-4a45-b0a9-f077b435e4d3 /boot ext2 defaults 0 1

/dev/disk/by-id/usb-Seagate_FreeAgentDesktop_6QG1NF1Q-0:0-part1 /media/FREEAGENT ntfs defaults,users,umask=0000,nls=utf8 0 0

The last entry is my external USB. The thing is that does not automount (while booting I can get a glance to a sentence like "device not exists" or something, but it is too fast to read). Then when I login I do

sudo mount -a

and the disk is mounted, but read only..

Could you please tell me what is wrong with my fstab line?

Thank youvery much in advance!

Ghost1227 · 2008-10-11 21:57:23

First off, you're more likely to get a response if you give your posts an understandable title ('cannot' doesn't give us much information).
Second, to find out what the message said, try using dmesg ('dmesg | tail' or 'dmesg | grep' exists might help narrow it down)
Third, if you are trying to automount, why not use hal? There's a wiki page on setting it up.

geo909 · 2008-10-11 22:24:40

Oops! That was a mistake!
I thought I wrote a normal title. I guess somehow I moved
the cursor elsewhere.

I had problems in the past when I had to mount an ntfs drive read/write with hal,
but I will check it again..

Thanks for the advice about dmesg, that looks useful..

tomk · 2008-10-11 23:05:06

Native kernel ntfs support is effectively read-only - there is extremely limited write support, but that is all. For full read/write you need ntfs-3g, which is in the core repo. Read the man pages and the wiki entry for further details.

Also, I've amended your topic. For futue reference, you can do this yourself using the 'Edit' link on the bottom right of the first post.

geo909 · 2008-10-16 02:08:49

Hello again,
thanks for your answers.
I used ntfs-3g instead of ntfs but still it does not automount.

Also, the related line does not exist in dmesg..

But what is wrong with the line in fstab below anyway?

/dev/disk/by-id/usb-Seagate_FreeAgentDesktop_6QG1NF1Q-0:0-part1 /media/FREEAGENT ntfs-3g defaults,users,umask=0000,nls=utf8 0 0

(the path to the disk is correct)
Thanks a lot again..

fukawi2 · 2008-10-16 02:31:13

I'd be guessing the kernel is trying to mount the device before the USB system has (fully) started and recognized the devices attached (ie, the external drive).

Quick fix: add `/bin/mount -a` to /etc/rc.local

I think the proper fix is to add the USB hook to your mkinitcpio.conf and run `mkinitcpio -p kernel26`
(I think. I stand to be corrected)

geo909 · 2008-10-16 04:15:58

Well..
There have been two times that it automounted correctly..
So maybe what you suggest (the kernel is trying to mount the disk before
the usb system has fully sterted)
Sorry I didn't mention that before, I wasn't 100% sure.

I will try something tomorrow and get back soon.
Thanks!

Arch Linux

#1 2008-10-11 16:59:23

Cannot mount external USB NTFS disk on boot

#2 2008-10-11 21:57:23

Re: Cannot mount external USB NTFS disk on boot

#3 2008-10-11 22:24:40

Re: Cannot mount external USB NTFS disk on boot

#4 2008-10-11 23:05:06

Re: Cannot mount external USB NTFS disk on boot

#5 2008-10-16 02:08:49

Re: Cannot mount external USB NTFS disk on boot

#6 2008-10-16 02:31:13

Re: Cannot mount external USB NTFS disk on boot

#7 2008-10-16 04:15:58

Re: Cannot mount external USB NTFS disk on boot

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